We’re excited to share that Mandarin Zest was represented at this year’s Asiaglot Conference in Taipei, Taiwan: one of Asia’s leading events for language educators and polyglots.
Our co-founder, Dorota, delivered a talk on using social media as a language immersion tool.
The conference brought together language enthusiasts from across Asia and beyond to exchange ideas and discover new learning strategies in an international environment and laid-back atmosphere.
Our co-founder, Dorota, took the stage to share the learning philosophy that guide everything we do at Mandarin Zest. Her speech “"Scrolling to Fluency: Using Social Media as a Language Immersion Tool" was directed towards language learners. The core was a message we deeply believe in: learning a new language is already challenging, so there is no need to make it harder than it has to be. Progress often comes faster when we work with our brains rather than against them, what also means making room for enjoyment and even a little guilty pleasure.
The key message was simple: you don't need to move abroad or sign up for an expensive immersion programme to surround yourself with a language. With the right setup, your phone can become an immersion environment of its own.
To illustrate this idea, Dorota shared a metaphor: the contrast between the "good student" language learner, focused on textbooks, grammar exercises, and perfect test scores, and the "bad student," who spends hours playing games in their target language. Ironically, it is often the second learner who develops greater confidence and real-world fluency over time.
As Dorota put it: "Languages are tools, not trophies. They help us access experiences we care about, even if that experience is simply scrolling TikTok in bed."
Dorota showed how learners can reshape their digital habits by following native creators, curating their social media feeds, joining online communities, and using short-form content to train their listening skills. The result is an approach to language learning that feels not only effective, but also natural and enjoyable.
Being part of Asiaglot was a wonderful reminder of why we do what we do. The festival reflects a belief that lives at the heart of Mandarin Zest: language learning is ultimately about people and discovering new perspectives.
We're grateful to the Asiaglot team for the invitation, to everyone who attended Dorota's session, and to all those who stopped by for a chat throughout the day.
