kamjacobsen on June 26, 2014 | reply

How do you "read" spoken Chinese?

murrayjames on June 27, 2014 | reply

Hello haasnootgertjan,

Have you tried Popup Chinese? It's terrific!

Warm wishes,

murrayjames

haasnootgertjan on July 9, 2014 | reply

nice community guys! absolutely no help at all...

@murrayjames: go be funny somewhere else, can't appreciate this

@kamjacobsen: yes you can "read" spokenchinese. When you chat you will mainly use spoken chinese, but instead of saying it you write it down. children books are a great example as well, as they are used to learn kids to "speak" mandarin. I just can't find these kind of resources to supplement my studies. (besides popupchinese ofcourse) :P

murrayjames on July 9, 2014 | reply

hassnootgertjan,

I'm sorry! From your first post I wasn't sure you were a user here. My reply was tongue in cheek, but serious.

Many beginners start with textbooks, which can be useful, but the dialogues are stilted and too far removed from the way Chinese people actually talk. I like Popup Chinese because the dialogues are believable. Add transcripts, and Popup is exactly what you asked for--an online resource to read spoken Chinese.

Here are some other suggestions:

* Chatting, as you mentioned, is conversational Chinese written down. QQ is the most obvious place to start. Starting a 微博 account (a microblogging service) or 微信 (called WeChat outside of China) are two other possibilities. These services are all online and have tens of millions of users.

* If your Chinese is at the intermediate level, start watching programming (TV dramas, movies, cartoons, etc.) in Chinese. The great thing about China is that virtually all videos online are available with Mandarin subtitles. The includes everything from children's cartoons and talk shows to Hollywood movies. I watched (and read!) 喜羊羊 when I first came to China and learned tons of vocabulary that way.

Video sites:

http://v.baidu.com/

http://www.tudou.com/

http://www.youku.com/

http://www.pps.tv/

Most of these services have apps available for iPhone and Android. US/European videos with Chinese subs can be hard to find if you live outside of Mainland China.

If you're looking for suggestions on *what* to watch, here's a suggestion I made at the forums here a few months ago:

http://popupchinese.com/community/murrayjames/%E5%B0%B8%E5%85%84%EF%BC%9Aan-upper-immediate-chinese-cartoon-for-adults

Also see the "Chinese Television" page at chinese-forums.com:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/forum/16-chinese-television/

* Video games, especially RPGs, contain huge amounts of written dialogue. I played "Zelda: The Minish Cap" in Chinese（塞尔达传说：神奇的帽子）two years ago and had a blast. For video game recommendations and download links see:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/32078-the-grand-gaming-project/

Hope this is more helpful :)

haasnootgertjan on July 12, 2014 | reply

I had one last question though,

can you recommend other sites where i can find those sweet gba roms? cause I used the sites on chinese-forums but for some reason im not able to download the roms :(

murrayjames on July 13, 2014 | reply

Have you tried 百度知道 ? A search for "gba rom" will have pages of results.

Look for posts with a lot of upvotes, and check anything you download for viruses.

EDIT: This might be what you're looking for:

http://games.tgbus.com/default.aspx?nid=3&

haasnootgertjan on July 10, 2014 | reply

Thnx for your helpful comment! I'm sorry for my previous comment. It was late at that time, and as you can't see each others face, I was not sure if you were making a joke. As a result I maybe replied a bit harsh. Anyway, thnx again for these AWESUM links! I especially like the link where I can find chinese video games! XD

warm whishes,

haasnootgertjan

iaing on July 9, 2014 | reply

haasnootgertjan on July 10, 2014 | reply

And thank you as well iaing, this is an excellent compilation of useful study material!

I wish you all the best!

haasnootgertjan

huyilin on July 9, 2014 | reply

Excellent post, iaing, thanks!

iaing on July 12, 2014 | reply

huyilin, no prob. Thank you for the transcripts of some of the advanced lessons. As an aside, I am looking at transcribing Beijing Air Pollution. Have you done any work on this? If not, I can start/do.

huyilin on July 13, 2014 | reply

Hi, iang! Funny you should mention this: I was going to start with the transcript for "Thoughts on Hong Kong" in the next few days, finally have some time, so go ahead with the Air Pollution lesson! Enjoy!

1141588113 on November 15, 2014 | reply

hello!~ i am a chinese , and i relly want to make friends with english speaker . my email is 1141588113@qq.com . and you can improve your chinese . i can improve my english .haha

1141588113 on November 15, 2014 | reply

just speak a language aloud , that is the best way to improve you spoken chinese . hello!~ i am a chinese , and i relly want to make friends with english speaker . my email is 1141588113@qq.com . and you can improve your chinese . i can improve my english .haha