What are good chinese drama/movies for learning chinese?

[krystals]

Hi

I'm currently on very early stages of learning Mandarin Chinese, getting used with tones, basic structure and other things. However it's pretty difficult for me to get chinese accent. Like one that textbook's audio had.

Do you know any good dramas/movies for learning? I want to learn to speak chinese with Mandarin accent like native speaker, and at the same time I could expand my vocab, grammar and listening and of course speaking skill.

Thank you.

[imron]

Check out the TV series recommendations thread.

[krystals]

Check out the TV series recommendations thread.

Thanks for the link! Is that can be downloaded with english sub?

Do you have any other list? (that download link w/ eng sub can be found anywhere)

also, I don't quite understand it yet, which one's the original chinese/mandarin accent? I notice there's different kind of accent/speech listed (like wuxia, beijing, northen rural).

Thanks, sorry if I asked a lot since I'm new to this forum and basically I'm a very beginner at learning chinese.

[imron]

They aren't different accents.  Wuxia is sort of like kungfu and warriors in times past.  Most of those series will have standard Mandarin or mostly standard Mandarin accents.

 

I don't think any of them have English subs.

[Demonic_Duck]

I think s/he's referring to renzhe's post #4 in the thread, which does mention dialects (though as you said, wuxia isn't one of them).

 

• Beijing dialect - seen as being fairly standard, though a few non-standard words and phrases are used colloquially. The main difference is that Beijing dialect tends to use a lot more 儿化音 - that is, the adding of an "-r" sound at the end of certain words. In some contexts, this is seen as standard (as in “一点儿”, which you can learn in any beginner's Chinese textbook you care to name), but in others it is distinctly dialectical (for example, “字儿”, “狗儿”, which no self-respecting textbook will ever teach you).
• “Northern rural” - most northern dialects are also seen as fairly standard, though rural areas often use certain different vocabulary items in colloquial speech. I'm not too familiar with how people speak in rural areas, but the classic/stereotypical example is replacing “我” (wǒ) with “俺” (ǎn).
• Taiwanese accent - most likely your average Taiwanese TV show will predominantly be using fairly standard Taiwanese “Guoyu”, which is a slightly different standard from Mainland “Putonghua”. That said, despite a few differences, most notably in vocabulary (cf. American vs. British English), it's generally a fairly easy-to-understand accent, and speakers tend to enunciate better than their counterparts in Beijing.

Assuming you're mainly looking for listening practice, I wouldn't say you should avoid any of these - in fact, I'd say listen to anything that you can understand enough of to be valuable, and the more diversity the better (in China, not everyone speaks like a newscaster; in fact, no-one speaks like a newscaster, with the possible exception of newscasters themselves). That doesn't mean you should go around imitating everything you hear, though - if you start calling yourself “俺”, people will probably find it hilarious but a little odd. Take into account the background of the character. If you want to sound like a professor, imitate the professor character; if you want to sound like a truck driver, imitate the truck driver character.

 

Also from post #4 in that thread:

E = English subtitles available

[renzhe]

In that thread, I tried to give a concise summary of what to expect from each series in terms of difficulty, subtitles, vocabulary, etc.

 

The notes in the brackets simply list some aspects specific to that show that might trip some people up. Sometimes it's a strong dialect, sometimes it's just a lot of financial or kungfu vocabulary. I didn't follow any strict rules there.

 

Also note that some of the threads are several years old and that download links might not work anymore. Nowadays it's far easier to find dramas on youtube.

 

Of the ones we covered in the First Episode Project, I still think that Fendou (Struggle) is the best one for learning, mostly because it covers all sorts of everyday situations, uses everyday language, and has excellent discussions, transcripts and vocab lists.

[krystals]

In that thread, I tried to give a concise summary of what to expect from each series in terms of difficulty, subtitles, vocabulary, etc.

The notes in the brackets simply list some aspects specific to that show that might trip some people up. Sometimes it's a strong dialect, sometimes it's just a lot of financial or kungfu vocabulary. I didn't follow any strict rules there.

Also note that some of the threads are several years old and that download links might not work anymore. Nowadays it's far easier to find dramas on youtube.

Of the ones we covered in the First Episode Project, I still think that Fendou (Struggle) is the best one for learning, mostly because it covers all sorts of everyday situations, uses everyday language, and has excellent discussions, transcripts and vocab lists.

Thanks for replying I'd like to ask some question if you don't mind. I've read the list more carefully this time, so you didn't provide the download link for the video and I have to google it?

Where I can find the subtitle if some of the threads with english subbed video links not works?

Any other rec beside Struggle? Maybe ones with shorter episode.

[krystals]

I think s/he's referring to renzhe's post #4 in the thread, which does mention dialects (though as you said, wuxia isn't one of them).

• Beijing dialect - seen as being fairly standard, though a few non-standard words and phrases are used colloquially. The main difference is that Beijing dialect tends to use a lot more 儿化音 - that is, the adding of an "-r" sound at the end of certain words. In some contexts, this is seen as standard (as in “一点儿”, which you can learn in any beginner's Chinese textbook you care to name), but in others it is distinctly dialectical (for example, “字儿”, “狗儿”, which no self-respecting textbook will ever teach you).
• “Northern rural” - most northern dialects are also seen as fairly standard, though rural areas often use certain different vocabulary items in colloquial speech. I'm not too familiar with how people speak in rural areas, but the classic/stereotypical example is replacing “我” (wǒ) with “俺” (ǎn).
• Taiwanese accent - most likely your average Taiwanese TV show will predominantly be using fairly standard Taiwanese “Guoyu”, which is a slightly different standard from Mainland “Putonghua”. That said, despite a few differences, most notably in vocabulary (cf. American vs. British English), it's generally a fairly easy-to-understand accent, and speakers tend to enunciate better than their counterparts in Beijing.

Assuming you're mainly looking for listening practice, I wouldn't say you should avoid any of these - in fact, I'd say listen to anything that you can understand enough of to be valuable, and the more diversity the better (in China, not everyone speaks like a newscaster; in fact, no-one speaks like a newscaster, with the possible exception of newscasters themselves). That doesn't mean you should go around imitating everything you hear, though - if you start calling yourself “俺”, people will probably find it hilarious but a little odd. Take into account the background of the character. If you want to sound like a professor, imitate the professor character; if you want to sound like a truck driver, imitate the truck driver character.

Also from post #4 in that thread:

I used CCTV channel as my reference...no one in china speaks like that? I thought it is standard-mandarin native speakers dialect. I assume it would be great if beginners introduced to diversity of dialects but...

Since I'm not familiar yet with dialects nor can differentiate them what kind of dialect I should take a close look (a mandarin chinese used internationally) so then speaking people who used various dialects could understand what I'm saying?

When I googled cdrama on sites like dramafever or searching random cdrama, I have no idea what language is that. Is that mandarin or taiwanese/ cantonese/anything, what accent/dialect it use....I don't know which one is the best for expanding vocab and practice speaking/listening. (I've heard speaking/listening/vocab is really important for people to understand what you're saying since in some case they can spell it but not write it?).

It's pretty difficult for me when listening and speaking.

Whenever I speak I sound like speaking chinese with my mother tongue accent, no chinese accent.

[Demonic_Duck]

What I mean is that someone might speak like that if they were giving a highly-polished presentation, but they wouldn't speak like that in their daily lives.

[grawrt]

 

Any other rec beside Struggle? Maybe ones with shorter episode.

 

You could try 家有儿女, they're only 30 minutes long.

[renzhe]

I used CCTV channel as my reference...no one in china speaks like that? I thought it is standard-mandarin native speakers dialect. I assume it would be great if beginners introduced to diversity of dialects but...

It's standard in the sense that the government woud like everyone to speak like that, not in the sense that everybody actually does. It is a prestige dialect, understood by everybody, spoken by quite a few, and many people would LIKE to speak like that, but the reality is that very fw people speak so perfectly. Think of BBC English in the UK, or High German in German-speaking areas.

 

That's why it can be a bad idea to train exclusively with CCTV materials -- you will run into many many people who will sound different, so exposure to different accents is important. But in the early stages, it's a good idea IMHO to stick to CCTV and textbook stuff, to develop an ear for the language and an idea of how you're "supposed" to talk.

 

Thanks for replying I'd like to ask some question if you don't mind. I've read the list more carefully this time, so you didn't provide the download link for the video and I have to google it?

There are download and streaming links in that thread (posts #2 and #3), linked under "Emule" or "torrent". You will need appropriate software to download, and they might not work anymore. If you click on the "Discussion" link after the show's description, it will take you to a thread dedicated to that show and there is usually much more information in there, with more links.

 

If none of the links work, try searching on youtube.

 

家有儿女 is a good choice for short episodes and relatively simple language. There are also transcripts, so you can work your way through them slowly, making sure you understand each sentence.

 

For accent, try to repeat what they say over and over again, closely mimicking the pronunciation. It works surprisingly well if practiced regularly.

[Demonic_Duck]

Just make sure you don't imitate how 刘星's biological father talks and you'll be fine.

[krystals]

You could try 家有儿女, they're only 30 minutes long.

Hi thanks! But I'm sorry......is there another drama rec (mandarin ones)? Preferably with fewer episodes ~up to one hour airtime or maybe movies?

Can't seem to find download links with eng sub, youtube cover only first episode, it seems. But I've found transcript and vocabulary list from this forum and I can use that for study material.

[krystals]

It's standard in the sense that the government woud like everyone to speak like that, not in the sense that everybody actually does. It is a prestige dialect, understood by everybody, spoken by quite a few, and many people would LIKE to speak like that, but the reality is that very fw people speak so perfectly. Think of BBC English in the UK, or High German in German-speaking areas.

That's why it can be a bad idea to train exclusively with CCTV materials -- you will run into many many people who will sound different, so exposure to different accents is important. But in the early stages, it's a good idea IMHO to stick to CCTV and textbook stuff, to develop an ear for the language and an idea of how you're "supposed" to talk.

For accent, try to repeat what they say over and over again, closely mimicking the pronunciation. It works surprisingly well if practiced regularly.

So is it better and safe for beginner to learn this accent first? Since as you say, try to figure out how I'm 'supposed' to talk.

That's why I'm searching for drama/movies with no particular dialects though

or at least the standard dialect commonly used that everybody who use any dialect understand (is it beijing dialect?) Or there's CCTV dialect used in drama/movies?

Is mimicking the way they talk really works for pronunciation and accent?

Sorry if I ask too much, thanks for replying.

[renzhe]

So is it better and safe for beginner to learn this accent first?

IMHO, yes.

 

You might be worrying too much. Pretty much every show you find will use rather standard language, with a bit of slang thrown into it. People rarely speak perfectly like newscasters, but they also rarely speak so poorly as to be unintelligible

 

Is mimicking the way they talk really works for pronunciation and accent?

Yes.

[easternodyssey]

If you wan't TV series with English subs, I would just go to viki.com and find a TV series that will entertain you and as others have said tends to be in standard Mandarin. However, if you want to practice acents I would either pick a regional TV station from the list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese-language_television_channels and depending on the accent you like and your prefered geographical region play the channels live braodcast, or video for 30 minutes a day and listen to the sound. There is also this website which has short sound samples of regional Chinese accents http://phonemica.net/map.

 

However, other people may disagree but it sounds like your getting ahead of yourself and overcomplicating things, especially as your only starting the learning process. Unless your some kind of voice couch, your going to struggle learning any accent without the hours of listening and speaking that comes naturally through the learning progress. Chinese is a hard enough language as it is, without overcomplicating things. On the other hand it also sounds somewhat pointless, if your learning with the hopes of living and working in China your going to want to learn to understand different regional accents, but not be able to train your voice to speak a regional accent. Think of Standard Spoken Mandarin as Queens English, or BBC English and Lower Yangtze Mandarin as Geordie. If you can speak Queens English the whole of the UK and overseas countries can understand you. However, if you speak Geordie not only will most of the overseas English comminties not understand you, but you probably going to find it hard to find somebody English who understands you. It's no different in Mandarin, many of those accents the various speakers of Mandarin cannot understand each other so therefore it's best to stick to standard spoken Mandarin the kind that appears on TV just like Queens English on the BBC.

 

Sinica did a podcast with the creater of Phonemica last year which explains Chinese regional accents in a little more detail http://popupchinese.com/lessons/sinica/shop-talk-with-phonemica.

[Cici Burger]

I watched a movie called 饮食男女， an old movie by 李安. Daily life Chinese and simple words, good for Chinese learners to watch.