Personal Blogs

I noticed this young man - Viktor Axelsen - in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Viktor, 22 years old, from Denmark, won the bronze medal by beating Lin Dan（林丹）from China. Viktor started learning Mandarin in 2014.

In this video, he introduced himself in Mandarin, and you could see and hear he was a bit nervous as a beginner.


Here, you could see distance learning played a big part in helping him learn Mandarin and how Viktor disciplined himself in learning Mandarin during his training.


In the Rio Olympics, his Mandarin was so fluent that it took the Chinese audience by surprise.

Here he spoke naturally, fluently after he had just been beaten by Chen Long 谌龙 (gold medallist).


Has anyone inspired you in your journey of learning Mandarin?

Why do you think Viktor Axelsen manages to speak Mandarin so well in such a short time (I know, training sessions in China do help.)

But are there any more factors?

What makes you want to learn Mandarin?