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French may be the language of love, but let's be pragmatic for a moment: very few people speak it in

China, so you'll need a better strategy for breaking the ice than dusting off your collection of compliments

from college French class. Which is why this lesson focuses on learning how to strike up a conversation

in mandarin.

In today's show we cover the basics of starting a conversation in Chinese, and you'll be using this stuff

every day so get it down. Once you've mastered this, we think you'll be surprised by the warmth of the

reaction. And while you can keep working on your French too, we think you'll discover that Chinese has

a certain je ne sais quoi of its own: one-fifth of the world's population can't be wrong.