Hey everybody and welcome to another weekly email from the Language Vlog!

The temperature has finally dropped so when the humidity hits 78% here in Beijing it doesn't feel as bad, but it's still hot.

This past week we were able to publish and prep quite a few videos (thanks to taking Saturdays off to shoot them!) YouTube Shorts for the week included:

1. A weather update from Beijing (as per this email's intro!)
2. Golden Hour Sunset at Universal Studios - Taking a look around the Sunset Strip at the park as literally THOUSANDS of people mill about.
3. Universal Studios Beijing: Yay or Nay? - Is it worth to visit the park while on vacation? Or is this something that is for locals? Are places like Universal Studios cultural institutions, or are they just blatant commercialism? Just wondering...
4. Practicing Chinese Characters with LanTingJiXu (兰亭集序) - Years ago I bought a few sheets of thin onion-like paper for practicing my Chinese characters, but these are Traditional characters, not simplified. Anyway, the parchment I want to work on is called "Orchid Pavilion" written by Wang XiZhi. Though I have yet to start it!
5. Dinosaurs, Aliens and Human Languages - This thought struck me as I was making my way through the Universal Studios park: the first attempt at big life here in Earth was rather brutal. Big, vicious beasts that basically had every means and strength to eat each other. Not much talking going on back then.
6. What do you want to know about China? - And this short was asking viewers what they would like to know about living in China for so long. I've been here almost ten years now so I've learned a few things along the way. Let me know!

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As for the longer form videos we're working on, those include:

1. A Mid-Year Review (I hope to have this out this weekend!)
2. What is the HSK?
3. What are ESL Certifications?
4. Universal Studios Beijing

So those are some of the videos you can look forward to in the coming weeks. If you have any suggestions for videos, or even ideas for the topics above, please let me know.

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One other idea I want to try out is an audio-only podcast about language learning and the like. My thinking is that it would be a more free form discussion of the different topics that have already been discussed in some of my YouTube Shorts. My workflow thinking looks like this:

First Draft = YouTube Short

Second Draft = Audio-only podcast

Third Draft = Long form video

Fourth = YouTube Short

As a trial, I'm including an mp3 recording of this newsletter. Let me know what you think!

LISTEN NOW!

(This is a Google Drive link that should open up in a different browser. If you can't access it, send me an email and I'll email you a copy of the mp3.)

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Alright, I'll leave it there for this week. The team is busy sweltering through the rest of the Chinese summer, I understand Chongqing and Chengdu are even hotter than Beijing.

Please get in touch with any ideas or suggestions for future podcasts and videos! Is there anything you want to know more about language learning or living as an expat overseas?

Hope you're well!

Steve