Expat Corner: American learns, teaches Chinese

SHANGHAI: John Pasden is not like any ordinary foreigner in Shanghai. He's so keen on understanding China that he has decided to stay for the long haul, and according to Pasden, understanding a culture comes through knowledge of the language.

To say that Pasden, a 28-year-old American who has lived in China for almost seven years, has made an attempt at understanding China through the language is a modest claim. He teaches Mandarin at one of the world's most downloaded podcasts, Chinesepod. Pasden co-hosts Chinesepod's web-based language shows on the intermediate and upper intermediate level. He is the academic director.

Aside from that, he runs Sinosplice, which he calls "an apolitical China-centered weblog of observations on life and language".