Our Story: How It All Began and Where We're Headed

Hello, fellow Mandarin learners! 👋

We’re a husband-and-wife team working every day to create the best Chinese graded readers out there. (It’s an ambitious goal, we know.) Our dream is to provide fun, engaging reading materials for serious learners like you and to make Mandarin learning an immersive experience—no passport required!

This post is a deep dive into our journey: how we got started, the lessons we’ve learned, and where MandoLearn is headed. For anyone who loves a good behind-the-scenes story, grab your tea (or bubble tea 🧋) and join us!

The Spark: How the Idea of MandoLearn Began

It was winter 2020, the height of the pandemic. I was six months pregnant, finishing my master’s degree, and working from home in our little studio in Tempe, Arizona. With more time on our hands than usual, Song (my husband, who likes to go by his last name) and I dove headfirst into our hobbies.

My hobby? Language learning. Specifically, leveling up my Chinese reading skills.

I dreamed of being able to read Chinese novels and manhua effortlessly. But even with a degree in Business Chinese, there was still a huge gap between my language skills and native-level texts.

Graded readers and news apps helped—up to a point. But after reading a few, I’d hit a wall. The stories felt dry, and I found that the whole process had turned into a chore. On the flip side, native novels felt overwhelming and painful to read.

This endless cycle of frustration planted a tiny seed of inspiration: what if there were books that made learning fun again? Stories with clickable definitions, audio, and relatable themes—not just Chinese history or cultural tales (as much as I love those).

I started sketching logos, building a basic website, and drafting my vision. At that time, I was just visualizing what it would be like to build “MandoLearn,” but I didn’t plan to go through with it. With a thesis to finish and a baby on the way, the idea went on the back burner.

From Concept to Reality: The Early Days

Fast forward a few years. After giving birth, finishing my degree, and relocating to Taiwan for Song’s teaching job, life finally slowed down enough for me to revisit my old dream of MandoLearn.

Originally, the plan was for both of us to teach math at an international school in Taiwan. (Fun fact: yes, we both used to teach math!) But after four years of teaching high school in the US, I was completely burned out and ready to throw my TI-84 out the window. I’d always dreamed of starting my own business, so we pivoted: Song would take the teaching position, and I would take a year off to see if I could bring MandoLearn to life.

While Song worked long hours and our son went to preschool, I learned as much as I could. I spent my days learning everything I could about websites, SEO, and publishing. After our son’s bedtime, Song and I would sit down together and brainstorm—plotting stories, outlining levels, and building MandoLearn’s foundation on endless Google Docs and Sheets.

That’s when MandoLearn stopped being just my daydream and truly became our project—our second baby (with less crying, but just as much work!).

Our Guiding Principles: What Sets MandoLearn Apart

As we started crafting our readers, four key principles guided us:

1. Content for Taiwan Mandarin: When I transitioned from simplified to traditional characters, I struggled. Most traditional resources used Northern-style Mandarin, which didn’t align with how people spoke around me in Taiwan. That mismatch made it hard to adjust. We set out to create materials localized for learners of Taiwan Mandarin—a gap we were determined to fill.
2. Clickable Popups: Clicking directly on a word for a definition was a lifesaver in apps like TCB and DuChinese. We knew this had to be a core feature of our books. Why make learners struggle with a dictionary when a single click can help them keep the flow of reading?
3. Audio for Every Book: Pacing, intonation, and rhythm are crucial for language learning. So, every MandoLearn reader includes high-quality audio recordings to help you internalize the sound and feel of Mandarin.
4. Built Around the New HSK: When the new HSK framework came out, there was a noticeable lack of graded content aligned with it. We decided early on to adopt the new HSK as the standard for all our books.

Did we know what we were getting into? Not exactly. Balancing writing, audio editing, website management, content creation, and parenting has been a wild ride. But we wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Understanding Our Audience: Who MandoLearn Books Are For

We designed MandoLearn for serious Mandarin learners who aspire to:

• Pass high-level proficiency tests like the HSK.
• Achieve near-native reading skills.
• Enjoy reading in Chinese as much as in their native language.

If that sounds like you, you’re in the right place! 

Lessons Learned: A Humbling Start

When we released our first graded reader, My Beloved Umbrella, we thought we’d done a great job. We spent months perfecting the story, recording audio, and editing every detail…except for one: the cover.

After struggling to draw a professional-looking design, I gave in and generated one using AI. It looked decent enough, so we published the book.

Big mistake.

When someone shared our book on Reddit, the first comment called us out the AI-generated cover. Ouch. We felt so stupid. Here we were, pouring our hearts into every detail—writing the story, recording the audio, editing footnotes, and formatting the ebook ourselves—only for everyone to judge it by its cover.

It stung because we really cared about making a high-quality book. Every part of it (except the dumb cover) was our labor of love, done entirely by us. But that experience taught us an important lesson: no detail is too small, and first impressions matter. 

Looking back, that initial feedback was priceless.

Thanks to the support of people who still believed in us and purchased the book anyway, we were able to hire a talented artist to draw our covers. Their work brought our stories to life in a way we never could have on our own. 

Looking Ahead: What’s Next for MandoLearn?

We’re just getting started! Here’s a sneak peek at our plans:

1. Expand Offerings Across All HSK Levels.
   Our goal is to create at least one reader for each new HSK level, and eventually expand to offer multiple genres at every level. (We have so many plot outlines waiting for Song to bring them to life!)
2. Offer Diverse Genres for Every Learner.
   From romance to mystery to horror, we want learners to have options that match their interests.
3. Build a Learning Community.
   We envision a supportive community where learners share tips, inspire one another, and celebrate milestones together.

Join the MandoLearn Journey

If you’ve read this far, thank you. We mean it. Your support and feedback are what keep us going.

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Together, let’s make Mandarin learning more fun, engaging, and rewarding.

Thank you for being part of our journey. 💛

We’d love to hear from you! What kind of stories or features would you like to see in a graded reader? Let us know in the comments.