Mischa Wilmers, MA Journalism, Class of 2013, shares his memories and anecdotes from his time at Salford, and how his studies helped him develop his successful language-learning blog, imlearningmandarin.com. Mischa also tells us how his passion for storytelling sparked at Salford, where his quirky news stories were picked up by national news—including breaking the story of Salford’s answer to Batman, the Salford Night Warrior! His current venture tracks his Mandarin learning journey and has grown into the UK’s most engaged community for Mandarin speakers and learners, with members meeting for immersive language retreats, peer support and language guidance. 

Mischa taking a selfie with an elephant on his travels
Mischa on a trip to Thailand

Why did you choose Salford? 

I chose to study at Salford when MediaCity opened, and the BBC had partially moved to Salford. The Journalism course was based at MediaCity, so there was an opportunity to study in state-of-the-art facilities. I also met the leader of the course at the time, Steve Panter, a veteran journalist who worked for the Manchester Evening News for many years and wrote really interesting stories. I had a chat with him and was sold on the course. I was really interested in writing, so I thought studying at Salford with its cutting-edge facilities, led by a veteran journalist, seemed like the perfect opportunity.  

What are your favourite memories from your studies at Salford 

I have a few great memories from my studies at Salford. Firstly, we had to do a lot of coursework where we had to find our own stories. I was paired with another student, and we broke a story about someone called the Salford Night Warrior, a young man who would dress up like a comic book superhero and roam the streets at night, feeding the homeless, breaking up fights, and just doing good things. Through a contact I had at The Guardian, we managed to break the story, which then got picked up by the Manchester Evening News and eventually The Sun.  

I also remember writing my first successful blog when Bilbao came to play Manchester United in the Europa League at Old Trafford. I went to the game and the story of my mixed heritage, I grew up in Manchester and half of my family are from Bilbao, caught the interest of one of my classmates, who was doing a placement at the BBC. I was invited to be interviewed live on BBC Radio. At the game, I was at the Stretford end and when the final whistle blew, I noticed a bunch of people who had been wearing United shirts with Bilbao shirts underneath! I interviewed them for my blog which blew up, getting thousands of views, which was the most I’d ever had at the time. I was used to getting three views from my Mum and a couple of classmates! 

It sounds like the course encouraged you to have a great nose for a story. 

The Class of 2013 is the best advert for the course. Some of the graduates are top journalists now, like Dan O’Donoghue at the BBC. He’s asking the Prime Minister questions at press conferences. There’s also Liam Thorpe, who was the editor of the Liverpool Echo. There are several course mates at the BBC, and we all had a lot of amazing experiences. Our course was packed full of them.  

How did your studies at Salford prepare you for your career? 

After graduating, I worked as a freelance journalist in Latin America. After some time, I decided to take a break from journalism and ventured into the completely different field of higher education. I worked in this sector for about seven years. During that period, I thought I’d left journalism but recently, I’ve realised just how valuable the skills I learned during my time at Salford have been. The written communication skills I developed at Salford are crucial to the blogging and community building I do now.  

Mischa speaking to students in a small lecture hall
Mischa delivering a talk to students

Can you tell us more about imlearningmandarin.com? 

Whilst working in higher education, I had the opportunity to access discounted Mandarin Chinese classes because I was working as a career’s advisor, helping international students, many of whom were Chinese. I began going to these evening classes without taking it that seriously. When lockdown happened, I took up learning Mandarin Chinese as a serious hobby, just reading and listening to as much content as I could from my bedroom. I began blogging about my experiences, sharing my thoughts and providing advice for people who were in a similar position to me. Trying to get decently fluent in a new language like Mandarin was especially challenging!  

What successes have you had through imlearningmandarin.com? 

I think the best way to learn a language is to be immersed in it and it’s difficult to do that if you’re not living in that country. However, there is a lack of immersive opportunities for a Mandarin Chinese learner who is living outside of a Chinese speaking country. Noticing this gap in the market, I started hosting events and they became more popular than I expected them to be. We’ve expanded into doing longer retreats, and we’ve just sold out our two-week immersive summer camp coming up this summer and we’re going to be hosting more the following year. I also do one-to-one coaching with Mandarin learners, regularly meeting them to guide them and help them improve their strategies for learning Mandarin. 

Mischa and his language learning cohort smiling for a group photo
Mischa (Centre) and other members of a previous Mandarin retreat

Have you had any feedback from people who engage with your content? 

Generally, people find it extremely valuable because it’s the only time when you get to have been completely immersed in the language at all times. From my own experience, which a couple of people have also experienced, after a few days immersed in a language, you start to dream in the language, which is something I have written a blog about after our last 3-day summer camp. 

What advice would you give to someone wanting to create engaging content about something they are passionate about? 

My first piece of advice is to start doing it. That’s the most important step. Then, think about which medium you’re most comfortable with. Are you someone who’s always enjoyed speaking out loud, or do you prefer taking your time to craft written content? Choose which method you gravitate more towards and start there. There are a lot of tools online that make it extremely easy for anybody to start their own blog or podcast like WordPress or Spotify. Tools like these are ‘idiot-proof’ for people like me who aren’t very technical. 

Try to think of a niche which makes your story a little bit different to other people’s. If I made a generic ‘I’m learning a language blog’ it probably wouldn’t have performed as well, but I explored the niche of being a British guy trying to be confluent in Mandarin without being in a Chinese-speaking country but trying to immerse themselves anyway. It’s a different angle that isn’t the most common thing out there. I think that makes my blog more interesting, so think about what makes your niche! 

If you’re passionate about something, your story will be different to other peoples, so lead with that. 

It was fantastic to speak to Mischa about his journey and wide-reaching career. If you’re interested in learning a new language, check out both Mischa’s blog and the University Wide Language Program, which offers courses in Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Italian and more.

If you would like to share your story, we would love to hear from you. Please get in touch at alumni@salford.ac.uk.