Greetings! I’m an ABC (American Born Chinese) and like many ABC’s today, I’m embarking on the journey of “connecting with my roots”. This is part 2 of my “ABC Learns Chinese” series. In part 1, I dished on a few methods I use to help improve my reading and writing skills. Listed below here are a few things I use to train my Mandarin Listening and Speaking!
C-Dramas/Movies/Variety Shows
I‘m going to be honest, this is what got me interested learning Chinese in the first place. BUT, there is a caveat with using this method to learn Chinese: picking up Mandarin from watching dramas and variety shows only works if your Mandarin is already at conversational level or higher.
Why is that so?
From personal experience, I’ve watched plenty of Korean dramas and variety shows. But did I learn any Korean? Nope. And that’s because I didn’t know any Korean to begin with, hence I all I was doing was mindlessly listening to Korean dialogue while completely relying on English subtitles. If anything, I probably improved my English reading skills while consuming K-dramas.
So, based on my experience with K-drama, I think it’s imperative some foundational knowledge of the Chinese language is present to expect any improvement while consuming Chinese content.
Okay, now for the fun part: RECOMMENDATIONS!!
Dramas/Movies
Chinese dramas/movies are usually separated into historical and modern-day. Period pieces are great, don’t get me wrong, but they aren’t the best for learning Chinese because the vocabulary usage is a bit archaic. Hence modern-day ones is the best way to go!
A few of my favs:
- Better Days(少年的你)
- The Captain (中国机长)
- A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好)
- Dating in the Kitchen(我, 喜欢你)
Variety Shows
Variety shows for me are actually the best way to pick up Chinese! That’s because all the dialogue is just a normal, day-to-day conversation, allowing me to pick up native phrases. I usually watch variety shows without English subtitles, because unlike movies or dramas, missing a few phrases won’t ruin the whole experience. By doing so, I often find myself subconsciously looking at the Chinese subtitles, thereby improving reading skills as well!
A few of my favs:
- Day Day Up (天天向上）
- Where Are We Going, Dad? (爸爸去哪儿)
- Back to the Fields (向往的生活）
- Street Dance of China (这!就是街舞）
- Idol Producer (偶像练习生)
- Dance Smash (舞蹈风暴)
Music
Music is a great tool to passively or actively learn Chinese. Just by listening to Chinese songs and singing along, you are able to practice pronunciation.
One way to actively learn Chinese from songs is to study the lyrics! Try to first look up English translations of the lyrics to get a good understand of song’s message. Then try to sign along using pinyin. Then eventually, memorize the characters and recognize them without the pinyin. You can also practice writing by copying the lyrics!
As for song recommendations, I personally prefer to listen to a lot of OSTs (Original Soundtracks), as oppose to one artist in particular. The Untamed OST is one of my all time favorites. Try exploring some playlists on Spotify or Youtube; you never know what rabbit hole that will lead you to :)
Language Exchange Buddy
This is a great way to not only practice speaking and listening with someone with the same goal as you, but also a great culture exchange experience. Even though I am Chinese myself, I still was able to learn so much more. I remember the question I was most curious about, and the first thing I asked my language buddy, was her/China’s perception on ABC’s :)
I found my buddy through a pairing program through my university. If you are in school like me, try exploring to see if any cultural student organizations or cultural centers offer this! A quick search on the internet will also bring up plenty of apps and online sources to help facilitate language exchange.
Talking to Yourself
Yes, you read that correctly. This can range from having full on conversations to yourself out-loud or in your head, to just repeating phrases you hear on TV! It might be a bit weird and embarrassing in the beginning, but it works! It’s essentially the same thing as having a language exchange buddy…minus the cultural and ideation exchange of course.
