Best American Mandarin Society Podcasts (2024)

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157. Unlocking the Real You in Mandarin 38:38

1M ago38:38

38:38

You've heard Angela share her struggles with trying to improve her Mandarin, being at a loss knowing simultaneously too much and nothing at all, it seems. She's also explicitly said that there is a clear market for creating a resource for Mandarin speakers born outside of the motherland, but that she wouldn't be the one making it!...well, she's off…

1
156. The Path Towards Inner Peace 17:58

2M ago17:58

17:58

How do you go about seeking inner peace for yourself? We've spent many past episodes diving into mental health and self-growth. But as we strive to improve ourselves, how can we also embrace all that we currently are - the good and the bad? We individually found frameworks that helped us cope with the stresses of everyday life. Jesse found his calm…

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155. How I Found My Voice Playing My Mom in A Movie ft. Lydia Bai 22:49

2M ago22:49

22:49

What's it like to not only have an Olympic gold medalist mom but also have the chance to play her in a movie in China alongside the likes of Gong Li?! In this episode, we speak with Lydia Bai, a former Stanford volleyball star turned investment banker, now life coach, who had the rare opportunity to completely shake up her life and fly to China for…

1
154. Seeking the American Dream Abroad 16:41

2M ago16:41

16:41

As the pandemic recedes, the dream of remote work forever has also shrank. But for those who can still telecommute, the allure of planting roots elsewhere has become "the writing on the wall." Reports of Americans moving abroad have historically centered on an older demographic looking to stretch their retirement savings. However, this new cohort o…

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153. Tip, Tip, You Pay! 19:54

3M ago19:54

19:54

Look, we think service and gig workers should be paid a fair wage for their work, but at what point did that responsibility shift to the consumer instead of the employer?!In this episode we talk about how egregious tipping culture has become in the US, regardless of the level of service you actually received. We compare and contrast with tip-less c…

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152. Hello Grief, My Old Friend 19:57

3M ago19:57

19:57

Our relationship with grief changes as we get older. The range of loss we learn to absorb over time is so large - so where do we learn how to cope? In evaluating ourselves, we find that most of our responses to loss are unique, individual responses. Growing up with families that did not necessarily express much emotion, we weren't able to learn a m…

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151. A New Blueprint for the Modern Family 19:03

3M ago19:03

19:03

Family structures have changed throughout time and vary depending on which part of the world you're from. Recent surveys done by Pew Research in the US suggest that prevailing attitudes towards the institutions surrounding families have changed. The importance of family and marriage have dramatically transformed over the last few years. Some of the…

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150. Three Body Problem Netflix Review 24:45

3M ago24:45

24:45

Netflix has finally released its highly anticipated adaptation of the beloved sci-fi series "The Three Body Problem," and we're giving you our honest review from the perspective of someone who binged the entire book series as well as from someone who had no previous exposure to the trilogy at all. **This is a minimal spoilers review. We only discus…

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149. Fake It Til You Make It: Taiwan Edition 20:39

3M ago20:39

20:39

We've talked about the culture shocks & challenges we've faced being American-born kids visiting the motherland (in our case, Taiwan), but all of those experiences have only been in the context of short-term vacations. What's it like trying to do "real" things like applying for health insurance, opening a bank account, and other "grown up" things i…

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148. House Hunting: New York vs. Kyoto 27:52

4M ago27:52

27:52

What's it like to search for and buy a house in the US vs. in Japan? Jesse purchased a co-op apartment in New York City two years ago, and Angela bought a house in Kyoto last year. In this episode, we compare and contrast everything from the search process, to contracting/making an offer, to renovations, and everything in between. Would you rather …

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147. Election Scaries: Taiwan Edition 16:23

4M ago16:23

16:23

Did you know that there was a presidential election in Taiwan this year? While election madness is just starting in the US, it's already finished in Taiwan. The results have significant impacts on how the current major parties in Taiwan will govern in the future. While the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) candidate, Lai Ching-te, came out ahead…

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146. Is Democracy Worth Saving? 22:51

4M ago22:51

22:51

Do people around the world still believe that democratic institutions represent their best interests? Recent survey data reported by the Guardian shows that a portion of younger respondents favor more autocratic governments. A quick look around the world, and you can see more extreme political factions taking root in many nations. Does this instabi…

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145. Is It Polyamory Or Just Being Selfish? 15:39

4M ago15:39

15:39

Are polyamory and open relationships becoming popular in modern society?! ...or is the media just presenting it that way and enabling problematic people to co-opt the concept of polyamory to justify their bad behaviors (i.e., cheating, using people, etc.)? Inspired by a recent read of the New Yorker article entitled "How Did Polyamory Become So Pop…

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144. Moving Abroad & Moving In Together 18:33

5M ago18:33

18:33

It's the Year of the Dragon y'all and we're looking to tap into that energy of success, power, luck, and excellence as we wade through the new changes that 2024 has to bring. In this episode, we share our respective big new life updates - namely that Angela has decided that she'll be moving to Japan in 2 years, and Jesse is imminently moving in wit…

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143. Starting Again 18:57

7M ago18:57

18:57

The end of the year means that we're at the start of a fresh new beginning! It can be so exciting to start the year fresh, but new life chapters can be daunting! Coming into the holidays, we've decided to reflect on how we've progressed this past year. There have been so many changes that have happened to us - change in locations, careers, and soci…

1
142. Canton Kiwi ft. Henry Yuen 29:23

7M ago29:23

29:23

What do you get when you take a Hong Kong-born kid, move him to New Zealand for the next 13 years, and then have him cross over the ocean to the US as an adult? ... this episode's guest, Henry! You, our dear listeners, asked us to share more and different types of Asian diaspora stories beyond the US, and we listened! In this episode, we hear about…

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141. Odd Man Out ft. Nick Anderson 30:45

7M ago30:45

30:45

What made a white college kid from the midwest decide to move to the other side of the world to live in China?! In this episode, we're joined by Nick Anderson, an LA-based Mandarin teacher who spent his formative young adult years living in China and other Asia-Pacific countries learning and teaching Mandarin. We talk about what that experience was…

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140. Asian Kids Trying to Gentle Parent 17:51

7M ago17:51

17:51

Have you ever wondered what parenting in 2023 looks like? Are more parents disciplinarians or have more parents found their way to gentle parent? Our topic in this episode, gentle parenting, is a newer approach to raising children. Instead of the more traditional authoritarian approach that we were raised by in our own childhoods, gentle parenting …

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139. Y U No Friend 19:25

7M ago19:25

19:25

Finding new friends is challenging at any age, but it seems to get particularly more difficult as we get older. As we age out of experiences and environments that are more conducive to socialization (i.e., school), we naturally find less opportunities to make friends. Even in areas like the workplace, most people seem less open to making friends ou…

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138. Modern Problems for Modern Baby Making 21:57

8M ago21:57

21:57

Modern science has truly come a long way with regards to fertility and alternative ways to start families. However, even with these science-aided options like surrogacy and egg freezing/IVF, women are still forced to think about their options with regard to whether or not they want to have children when they are in their mid 20s to mid 30s. Since A…

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137. Because You’re Worth It…? 18:16

8M ago18:16

18:16

Even though we're pushing towards our mid-30s, finding a healthy sense of self and self-worth can still be challenging. Sense of self and self-worth can be tied to the different types of validation we look for in life. Some of that validation comes from external factors - career, relationships, and personal history. Other types of validation come f…

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136. Boo, Bitch! 24:16

8M ago24:16

24:16

It's time to get scary again! Since y'all loved our scary stories from Asia episode last year, we're coming back at you with new stories from the Eastern world! Grip the edge of your seat as Jesse recounts the haunting adventures of a Taiwan-based shaman. Will he successfully help out a distressed young man, or will he be caught up by the paranorma…

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135. Therapy for the Asian Diaspora ft. Harry Au 41:40

8M ago41:40

41:40

Harry Au is a therapist specializing in working with Asians in the diaspora, often 1.5 and 2nd generation Asians who are either immigrants themselves, or children of immigrants. In this episode, we discuss how Harry was motivated to dedicate his life to this work after seeing the benefits of working out his emotions in therapy for himself, and the …

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134. Quarter Life Crisis...Again?! 21:06

9M ago21:06

21:06

How do you define "meaning" or "value" in life? In the US we often put work above all else, thinking that career success and status is supposed to give you some sort of meaning in life, or that work is supposed to be your ~passion~. But is that really the case? Now that we're in our 30s with enough work and life experience under our belts, we're st…

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133. Settling Down But Not Settling 16:48

9M ago16:48

16:48

There are so many things about getting older that suck. But does getting older always mean settling down? Is there even a universal meaning to the phrase, "settling down?" Aging means thinking about what the future stages of our lives will look like. Some types of adventures decrease as we get older, to be replaced by other life experiences. In thi…

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132. How Do I Chinese Again? 17:21

9M ago17:21

17:21

Many children of immigrants grew up learning their parents' language as their first tongue. Our first language was Mandarin, but like many other immigrant children, this was quickly supplanted by English. Despite attending Chinese School every week from the ages of 5 to 18, our current level of vocabulary and reading/writing skills are sadly on par…

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131. Made in Taiwan ft. Clarissa Wei 47:26

9M ago47:26

47:26

Clarissa Wei is a Taiwan-based food journalist and author of the new cookbook "Made in Taiwan," out now. Clarissa was inspired to use this cookbook as a vehicle to tell the stories of the people of Taiwan, and to shine a light on how the history of Taiwan -- from its various waves of immigration pre- and post-1949 to its all-time-high modern politi…

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130. What’s Your Definition of Happiness? 16:49

10M ago16:49

16:49

There's a whole industry built around finding shortcuts in experiencing happiness, but do things in life actually make us happy or is it how we experience them that creates happiness? To complicate the subject further, happiness is a different experience for different people. Even in experiences we choose to repeat, we may find that our experience …

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129. Ya Boy Was In Taiwan 17:39

10M ago17:39

17:39

Jesse recently went back to Taiwan for the first time since before the pandemic. Although for less than ideal reasons (the death of his grandfather), he was grateful for the opportunity to reconnect with his extended family back in the motherland. We also hear about Jesse's shenanigans going out solo to experience LGBT nightlife in Taipei by himsel…

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128. Why I'm Probably Retiring in Asia 21:49

10M ago21:49

21:49

After living abroad in Japan and Korea the last year, Angela's recent reverse culture shock coming back to the US has your co-hosts wondering why there's such a drastic difference in the quality of life between the US and many (East) Asian countries. In this episode, we talk about just how different our respective experiences were abroad with regar…

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127. Embrace Your Culture... But Not Too Much 14:34

12M ago14:34

14:34

This 4th of July, we're pondering our Americanness from a different angle. As Taiwanese-Americans - in our case, born and raised in the U.S., with parents and extended family who were born and raised in Taiwan - to what extent should we be emphasizing the "Taiwanese" part of who we are? Inspired by frequent comments we receive on social media from …

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126. The Korean Adoptee Experience ft. Kristen Meinzer 40:55

1y ago40:55

40:55

Kristen Meinzer is a force to be reckoned with. She is an award-winning podcaster with millions of downloads, a culture critic who frequently appears on TV (especially to talk about the royal family!), and an author whose book "How to Be Fine" was an Audible #1 Bestseller in 2021. Aside from her incredible career, Kristen is also a Korean adoptee. …

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125. What Do We Owe Our Parents As They Age? 17:28

1y ago17:28

17:28

We've talked about how and why our relationship with our parents is complicated. But as our parents get older, what level of emotional, financial, and logistical support do we owe them in the time they have left? While the topic of eldercare has always been sensitive, being the child of immigrants brings specific challenges into the equation. Despi…

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124. Creepy Men, Can You Just Not? 32:21

1y ago32:21

32:21

In this episode, we unpack our experiences with creepy men. Creepy men often approach unexpectedly and at times where we are seemingly just going about our daily lives. The "jump scare" appearance of creepy men often happens without consent and can trigger crippling fears around potential sexual violence. But what is it that empowers creepy men to …

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123. Media Representation: From Token Gay to Everyone's Gay 14:50

1y ago14:50

14:50

Do you think the LGBT community is authentically portrayed in modern media - both from a quality representation standpoint, and in quantity of characters and storylines? In this episode, we talk about what authentic representation means to us. Is more representation always good representation, even if the characters are not well written and don't m…

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122. Are We All Too Sensitive? 57:56

1y ago57:56

57:56

The US seems to be more divided than ever today. Especially when the topic at hand is a sensitive issue that has to do with identity and human rights, it's understandable that people are passionate about their positions. In this episode, we explore a number of controversial topics that have provoked vehement debate and division, and pose the questi…

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121. Outgrowing Your Childhood Traumas 18:05

1y ago18:05

18:05

So much of your experience as a child influences you as an adult. Having grown up in a typical Asian immigrant family, we felt like we never received the love that we wanted. But how should we carry that experience forward in an evolved way? In this episode, we dive into how we can unlearn childhood trauma. Childhood trauma can express itself in ad…

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120. Where’s the Soul of the Modern City? 16:25

1y ago16:25

16:25

New York, Tokyo, London, Seoul - what do current modern metropolises have in common, and how does the speed of modernization change the flavor that each city brings to the table? We look at how modernization of cities can change the cultural landscapes that give big cities their personalities. Angela recounts her recent experiences living in Tokyo …

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119. Lost in Translation, Literally 18:21

1y ago18:21

18:21

How deeply engaged can you be with a country's culture without being fluent in the local language? Can concepts of culture be divorced from language, or will there always be something missing without a linguistic understanding? In discussing our Asian identities, we've always known that we don't quite fit in in the motherland. The local cultural nu…

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118. Searching for Parental Love 16:25

1y ago16:25

16:25

Growing up in an Asian family can feel like you're starved for attention all the time. You can never get the same exact "love" that you see your non-Asian friends at school receive. But looking back, maybe there was love - we just didn't know how to see it at the time. While we were looking for words of praise or a close friend relationship with ou…

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117. Perpetual Foreigner Wherever I Go 17:45

1y ago17:45

17:45

Angela has been a digital nomad for the past 2 years, and half of that time has been spent abroad in countries where she is quite literally a "foreigner." However, this episode is dedicated to reflecting on her recent experience going back to Taiwan (her family's motherland) as an adult with her husband and non-Taiwanese in-laws, and all the ways s…

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116. The Cultural Impact of HMart 17:02

1y ago17:02

17:02

We've chatted many times before on the pod about how food has such an intimate connection with culture. Food can evoke so many strong memories and strengthen the feeling of connection with your culture. So as one of the main sources of Asian groceries in the US, what does HMart's meteoric rise in the US mean to us as Asian-Americans? In this episod…

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115. Will ChatGPT Take Your Job? 17:49

1y ago17:49

17:49

Have you heard of ChatGPT, the new AI chatbot that's been taking the world by storm? What exactly is ChatGPT and how is it different from past AI bots? Why is everyone so excited about it? Does it really have the ability to replace people's jobs?! In this episode we break down what ChatGPT is in the simplest, "normal" people terms, discuss the vari…

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114. I’ve Got A Crush On You 14:52

1y ago14:52

14:52

What is it about relationships and love that pique so much interest in all of us? We know that our listeners love to hear about topics related to our love lives, but what's so interesting about these topics anyways? In this episode, we chat about the mystery of love and why the idea of love has such a hold on the imagination. We believe our listene…

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113. Going Down the Rabbit Hole: Alice in Borderland 29:07

1+ y ago29:07

29:07

Hot take: the Japanese sci-fi series "Alice in Borderland" is a better version of Squid Game (and came out first!) Netflix's "Alice in Borderland" Season 2 dropped at the end of 2022 and we need to talk about all the wild things that happened. The show is centered around main character Arisu who's stuck in a dystopian world in which the majority of…

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Ep. 24: Comedian Olivia Xing discusses her Party School special, ESL comics and how to handle bombing on stage 51:07

1+ y ago51:07

51:07

Olivia Xing is an actress, standup comedian, artist and student based in LA, and she recently did a one-hour comedy special called Party School where she told jokes about China, the US, politics in both countries, and the immigrant experience. 00:00 Teaser 00:44 Intro 02:48 How Olivia got started with her Party School comedy special 08:19 Chinese d…

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112. Is Gwen Stefani Japanese? 15:06

1+ y ago15:06

15:06

Gwen Stefani created quite the controversy in the US when she recently doubled down on her claim that she "is Japanese," but for the most part, actual Japanese people and those outside of the US don't understand what all the fuss is about. In this episode, we revisit Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers past and pick apart why claiming Asian culture & id…

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111. Wait, Gift Giving Has Rules? 17:19

1+ y ago17:19

17:19

It's the final episode of the "season!" And what better way to close out a holiday season than to talk about quirky things around gifting? Giving gifts is such a fun part of any culture, but it can be governed by many invisible rules you might not be aware of. With our Asian upbringing in mind, we recount typical gift-giving situations amongst our …

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110. 2 Partners, 1 Therapist 45:59

1+ y ago45:59

45:59

How much do you know about couples counseling or couples therapy besides what you may have seen in trashy reality TV representations? To us, it feels like couples therapy is still a rather taboo subject, despite the idea of individual therapy gaining more mainstream acceptance. So what do you do when your relationship is facing repeated issues that…

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Ep. 23: (Mandarin) Weibo co-founder Indigo on China's startup scene, NFTs, life in Japan/Vancouver 48:41

1+ y ago48:41

48:41

Indigo was co-founder of Sina Weibo, or China’s Twitter. After Weibo, he started doing angel investments and incubating new projects. One of his main investments included the largest off-line art selling platform in China. Recently he got into the world of web3 and NFT. He writes a blog about frontier tech, and teaches online courses on stock inves…

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American Mandarin Society Podcasts

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