In a mildly confusing bit of podcast naming, Jared Turner sits down with comedian Turner Sparks.
Turner moved to China in 2004 to teach English, planning to stay for just one year. He ended up staying for twelve.
In this episode of You Can Learn Chinese, Turner talks about learning Chinese out of necessity, from struggling through everyday conversations with almost no shared language to using Chinese while building and running a business across China.
Turner shares stories from his years in Suzhou and Shanghai, including launching Mr. Softee ice cream trucks in China, navigating local government and business culture, whitewater rafting with Chinese officials, and stumbling into stand-up comedy when a local bar owner built him a stage and told him he had a month to prepare.
That hobby eventually became a career. After performing around Asia, Turner moved to New York City to pursue comedy full time, where his years in China, his Chinese-speaking wife and family, and the Chinese language itself continue to shape his comedy.
Turner’s path from English teacher to ice cream entrepreneur to full-time comedian is not exactly the standard Chinese-learning story. Join us for a funny and unpredictable conversation about China, Chinese, business, comedy, and the strange places learning a language can take you.
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Jared Turner. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Jared Turner och inte av,
eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.
