Many people here may not be familiar with David Moser, the author of this article. He’s frequently mentioned in Douglas Hofstadter’s book Le Ton Beau le Marot (

Many people here may not be familiar with David Moser, the author of this article. He’s frequently mentioned in Douglas Hofstadter’s book Le Ton Beau le Marot (fantastic book on language and translation BTW) in regards to matters related to Mandarin. He was a well known (as Mo Dawei) in China’s xiangsheng scene (a verbal comedy routine, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangsheng#:~:text=Xiangsheng%2520(traditional%2520Chinese%253A%2520%E7%9B%B8%E8%81%B2%253B,popular%2520elements%2520in%2520Chinese%2520culture https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangsheng#:~:text=Xiangshen....) and is probably one of the most knowledgeable foreigners on Mandarin. He started learning it in college in mid 80s.