Hello!
Here’s the recording of the RTM Virtual Tour.
Timestamps:
What is RTM? (0’ 30”)
Who is it for? (1’01”)
How RTM can help you (3’18”)
What is RTM membership (Plus and Pro) (6’49”)
How RTM works—Contextual Input (16’49”)
RTM Plus tour (21’12”)
RTM Pro tour (27’48”)
We had a lively Q&A session at the end. That’s not included in the recording, but the main questions that came up are below.
But first, we also had a number of current RTM members on the call too, who, without prompting—I promise!—began evangelising about RTM in the chat….
Just want to say thanks and give an unsolicited endorsement. I've subscribed to RTM+ for about a year and half (?), and am a big fan. Highly recommended! At a future time I would seriously consider RTM Pro, but just can't fit it in at present. (Eric)
It’s a good deal! Think about how much time you would spend picking out an article to read. (Nina)
Kudos to the new format launched in 2025. Thanks for taking our feedback and your insights into building more value to RTM Pro. I like the various color icons on the podcasts too. Helps sorts them out for me. (Scott)
**You can access RTM membership for just $180/year until 7 March. After that it’s going up to $220/year (RTM Plus), and $600/year (RTM Pro). **
Q&A
Q: What is the main difference between RTM Plus and Pro?
RTM Plus is the “self-paced” program, RTM Pro is a “structured immersive” program.
Members of Plus and Pro get access to all the content, resources, and integrations included in Plus.
But in addition to all this content Pro members also get invited to weekly immersive group calls in Mandarin.
The focus is on rapidly improving your speaking skills, but it also gives you more structure and discipline—and pressure—to “do the work” every week.
Q: What time are Pro group calls?
Currently, Pro immersive group calls are rotated across two timezones: either Friday evenings US time, or Saturday mornings US time.
For example—last week and this week’s sessions:
However, we are hoping as more members join this week, we can introduce at least one more timezone, to ensure you get at least three sessions per month, wherever you are.
Q: Do you still do your intensive courses on news reading? And if so how often a year?
Yes—we are planning to run an intensive course later this year, but haven’t decided when yet.
This will be an evolution of the last course we did: Mandarin News Mastery.
Mandarin News Mastery (MNM) was a 6-module course we ran in 2023, teaching you how effectively read the news in Chinese: find the right content, retain vocabulary, accelerate your reading speed, and build a daily habit.
⭐️ BONUS: Pro members get access to the recordings of this course for free, and the course materials, included in their Pro membership! It’s around ten hours of “Access All Areas”content (worth $300), archived on Substack in the Pro member area.
Also, we normally offer big discounts on our courses to existing members of RTM.
Q: How do you decide what to write about each week?
We follow the news closely and review hundreds of media outlets each week.
We are on the look out for interesting news stories which are genuinely being discussed in China—even if they are censored or partially censored online—are interesting from a language learning perspective, and are relevant and tell a bigger story of what’s going on in China now.
So it’s a mix of factors, but it has to be interesting!
Q: Is there an app for RTM?
You can access RTM content using the Subtack app.
The Substack app is free to download and has a good user interface. It’s good for accessing content when it’s published, and is super useful because audio and text content are in one place.
You can also access all RTM podcast content via the feed in your preferred podcast app once you’ve joined.
Very convenient!
That’s all for now.
I’ll be sharing more info about RTM Plus and Pro in the coming days.
In the meantime, don’t forget to join the RTM membership!
**You can access RTM membership for just $180/year until 7 March. After that it’s going up to $220/year (RTM Plus), and $600/year (RTM Pro). **
Still have questions that weren’t answered here?
Just hit reply to this email and ask!
Thanks
Andrew
Ps—here are more questions answered about the RTM membership if you missed it:
