Slow Chinese is transforming into RealTime Mandarin!
Out with the old, in with the new
We are excited to announce an evolution of the name and brand identity of this newsletter.
It began on 7 February 2021, with me sharing the Chinese words and phrases I’d learned that week with an audience of 54 people. Over the following three years, it’s grown into a multimedia e-learning and networking platform read by over 8,000 people in more than 120 countries.
And now our name is finally growing up, too.
Introducing: RealTime Mandarin.
What’s new
From 1 March 2024, Slow Chinese will be RealTime Mandarin.
Woohoo! 🤩
What started as a passion project, a free weekly newsletter, has grown into a full-fledged multimedia language, e-learning and networking platform which includes a free newsletter, two podcasts, a growing list of integrations with other apps and platforms, cohort-based courses, live webinars, and in-person community events in cities around the world.
So it’s time for our name to evolve and reflect what we’ve become:
The thing I’m most excited about is our newly launched Intermediate Newsfeed which I hope you’ve been enjoying.
What hasn’t changed
As a paying subscriber to RealTime Mandarin+ you now get access to a lot more resources. We’ll be sharing more about that in due course. But there’s also quite a bit that’s the same.
The free newsletter is still free.
It’s still a passion project.
And the mission remains the same.
This newsletter exists to help China watchers, language learners, and Mandarin enthusiasts understand contemporary China at a deeper level through the lens of language. In doing so, we help solve three big challenges:
Maintaining your language level
Improving your Chinese language skills
Staying up to date with the latest language trends, slang, and lingo
We do this by helping you stay motivated and inspired by learning in realtime, through real events, happening in the real world on the ground (and online) in China. We explain the context, the background, and the real meaning of what people in China (and the Chinese speaking world) are saying about the things that matter.
As a language learner, you know the unique challenges of learning Mandarin.
It’s a “context language” for a start.
So if you don’t know the context, you’re lost. And it’s normally that bit of context you need to know to “get” the conversation, the story, or the joke.
That crucial bit of context “everyone knows” except you, like:
The subject of a sentence that’s mysteriously disappeared
A new meme, pun, or slang phrase which defines a movement, or a new trend
An ancient poem, novel, or story that’s taken on new meaning subtly criticising the authorities
Just speaking and understanding Mandarin is not enough to really understand China.
As Geremie R. Barmé, preeminent Sinologist, long-time reader of and occasional contributor to this newsletter put it 15 years ago:
Speaking Chinese is neither necessary nor a sufficient condition for being “China literate”….
To speak Chinese is not to know China, there are many examples that can be found of people who speak Chinese to a high level but do not know how China works.
Depressing as that sounds, he has a point.
You can get pretty good at speaking and reading Chinese within a few years. You’ll probably find YouTubers telling you ”it’s possible within six months!”
But it takes a lifetime of learning to acquire the huge volume of knowledge necessary to understand what’s actually going on, and what’s often not being said.
I’ve been going for more than 20 years, and I’m more lost than ever!
Why we chose the brand, RealTime Mandarin
Let’s face it, anything is better than Slow Chinese🤮!
When I started, the idea was I spent time reading the news, going slowly, getting to the end (which is really hard!), understanding the background, and explaining it to you.
I went slow, so you could learn more and go quicker!
But that name really doesn’t capture the essence of what this newsletter does.
It’s learning through real events, as they happen, often discovering totally new words, phrases, and slang not in any textbook, graded reader, or even a dictionary.
It’s learning Mandarin in real-time.
We’ve also changed the strap-line too:
Contemporary Chinese in context
I think that says it all!
The one other thing we did keep is the Chinese name, which I love.
每周漫闻 měizhōu mànwén
It translates roughly as “every week” (每周), “go deep into the news” (漫闻).
So, now, finally, this newsletter does exactly what it says on the tin!
The new logo also captures the essence of how we do it: We spotlight one news story each week, exploring the context, and teaching you the language. The English serif font is the “newsy” part, illuminating the modern, distant, and slightly illusive Chinese font in the distance.
What’s next
You don’t need to do anything.
Just look out for the next newsletter from the new sender: Andrew - RealTime Mandarin.
The next one will land in your inbox tomorrow, on Saturday, just like the last 162 Saturdays!
Finally, if you’re as excited as I am about this, why not share with your networks and “on your socials!”
Here’s some blurb you can copy and paste:
Check out RealTime Mandarin - helping you learn contemporary Chinese in context. It’s the best place on the internet to maintain and improve your Mandarin, and keep your Chinese language skills up to date.Don’t forget to ‘@’ me on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Substack.
See you tomorrow!
Andrew
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Ps - If you want a sneak peak at what you have access to in RealTime Mandarin+ membership offering, read this.