We were lucky to catch up with Keren Liu recently and have shared our conversation below.

Keren, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

Traditional language education often emphasizes grammar explanations, memorizing vocabulary, practicing set dialogues, and doing grammar drills like formulas. These methods overlook the true purpose of language: to help us understand others better and communicate confidently.

One of my students came to me and said, “I’ve been learning Chinese for six months, but my Chinese friends don’t understand my Chinese, and I don’t understand theirs. I’m really about to give up.” After 20 lessons together, he shared a breakthrough moment: “Today, I went to a restaurant in New York’s Chinatown. When the server talked about us, she used the term ‘鬼佬’ (foreigner). Suddenly, I realized I understood everything she was saying! So I responded in Chinese, ‘I’m not a 鬼佬 (foreigner).’”

He is so confident now and he always tells me this: “I know your class works—comprehensible input has made all the difference!”

Keren, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Since I was 13 years old, I have wanted to be a teacher. During my teenage years, I realized that third-rate teachers pass some knowledge to you, second-rate teachers train your study skills, and first-rate teachers help you become truly confident (regardless of the subject he/she teaches). At 13, I aspired to be a teacher who uncovers the strengths of every student. After obtaining my Master’s in Education in the U.S., I have taught children, middle schoolers, high schoolers, and even Chinese to soldiers in the Department of Defense.

My clients choose me and my teachers for two main reasons: first, our unique teaching method based on Comprehensible Input allows them to communicate in Chinese naturally and effortlessly in a fun and relaxed environment; second, our humorous personalities. I remember during the pandemic when I discovered my boyfriend was cheating on me, and I couldn’t go out to meet friends. Whenever I felt depressed, I would teach a class, and after laughing for forty minutes with my students, I would immediately feel better! My students often say that I saved their Chinese, but in reality, they saved me.

What I want my current and future clients to know most is that our primary goal is not just to teach you a few Chinese words and sentences; we genuinely want to help you build confidence. When you truly believe you can learn Chinese, you absolutely can! Regardless of whether you have a teacher or who you study with, your trust in yourself is what matters most. My role is to believe in you before you even believe in yourself.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Building an audience on social media is really, really hard. Currently, I have 156k followers on Instagram and 24.5k on YouTube, but it took me several years to get here. I used to think that my success in building my social media presence was due to my humorous personality and expertise in language teaching. However, after helping three friends who failed to establish their social media presence, I realized that my resilience is the key. All of my friends followed my advice and worked seriously for three months, but when they didn’t see a surge in followers right away, they gave up. That’s where I differ from them: as long as I enjoy what I’m doing, I will never quit.

I started making videos in 2018 because the Chinese textbooks from the Department of Defense were just too boring. I began creating fun videos to help these soldiers review Chinese. I tried various styles and content to create comprehensible input-based Chinese videos, but nothing really took off on either YouTube or Instagram. It wasn’t until 2021 that short videos began to gain popularity on Instagram, and I felt this format suited me well. I’m very humorous and skilled at storytelling, able to deliver a punchline in 10 seconds, and I dared to teach crazy content that traditional Chinese teachers wouldn’t even think of.

After researching a lot about short videos, I started making my own. By early 2022, my short videos began to go viral. I remember gaining 30,000 followers in just one month in 03/2022. It took me four years to gain recognition, and today, if you search on YouTube, you’ll find that I am the first Chinese teacher specializing in Comprehensible Input. If I had given up in 2018, where would I be today?

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

What surprises me the most is that the resource that has significantly helped my entrepreneurial journey is actually my spiritual practice. By “practice,” I mean meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, and mantra chanting. This may sound crazy, right? But the truth is, the books I used to read taught me the “术” (an ancient Chinese term meaning “methods or skills”) for doing things, while my practice has taught me the “道” (a term from ancient Chinese Daoism, referring to the natural principles that govern all things).

For example, in order to help close a deal, I would read many psychology books to learn how to be more empathetic and persuasive, how to communicate without being emotional, how to be more tactful, and so on. However, during the conversations with my clients, I always forgot these “术（skills）.” But after practicing mindfulness, my mind became calmer, my self awareness significantly improved, and I developed greater compassion and patience for others. As a result, I naturally began to sense other people’s emotions and thoughts more clearly. When dealing with difficult clients, I was more peaceful and friendly. When facing challenges at work, I felt more confident that I could overcome them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.unconventionalchinese.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unconventional_chinese/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unconventionalchinese/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerenliu/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxqLWT3swHvP9_4bv7Qssxw