How to Use Media Resources to Improve Your Chinese
The goal of making the study of Mandarin Chinese enjoyable is universally desired, yet not always attained. However, immersing oneself in a new language via TV series, entertainment shows, and movies stands out as an exceptionally effective method for enhancing fluency in a captivating manner. There's a genre for everyone's taste in entertainment, and for those who might not be inclined towards traditional entertainment content, news broadcasts serve as a viable alternative. In this post, we explore the entertaining aspects of Chinese media, offering recommendations for shows and movies that can lighten your learning journey. We also delve into the more serious facet by examining how news programs can contribute to your language acquisition process.
Chinese Shows and Movies
Chinese shows are almost always with Chinese subtitles, some even provide official English subtitles on their Youtube channels. As many Chinese shows are shown on tv locally, it has become increasingly convenient to watch them and learn Mandarin in Singapore. Being attracted to the plot gets one motivated to learn the language to fully understand the essence of the story. In addition, many jokes in entertainment shows are only truly humorous if it is understood through the original language. Just Mandarin itself can be used to crack jokes. Watching shows is also an entertaining break from the formal Chinese textbooks and studying methods! Depending on the type of show, the audience is able to gain new knowledge, ranging from basic Mandarin to complex vocabulary.
延禧攻略 Story of Yanxi Palace
Set in the Qing dynasty, the story follows Wei Yingluo (played by Wu Jinyan), a palace maid who enters the Forbidden City to discover the truth of her sister’s death. In a palace filled with deceit, betrayal, and difficulties, Wei Yingluo used her courage and wits to overcome all and finally become the Imperial Nobel Consort, the highest title for someone of non-noble birth and supports Emperor Qianlong by his side.
This drama was named the most popular Chinese drama of 2018, and was shown in many countries including Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, United States, Australia, and Canada. Of course, the intense storyline, star-studded cast paired with great directing and screenplay are what makes the drama so successful. While being captured by the storyline, the audience is also learning about China’s traditional costumes and buildings. In addition, the way of speaking in ancient times is very much different from modern Chinese. This is rarely taught by Chinese tutors as we are living in the 21st century but learners can satisfy their interest through period dramas, learning a part of China’s language history, and also aid their understanding when watching future dramas of a similar genre.
明星大侦探 Who’s The Murderer
Currently preparing for its fifth season, this variety show invites celebrities to participate as casts in a murder case for each episode. There will always be one murderer and one detective while the others are characters embroiled in the case. The atmosphere gets pretty serious as the casting search for evidence, however, led by China’s famous hosts He Jiong and Sa Beining, they lighten the atmosphere through their witty jokes. In between laughs, the audience also finds themselves becoming the detective, getting sucked into the storyline and solving the case with the cast as they reveal more evidence. Often, each case comes with a lesson to be learned in the end. With carefully crafted sets (they even built a whole hotel for one episode!) and cases of various timelines and intricate details, this show is a must-watch for mystery lovers. The show is available with English captions on Youtube, start by watching season one here.
天天向上 Day Day Up
This long-running talk show has been on for over a decade! Consisting of five hosts, the show focuses on the importance of Chinese culture and social ethics, inviting celebrities, the minority group, and industry elites as guests on the show. Despite being a talk show, the program includes singing, dancing, acting, and interactions with the audience, creating a lively atmosphere. The hosts, from different age groups, also experience how industries operate, sharing their point of view based on their life experiences. The audience not only learns about Chinese culture but also the daily lives of workers from all walks of life.
极限挑战 Go Fighting!
With five seasons under its belt, this reality show aims to inspire its audience to overcome all difficulties and achieve their goals. Each episode has a certain social issue as its background, and a team of celebrities takes on various tasks to emerge as the final winner. What makes the show special is the celebrities’ capabilities to blend in well with the general public. It is common to see the public participating in the tasks, playing a key role in the development of the show. For example, the team has taken on roles such as courier, cab driver, kindergarten teacher, and even a window cleaner who hung 282 meters in the air. With each episode, they face harsh realities that are the everyday life of the public. While bringing laughter, the show also reflects the status quo of the current society.
非正式会谈 Informal Talks
This talkshow gathered foreigners from 11 countries and four hosts to talks about social issues in a debate style. Each episode has a specific issue which the participants are for or against. The topics include gender, educations, technology, and relationships. The youths from all over the world gather to speak on issues that are of concern to society, trying to find answers through active discussions, showing off a global point of view while enhancing the exchange of Chinese culture with that of their own. The show balances serious issues with humor, producing an entertaining talk show but also stimulating the audience to think about the issues. The foreign participants are very well-versed in the Chinese language, most of them had gone to school in China or are working in the country. This show can be a great driving force for those learning the language. When gathering knowledge and learning vocabulary, it also proves to learners that this level of fluency from foreigners is not impossible.
唐人街探案 Detective Chinatown
In this mystery-comedy, Qin Feng (played by Liu Haoran), a talented teenager travels to Bangkok to visit his uncle, Tang Ren (played by Wang Baoqiang) who claims to be the top detective of Bangkok’s Chinatown but turns out to be a swindler. Tang becomes implicated in a murder case of Sompat, the suspect in a gold robbery case. Unfortunately, Tang gets mistaken as the murderer who stole the gold. Together with Qin Feng’s talents, the two join hands to solve the case and clears Tang’s name. Humorous but with a hint of excitement, this movie is perfect to watch after a day of work or when lounging at home on the weekends when taking a break from studying.
Chinese News
Reading the news not only increases one’s vocabulary but also introduces formal terminologies. You get to be familiar with different sentence structures and tones – for example, the sentence structure, tone, and type of words used in the news are much formal than those in books and conversations. Readers get to learn about the current issues and learn Chinese at the same time, this is what we call 一石二鸟 (yī shí èr niǎo, killing one bird with two stones)!
南方周末 Southern Weekly
A weekly newspaper based in Guangzhou is considered the most outspoken newspaper and most one of the most influential media sources in China. Available online, it has a clean web layout with the main themes being “news”, “views”, “culture”, “people”, “images”, “special topics”, “lifestyle” and “videos”. With a variety of content, it makes reading the news much less boring. Readers can choose to explore the more relaxing news in the lifestyle and images sections. Southern Weekly is only available with Chinese characters, hence it is targeted at intermediate to advanced learners.
Aside from the traditional newspaper, Decipher Chinese is an app built for reading short news for learners. It includes over 300 articles that are of different HSK levels, providing a suitable level of reading for beginners to intermediate learners. It has a built-in dictionary, voice playback, and level hints which let the learner know that a particular word is of their fluency level. Pinyin is also provided with Chinese characters to give learners that extra push as and when they need it.
Chinese shows and news are not the only way to study the language but are merely tools to aid in improving the learners’ fluency. They should be coupled with the teachings of Chinese tutors to produce a variety of knowledge such as Chinese language basics, conversational jokes, and formal language usage. Global and locally made Chinese shows and news are easily accessible through the internet, making it much easier for one to study Mandarin in Singapore.