About Eng Chan

Eng Chan is a Finance and Business Operations professional, with a passion for language learning and writing on the side. As a Canadian-born Chinese, whose first language is English, she became interested in learning Mandarin during university. Since then, her passion for learning the language took her to Taiwan, where she credits most of her Mandarin fluency. Eng is an avid traveler, who loves to experience different cultures and cuisines. Her favourite ChinesePod lesson is Meditation 冥想 -- a hobby that she recently took up.

Posts by Eng Chan:

5 Ways Watching TV Can Help You Master Mandarin

Eng Chan January 21, 2016

Who doesn’t love to watch TV? Whether it is a sitcom, romantic drama, crime thriller, or reality series, there’s usually a genre available for every taste. TV is often labeled a guilty pleasure – the more hours you spend in front of it, the guiltier you may feel. While wasting away those hours glued to the screen, a small voice at the back of your head whispers that you should really be reviewing the new vocabulary from your ChinesePod lesson, right? Well, for those of us learning Mandarin, there’s a way to enjoy watching edge-of-your-seat thrillers or tear-jerking romantic dramas without the guilt. At the same time, it will allow those new Mandarin words you just learnt really soak in.

The secret? Chinese dramas. Read more for my five tips for taking advantage of watching Mandarin Dramas to maximize on your language retention.

Three “Perfect” Mistakes to Avoid in Mandarin Learning

Eng Chan January 13, 2016

Wánměi完美. Perfection.

We all strive to achieve it, in various aspects of our lives, whether it be in our careers or relationships. However, just as in these other areas, in language learning, if we are constantly focused on reaching perfection, this focus can become a roadblock rather than a stimulus. While creating challenging goals may inspire you to study harder, striving for perfection can actually become counter-active to achieving successful results in the long term. Below are three “perfect” mistakes which I have seen many people make in their road to Mandarin learning (myself included), that cause you to lose confidence or feel discouraged, and ultimately, result in learning less, at a slower pace, and even Bàn tú ér fèi 半途而废 – giving up halfway. Read More