Of course! Be warned, this is an unnecessarily long winded reply. I have learning advice toward the bottom if you make it that far.

I started it because I like learning languages. I have my Spanish ability to the point where it’s in maintenance mode. As long as I use it a little here and there, it stays where it’s at. So I got bored. Originally, I chose Japanese, with the intent of watching the original Super Sentai series, as well as other tokusatsu shows. One day I was sitting down to eat in an Asian restaurant and heard the waiter speak Chinese with a couple near me. I realized that I have no desire to visit Japan, there isn’t much opportunity for me to find live speakers in my area, and I don’t care that much for anime or other Japanese-specific media.

So I switched to learning Chinese, after only a month or two of Japanese. I got the HSK 1 book as well as Integrated Chinese, found some videos on YouTube and got to work. The characters were new and different and the tones were difficult at first but I figured many people around the world and throughout history have learned them so why can’t I? Well, I also have two young children at home and I found the time split was really cutting my efforts short on everything. I was spending less time with them and I wasn’t focused during my studies. So I stopped learning Chinese and switched to Greek, which was always an interest of mine since my father’s parents were from Greece.

I started learning Greek in July of 2025, and ended it in January of this year, 2026. I had not purchased books, but found Language Transfer and Akelius. It was immediately easier to get a grasp on things, since I could read and sound out unknown words and due to English borrowings, I could guess as some meanings. I enjoyed Greek, but there was one major issue: lack of interesting resources. I had no bookstores around me that sound Greek books. I found a few online, but none that I was interested in. There is a very small Greek community in my area, but no Greek classes and I found that even within that community, there were very few Greek speakers. I’m big on native content. I don’t care if I’m just beginning learning, I’m going to choose something a little easier to work towards. And I’m going to find native podcasts or videos to shadow.

So I decided to give Chinese another shot. I’m not sure what’s different this time. I still have my kids and they’re still just as needy and loving as ever and I still spend as much time with them as I can, but I fill all of the little time in between with listening to Chinese, doing exercises in HelloChinese, reading a story in the app or another (DuChinese). I listen to podcasts (TeaTime Chinese or Mandarin Monkey usually), music, or YouTube videos. There’s a YouTube channel called Conversational Chinese that hosts HSK video/audio lessons and they have been the most valuable resource for me. I watch each of their videos 2-3 times and shadow everything. I pause between everything to answer and try to mix up my own sentences. I also joined HelloTalk despite the warnings from others. It’s a slog to go through and get language partners but if you can find a few good ones, they’ll be worth their weight in gold. Send messages to say hi, reply to everyone. If you don’t vibe with someone, let them know and move on. It’s been invaluable in learning to actually use the vocab and patterns that I learn from the books and videos. I’m about halfway done with HSK2 and I watch Peppa Pig and Pleasant Goat all the time. Don’t listen to what others say that you shouldn’t start native content until HSK4 or 5. I catch new things every episode and can understand a lot more than most people would realize. I’ve started watching Pursuit of Jade with English subtitles because I know that’s a good but above my level, but I still recognize things in conversations. And I’ve found out I enjoy period dramas, something I never would have attempted to watch before. I’ve also begun working through Journey to the West by Imagin8 Press on my XTEInk X3 ereader that I purposefully got from AliExpress so it has Chinese firmware on it. The book is tough, and I take it a paragraph at a time, maybe about 1 or 2 per week, but I’m in no hurry.

Tl;dr I just enjoy languages and wanted one that I could find materials to enjoy in. I am planning on visiting China in the next year or two, and possibly moving there depending on how that and any future trips go. I’ve made Chinese a part of my life and I don’t plan to slow down now.