Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

Translator Interview: Brendan O'Kane. "Chinese-as-a-second-language teaching materials suck, for the most part, and don't really do much to prepare students for dealing with Chinese as a living language. (When asked my opinion of Chinese textbooks, I tend to rate them from ‘bad' to ‘less bad.') Once you get past a certain level, language environment is the real make-or-break factor — but I think there's a lot to be said for beginning one's studies overseas and coming over here as a relatively autonomous individual, as opposed to starting from scratch in China and getting into the habit of relying on English speakers or Chinese-speaking friends at the outset."