Some of you have inquired about what you can do to learn some Mandarin before we leave and/or possible resources out there that you might check out. Please see the below excerpt in a recent email I received from one of our grads that took a proactive approach to this trip and experience, and hence scored a job out of it:

“Hi Chris,

Things are going really well for both Matt and I. We have both been working hard at work and are starting to get a good understanding of whats going on at our company. The management and co-workers seem to really enjoy us being here. I know that a lot of the girls/guys we work with have improved their English just from conversations with them and listening the Matt and I talk. We also teach and English class one a week to some of our co-workers.

I have started listening to a Pod Cast called ChinesePod.com. It is meant for foreigners to help them learn Mandarin. But they also talk a lot about the culture. It does a very good job at describing situations that students will encounter while in China and how they should react, plus with the added benefit of what they might hear people say to them. I think it would be very beneficial for the students going on the trip this year to listen to a couple of episodes, not only to learn some mandarin but the learn more about how to interact with locals while they are here. Listen to a couple of episodes and let me know what you think.

…. You should add in there the best way to get the pod casts is to get itunes, then go to the itunes store and type in a search for ChinesePod. They will be able to download all the new and old episodes. If anyone has every down loaded a Pod cast before it is very easy to do. I would recommend that they download all the past free episodes and listen to them. There is only a couple of hours worth and they will learn a lot.”

FYI: click HERE to check out Matt’s China experience blog.