Train Your Mandarin Speaking Muscles
— The Science-Based Way

Stop freezing up or translating in your head.

Over the next month, you’ll train the real skills behind fluency—speed, automaticity, and clear communication.

Based on the Nation Method, this challenge will teach you how to:

Turn familiar grammar and vocabulary into smooth, natural speech
Balance meaning-focused communication with fluency development
Build daily speaking habits that make Mandarin feel more automatic

Thirty days of focused, science-based speaking practice designed for real progress.

Struggling to Speak Mandarin Smoothly?

You understand Mandarin. You know the grammar, the words, and the tones.

But when it’s time to speak, something happens: you freeze, hesitate, or start translating in your head.

That’s not a lack of knowledge. It’s a lack of fluency—the ability to pull what you already know out of your brain automatically, in real time.

That’s what The Fluency Project is designed to fix.

Over 30 days, you’ll follow a science-based system that trains both the accuracy and speed of your speech. You’ll practice expressing real ideas clearly, then train to say those same ideas faster and smoother, using focused repetition and timed tasks.

You’ll use short, focused speaking tasks to build both speed and clarity — the real foundation of fluent Mandarin. Every

exercise follows the Nation Method, balancing two kinds of practice:

Meaning-Focused Output (MFO): Learn to express ideas clearly and naturally in Mandarin.
Fluency Development (FD): Train your speed, rhythm, and automatic recall through structured repetition.

These two strands work together to move your Mandarin from “I know this” to “I can say this.”

By the end of the challenge, you’ll feel a noticeable difference every time you speak. More flow, less hesitation, and far greater confidence when using the language.

Introducing the November 30-day Challenge:

The Fluency Project

with your coaches...

Christine Shen

Christine is an experienced Chinese instructor with two master’s degrees in language teaching. Over her career, she has taught high-ranking managers in major companies, and she currently teaches diplomats, providing instruction from basic daily Chinese to advanced professional language. Her extensive background in language education and hands-on experience with diverse professional clientele allows her to offer tailored and practical lessons. She is passionate about helping students achieve fluency and confidence in Chinese, empowering them to excel in both personal and professional contexts.

John Renfroe

Before co-founding Outlier, John got his Bachelor of Music at Berklee College of Music, and then studied Linguistics and Paleography in the Graduate Institute of Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University. He co-founded and later ran the Taipei Classical Chinese Reading Group, a weekly reading group consisting mostly of graduate Sinology students from western universities. His coursework and research focused on excavated Warring States bamboo texts, historical Chinese character morphology, and the Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字 and its commentaries and criticism.

What you get when you join

Daily Speaking Practice

You’ll get clear, guided speaking tasks for each day of the challenge. No guessing, no “uh… what do I say?” Just record, submit, improve — step by step.

Guided Fluency Drills

You’ll train speed and automaticity with proven drills (like timed retells and 4-3-2 repetition). These exercises are designed to make your Mandarin come out faster and with fewer pauses.

Real Communication Tasks

You won’t just repeat sentences. You’ll tell stories, justify opinions, propose solutions, and react to real situations — the way you actually need to speak in real life.

Community and Support

You’re not doing this alone. You’ll listen to other learners’ recordings and respond to them, so you’re getting real interaction, not just talking to a screen.

Targeted Instructor Feedback

Each week, you’ll get focused feedback on high-impact mistakes that are actually holding you back (tense use, word choice, clarity). No giant red markup — just what to fix next.

Lifetime Access

Each song comes with downloadable vocabulary lists, grammar breakdowns, and links to audio and video. You’ll have everything you need to review, revisit, and reinforce what you’ve learned—on your own terms, on your own schedule.

Who is it for?

Mandarin learners struggling to speak

If you find yourself hesitating, translating in your head, or losing your train of thought mid-sentence, this challenge is designed to get you speaking faster and with more confidence.

Students at the "Intermediate Plateau"

You’ve got a solid foundation, but your spoken Mandarin hasn’t caught up with your comprehension. The Fluency Project gives you the structure and training you need to move forward.

Anyone who wants to build real speaking habits

This isn’t about memorizing scripts, but about daily, guided practice that builds speed, rhythm, and automatic recall. If you’re ready to train consistently and see measurable progress, you’ll fit right in.

What you'll achieve:

By the end of this 30-day challenge, you’ll:

Speak Mandarin more smoothly and naturally, with fewer pauses and less hesitation.
Build automatic recall so the words you already know come out faster and more easily.
Gain confidence in real communication, not just textbook dialogue.
Develop daily speaking habits that make continued progress second nature.

This challenge is about consistency and training — not magic tricks — and the results you’ll feel will come from showing up and doing the work.

Here’s what the challenge entails:

You’ll complete a few short speaking tasks each week, designed around the Nation Method’s 50/50 balance of meaning-focused output and fluency development.

Each task is practical, clear, and guided. You’ll record yourself speaking, reflect on your performance, and respond to peers.

You’ll also receive targeted audio feedback from your instructor on key areas for improvement.

Expect to spend about 20–30 minutes per day: enough to make steady, visible progress without overwhelming your schedule.

Everything you need—prompts, model recordings, and clear instructions—is provided inside the course platform.

By the end, you’ll have the structure, confidence, and rhythm to keep improving your Mandarin long after the challenge ends.

For just $97, you'll get:

30 days of guided speaking practice designed around the science-backed Nation Method.
Structured daily tasks that balance fluency training and real communication.
Model recordings and phrase lists to help you speak clearly and naturally.
Targeted instructor feedback on your biggest improvement areas each week.
Peer interaction so you can listen, respond, and learn from others.
Lifetime access to all materials, including prompts, audios, and future updates.

Just 30 minutes a day or less is all it takes.

You’ll get everything you need to finally make speaking Mandarin smoother, faster, and more natural, one day at a time.

Don’t wait—enrollment is open now, and registration closes November 1st.

Ready to Train Your Mandarin Fluency?

You’ve got the knowledge, now it’s time to train your speaking skills.

Join The Fluency Project and spend 30 days building real, automatic fluency through short, structured tasks that fit easily into your day.

No shortcuts, no gimmicks, just focused, research-backed practice that works.

Start date: November 1st
Daily time commitment: 30 minutes
Total duration: 30 days

The investment in your tonal transformation is just $97 — equivalent to a couple of sessions with a professional tutor.

And lifetime access means you get to keep everything, even after the challenge is finished.

Click the "Sign Up Now" button below to sign up today.

Learn Mandarin through Song Lyrics

The Fluency Project

Learn to speak Mandarin more smoothly and confidently with short, structured tasks that train both clarity and speed—guided by the science-based Nation Method.

100% risk free - 30 day money back guarantee

Here's what you get:

30 days of guided speaking practice based on the Nation Method
Daily exercises balancing communication and fluency training
Model recordings and example scripts for every task
Weekly targeted feedback from your instructor
Peer interaction and community accountability
Lifetime access to all materials and future updates

Just $97

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I access the challenge?

Mobile, desktop, laptop, tablet... The challenge is super user-friendly and you'll be able to log on from anywhere!

What level of Chinese is this for?

This challenge is designed for upper-beginner to intermediate and advanced learners, roughly around HSK2 and above.

If you can understand Mandarin in conversation but struggle to respond quickly or smoothly, this is for you. You don’t need to be advanced, but you should already know basic sentence patterns and be able to say simple things on your own.

If you’re past the beginner stage and want to sound more natural and confident when speaking, you’ll get a ton out of this challenge.

What exactly will I learn? How will this challenge help me?

You’ll learn to speak Mandarin more automatically, using the words and grammar you already know — without stopping to translate or overthink.

Over 30 days, you’ll practice two key skills every fluent speaker has:

1. Meaning-Focused Output (MFO): learning to express real ideas clearly and naturally.

2. Fluency Development (FD): training your brain to retrieve and say things faster, through structured repetition and timed speaking drills.

The result: you’ll stop hesitating, gain rhythm and flow, and build confidence every time you speak. It’s not about memorizing new words, it’s about activating the ones you already have.

I'm not sure I can commit for 30 days.

Your daily tasks should only take 30 minutes. The principle of the challenge is, "do a little each day and big results will follow." 30 minutes is a pretty manageable amount of time to devote to your Chinese.

You can break it up into 5 minute chunks throughout the day:

• 5 minutes after breakfast

• 5 minutes on your lunch break

• 5 minutes before dinner

• 5 minutes while waiting for the bus

• 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there...whenever is convenient for you!

The secret sauce is the consistency - working at it for a little bit of time every day. You'll be amazed at the massive progress you make from simply showing up every day to give focused attention to one aspect of your Chinese!

What if I decide the challenge isn't for me?

All of our products come with a 30-day money back guarantee. If you are unsatisfied with it for any reason, reach out to me at any point during the challenge and I'll issue you a full refund.

What if I can’t attend the live sessions?

No problem—everything is recorded and included in your course access. You can go through the materials at your own pace.

How long will I have access to the course?

Forever. Once you enroll, you get lifetime access to all materials, audio, subtitles, and recordings.

What exactly does "lifetime access" mean?

In practical terms, it means the course materials will be available online for as long as Outlier is in business. If we do ever go out of business or otherwise need to remove the course for any reason, we'll make the material available for you to download for a period of at least 6 months.