How to learn from my coworkers?

Hello Jimmy. You haven't given us any clues about your age or your seniority within the company, but here anyway are a few perspectives from the viewpoint of an Auntie who spent several years working in an environment where nearly all her co-workers -- from interns to bosses -- were international assignees: 1. If you want to go beyond the "chit-chat at the water cooler"- type of connection, you have to induce them to want to "adopt" you. I don't know whether the "Helpless Chickbabe/ Helpless Auntie" technique works for men, but letting them see you scratching your head over your printouts of CPOD pdfs, and asking them for help ("中文太难了，真不容易“). The CPOD dialogues are so well-written, and so "real" (even at the lower levels), that your Chinese co-workers may be sucked in by curiosity to read the transcript. Eg. "Eh, Jimmy, what's the lesson about today? Beauty Pageant? No way! Let me see..." Even if you normally don't print out the pdfs, it could be worth a try. This Auntie once trained a PRC boss (he was a diplomat) to do the "grasshopper" thing, so that he was always coming up with little language nuggets that he knew I wouldn't know. Did the same thing with a French boss. But this had a lot to do with the fact that both men were the kind of bosses who enjoyed teaching; this Auntie's keenness to play the "student" role was like an outlet for that. 2. Co-workers who are "international assignees" are looking for -- and deserve -- an "international" experience, or the "US experience". So you won't regret doing everything you can to help them get "into" the American way of life. Eg. by inviting them into your home, inviting them to do normal American things and hang out with you and your American friends. One thing you need to be aware of is that it will probably be one-way, so don't be disappointed. Chinese people DON'T normally invite co-workers into their homes; having dinner with friends usually means going out to a restaurant together, rather than having them home to dinner. Language-wise, you will be speaking English on these occasions, and you probably won't get any invites to visit their homes, but you will be building trust and a certain comfort-level that will make it easier for them to let you into their Chinese lives. Hope something in there will be useful to you in some way! Good luck!

This has been a very productive learning strategy for myself, since many of my co-workers are Chinese. When I told them that I was learning Mandarin, they were more than willing to help me out both informally and with daily work interactions, by speaking Mandarin to me whenever possible, on the phone or leaving voice mail messages. When I was taking some lessons at college, they were also helpful in testing me on my pronunciation and giving me feedback on my assignments. Lately, my employer implemented an Immigrant Mentoring Program that connects me with Chinese professionals immigrating to Canada. I help them out with their resume and job search...they give me Mandarin practice. They also give me feedback on the accuracy of my tones and pronunciation...which is invaluable. You will find that real-life practice is quite different from listening to podcasts and will definitely give your skill level a big boost. Good luck. Let us know how it works out.

P/s: I have become the Auntie of a young Chinese guy who works at my neighbourhood 7-11 store, thanks to the CPOD pdfs. He loves them because -- as he says -- 可以反过来学！（”I can study backwards from them!") meaning that he gets a sense that he is learning English too. But you have to be savvy and only bother with Chinese people who will be a good fit with your own values and education.

I think you need a reason to use Chinese. If you know them and ask in a friendly way, ”你讲国语吗？“, watch their reaction. If they answer in Chinese and continue the conversation, you can probably continue in this manner. If not, you're probably better sticking to English, particularly in a work situation.

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. Agewise, 我二十九岁了. As for seniority, I'm pretty low on the totem pole, as in, I usually clink glasses for a toast with my glass at the very bottom. :) It's a bit hard to pull off the "helpless babe" routine, as I'm a bearded male, but I can probably adapt that to my situation.. I guess the main thing is overcoming shyness. With a Beijing taxi driver, it's forced, so that helps, but when I'm among very good English speakers the motivation is harder to come by. Thanks for your suggestions!