Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks, Michael King

Hi Anthony! First, I have never claimed that my site is “comprehensive”. I write about how to learn Chinese and don’t provide any learning materials at all. Still, I have been working on a section of the site that will share useful resources, so you could head over to the beta-version of that section and see if you find anything you like. You can find listening material for beginners here. If you’re not a beginner, you need to change to “intermediate” or “advanced”.

Yet another fine post. Honestly, it is amazing how spot on your posts are as it relates to experiences I’ve had as well. Not to mention, without having read your article, having adopted many similar tactics (i.e. often watch 非你莫属 and 非诚勿扰, taking in many different speaking styles, etc., etc.).

What you mentioned here is so so so important for all Chinese students to know, otherwise, we will continue to have those crushing moments in the learning experience where we can’t understand anything outside of the classroom, or outside of “one particular” person, and thus feel studying Chinese is an exercise in insanity.

Another key is what you mentioned, we can’t adopt the attitude that only “标准普通话” is accurate and deserves to be studied, otherwise, one will have a very, very hard time living and especially working in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. Perhaps we must think of “标准普通话” as a foundation on which to build on, but not the “only” building material in our “Chinese house”. As you mentioned here, we must use “diversified building materials” to build this “Chinese house”, and this must include as you mention lots of different media sources… and talking to lots of locals outside the classroom.

Lastly, so true on what you mentioned with the “Chinese tests”. I remember something a very, very experienced HSK teacher once told me… “If you take my class, I guarantee you can pass the HSK at any level, however that in no way means you will be able to understand everyday Chinese people speaking Chinese!”…. wow! That was a wake up call at the time and has proven to be oh so accurate.

Mind you though, in no way does this mean we should “avoid” the HSK or other Chinese tests, as they most certainly have their place… and if you are looking to get a higher paying job in China, or you want to get in to a Chinese university where classes will be taught in Chinese not English, you have no choice… you must take the HSK as a part of entrance/application requirements.

Conclusion, as Olle you’ve posted here… we all need to cultivate a very “dynamic” and “open” learning style, be it different dialects, accents or the more formal “标准普通话” used for the HSK tests, or news broadcasts… we need to study it all and slowly but surely be familiar with it all.

Of course this takes time… thus Chinese for many reasons love the phrase “别着急，慢慢来” and one other phrase that saved me from insanity early on in the Chinese learning process which a teacher taught me when I just wanted to give up: “不怕慢，就怕站”. When it comes to studying Chinese I think that is one the best sayings we can all memorize.

Last two, sorry… they just came to mind as I’m typing this and they are on topic: “好事多磨” and “贵在坚持”。These are all phrases which I’ve heard when discussing and thinking about how long and hard it can be to study Chinese. Yet, each phrase will perhaps give us that extra like boost, so we just don’t quit… we’ve all come this far studying, why quit now? Right? ; )

Thanks Olle for another great post.

Nommoc