murrayjames on July 9, 2014
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 :)
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