Self-Expression Course Launch ft. Crystal Hsia: What ABCs Actually Need to Know | Real You Mandarin Podcast EP08

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When Crystal and I sat down to record this episode, we finally got to share the secret we'd been sitting on for months up to that point. We'd been building a brand new course together called Real You Mandarin: Self-Expression, and this episode is where we tell you everything about it, what it covers, why we made it, and why it's different from anything else out there for heritage Mandarin speakers.

Why We Built This Course

The new course is called Real You Mandarin: Self-Expression, and we launched the first part of it during AAPI Heritage Month in 2025 (the course was recently completed in Feb 2026). The timing felt right to announce during AAPI Heritage Month last year because this course is fundamentally about helping American-Born Chinese (ABCs) and American-Born Taiwanese (ABTs) find their voice in Chinese.

Here's what pushed me to make it. I talk to friends all the time who say the same thing: they can only express basic things in Mandarin, especially about deeper topics like their own emotions. They can say things like happy, sad, angry, and that's about it. I realized a few months ago that I couldn't even say "excited" in Chinese. I wanted to tell my cousin I was excited about something and just... couldn't. That's when it really hit me how much vocabulary we're missing for the emotions and experiences that actually define our adult lives.

Crystal brought something to this project that no other course has. She's been teaching Chinese-American and Taiwanese-American learners for years, starting with Taiwan's Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) program and now through her work at the University of Southern California (USC). She told me that plenty of Chinese materials exist that are written for heritage learners, but almost none are written from the perspective of a heritage learner. That's what makes this course different. Crystal reached out to me specifically because she was intrigued by the prospect of working on something rooted in the actual experience of heritage speakers, not just in the theory of how to teach one.

What the Course Covers

The course has five modules, and the topics covered came directly from survey feedback we received from students of our first course (Real You Mandarin: Beginnings) plus requests on social media. These aren't topics we picked from a textbook. They're the conversations our community asked for:

1. Expressing Your Feelings (表達自己的感受 / 表达自己的感受 / biǎo dá zì jǐ de gǎn shòu)

2. Interpersonal Relationships (人際關係與動態 / 人际关系与动态 / rén jì guān xī yǔ dòng tài)

3. Fertility Journey and Parenting (生育與教養 / 生育与教养 / shēng yù yǔ jiào yǎng)

4. Caring for Aging Parents (照顧年邁的父母 / 照顾年迈的父母 / zhào gù nián mài de fù mǔ)

5. Self-Growth Journey (自我成長旅程 / 自我成长旅程 / zì wǒ chéng zhǎng lǚ chéng)

The first module on expressing your feelings has eight lessons covering everything from happiness and positive emotions to anger, fear, embarrassment, and jealousy. Crystal described it as building a treasure chest of emotional vocabulary you can pull from whenever you need it.

What's Different This Time

Two big changes from our first course. First, this course includes both Traditional and Simplified Chinese. We heard loud and clear from ABCs who only read Simplified, and we made sure nobody gets left out this time. Second, you can buy modules individually. If you're only interested in one or two topics, you don't have to buy the whole thing.

Crystal shared something during this episode that gave me 心裡有一股暖流 / 心里有一股暖流 / xīn lǐ yǒu yì gǔ nuǎn liú / a warm feeling in my heart. She said that in all her years of making teaching materials, this collaboration felt different because it was built from the perspective of someone who's been through it. That authenticity is what we're going for. This course isn't about perfection. It's about helping you find your own voice in Chinese. If this sounds right up your alley, try a free lesson now.

Key Vocab From This Episode

自我表達 / 自我表达 | zì wǒ biǎo dá (self-expression)

合作 | hé zuò (to collaborate / to work together)

推出 | tuī chū (to launch / to release)

情緒 / 情绪 | qíng xù (emotions / feelings)

解鎖 / 解锁 | jiě suǒ (to unlock)

問卷調查 / 问卷调查 | wèn juàn diào chá (survey / questionnaire)

教材 | jiào cái (teaching materials)

陸續推出 / 陆续推出 | lù xù tuī chū (to roll out gradually)

These are all words from the actual episode, not textbook vocabulary, but the kind of words that come up when you're talking about real life in Mandarin.

Ready to Go Deeper?

If this episode resonated with you and you want to go deeper, this is exactly the kind of content we cover in our course Real You Mandarin: Self-Expression. It's 5 modules, 43 video lessons, and 1300+ flashcards covering everything from expressing your emotions and navigating interpersonal relationships to parenting, aging parents, and self-growth. Basically, all the conversations that actually matter in your life.

Not sure if it's for you yet? Try a free lesson first. No commitment, just a taste of what learning Mandarin can feel like when the content is actually relevant to your life.

Get the Full Transcript

Want the full transcript of this episode in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Pinyin, and English with key vocab highlighted? Check out our Podcast Transcript Membership. Or download the free EP1 transcript to see what it's like.

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