About

Can a 40-something adult, with zero prior experience, become proficient in a new language?

Two years ago I determined to rebuild my teaching career by learning Mandarin Chinese. As a public school teacher, I wanted to place myself in the same position as my students, many of whom are learning English as a new language. I took this journey seriously, with the goal of achieving proficiency in Mandarin within five years. Now two years in, with low-intermediate fluency (HSK-3), I am ready to share my journey with others. Though this process I have uncovered profound incites about how to learn a new language. The purpose of this blog is to share with you what I have learned, what methods work best, and what it really takes to become not only fluent, but proficient in a new language. Can a 40-something adult, with zero prior experience, become proficient in a new language? You better believe it. And so can you!