Summary

iMandarinPod supports intermediate and advanced Chinese learners to develop a deeper understanding of the Chinese language and culture — however, you may find yourself slightly confused as to where to direct your attention when you arrive, so let’s take a look at where to start. First, If you want extra support to navigate the Chinese characters on the website, download the Zhongwen Chrome Extension. Then, click on Podcasts to choose from four categories of podcasts: traditional culture, everyday language, history, and China today. There is also the Special Chinese tab, which introduces current news stories. The podcasts on the site are free, but with a subscription (or during your 30-day free trial), you can download the podcast transcripts with and without pinyin. After narrating the introduction, the narrator will repeat new words twice, then go back to elaborate more on what they mean, giving multiple examples of their usage (all of this is done entirely in Chinese). The quiz at the end of each transcript will test your understanding. If you go back to the website, you will notice that the creators have posted the answers to the quiz as a comment under each podcast. The narrators aren’t as dynamic as the narrators in other Chinese podcasts, such as Learning Chinese Through Stories, but overall, iMandarinPod’s content can effectively help you understand the nuances of the Chinese language (if you can get past its aesthetics).