{"id":12047,"date":"2020-07-07T21:38:30","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T19:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/?p=12047"},"modified":"2020-07-07T22:32:55","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T20:32:55","slug":"improving-your-chinese-while-watching-tv-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/improving-your-chinese-while-watching-tv-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving your Chinese while watching TV shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Watching TV is a great way to learn languages. It combines lots of useful Chinese words and phrases while providing rich context because of the visual nature of the medium.<\/em><\/p>\n

I, however, am not a TV person, regardless of language, even if I understand its benefits and uses. To help me cover this area of learning Chinese more thoroughly, the people over at That\u2019s Mandarin<\/a><\/span> wrote this article. It contains ideas about how to learn Chinese through TV, as well as plenty of recommendations for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners. If your favourite is not covered, please leave comment!<\/em><\/p>\n

Learning Chinese is a marathon rather than a sprint. Some of the most common ways to quickly improve your Chinese include making Chinese friends and watching Chinese TV programs. What you can benefit from watching Chinese TV shows (especially TV series) is that it allows you to get used to different accents and gain a deeper understanding of different people\u2019s speaking habits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Generally speaking, Chinese people prefer to watch comedies, or at least TV dramas with happy endings. It\u2019s perfectly understandable as young people in Chinese are constantly facing huge work pressure, and something relaxing and fun is what they need after work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, if you would like to consolidate your knowledge of Chinese by watching Chinese TV programs, there are a couple of popular Chinese TV shows that can be considered decent learning materials for Chinese learners of different levels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s Mandarin also recorded an audio version of this if you prefer listening instead of reading:<\/em><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Improving-your-Chinese-while-watching-TV-shows.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

The recommendations are arranged by level of proficiency:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Elementary level<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Intermediate level<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Advanced level<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/a><\/p>\n

    1. Elementary level<\/h3>\n

    Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: \u559c\u7f8a\u7f8a\u4e0e\u7070\u592a\u72fc (X\u01d0y\u00e1ngy\u00e1ng Y\u01d4 Hu\u012bt\u00e0il\u00e1ng)<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Since elementary level students can only understand simple words and sentence structures, there are not many TV programs available for you to watch in order to achieve your learning goals. Even some TV shows for kids contain a large number of advanced vocabularies and expressions which Chinese learners would find very difficult to understand.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u559c\u7f8a\u7f8a\u4e0e\u7070\u592a\u72fc (X\u01d0y\u00e1ngy\u00e1ng Y\u01d4 Hu\u012bt\u00e0il\u00e1ng): Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf is one of the very few cartoon series that can serve as a good learning material for elementary and lower-intermediate students.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    What is this program about?<\/b><\/p>\n

    This popular TV show is about interesting stories happening between a group of playful and smart goats and a humble wolf (Grey Wolf) who is constantly trying to hunt them in order to please his tyrannical wife (Red Wolf). In fact, this cartoon series is also extremely popular among young girls in China as they consider Grey Wolf an \u201cexemplary husband\u201d based on his submissive attitude towards his wife. The funny bits of this program are usually about how the agile goats manage to escape from the traps set by Grey Wolf.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Why is it a good choice for elementary and lower-intermediate students?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If you choose to improve your Chinese by watching this cartoon series, the main advantage of it in terms of Chinese learning is that each of its episodes contains a separate story and only lasts for 15 minutes, which means it is highly unlikely that your patience would be exhausted by the end of each episode.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In addition, the plots are easy enough to allow you to get a rough idea of each story even if you come across words and phrases that you are not familiar with when watching the program. A lot of conversations in the program contain basic but useful expressions that can be used in real life situations, which is another reason why it is an ideal choice for Chinese learners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Which words and phrases are particularly worth learning?<\/b><\/p>\n

    There are quite a few small talk phrases and words used for greetings that you should pay extra attention to when watching the program. Moreover, various grammatical structures that Chinese people often use to make imperative and exclamative sentences such as \u201c\u597d (h\u01ceo) + adj. + \u554a (a)\u201d (which means extremely\/so + adj.) are exactly what you need to improve your spoken Chinese.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n