Chinese Podcasts (w/ transcripts?)

[Leikuzi]

I found a great site with video/audio of native speakers discussing all the topics of china from business settings to race relations and a'thing in 'tween. its got traditional, simplified, pinyin and english text to accompany. SO NICE. enjoy.

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/orkelm/chinese/ste01.html#

some of those accents are ridiculous!! I don't know how people understand some of these guys but don't understand me. haha.

[chrix]

Merged.

[ilprincipe]

Hello,

I am looking for updated information on what is currently available as far as Podcast + Free Transcript.

I am currently using two, both of which have free transcript of almost all of the spoken text:

http://www.slow-chinese.com

www.slow-chinese.com

www.iMandarinPod.com

They are both good, regularly updated and the existing material already offer a good library and there is no English spoken. So very good.

I have looked at another one http://visualmandarin.com/, which has good podcasts, but the transcript is not free.

The BBC podcasts are very very good, both for content and frequency of update (week-days), but they don't seem to have transcripts...real pity. (I would be happy to pay for this)

Ideally, I would like to add to my list, some daily general news report (just like what you would see on CCTV evening news, or similar. but with transcripts, possibly free.

Has anyone done similar recent research and wish to add some suggestions?

thanks

[songlei]

ilprincipe: for transcripts of bbc you can pay in blood. try transcribing it yourself with the help of a friend. i did it, and this is the result (the interview of 25 march 2010):

BBC英國廣播電台，接下來就到了今日焦點欄目。

BBC British Broadcasting Corporation, coming up next is today's China Focus programme.

谷歌退出中國持期數月的爭議突出了中美關係當中的價值觀的分歧。

The controversy that has been going on for the past several months concerning Google's withdrawal from China has highlighted a difference in values between China and the United States.

不過，大多分析評論認為，中美關係不會因此受到實質性的影響。

However, most commentary and analyses state that the relationship between China and the United States will not be affected substantively as a result.

有評論認為谷 歌同中國的爭端僅僅是中美意識形態爭奪中的一個象徵性的插曲。

Some commentaries hold that Google's dispute with China is only a symbolic episode in the struggle of ideologies between China and the US.

同中美價值觀分歧相比， 人民幣匯率和貿易不平衡問題，是中美關係當中更長期、更棘手的問題。

 Compared to the difference in values between China and the United States, the Renminbi exchange rate and the trade imbalance are more long-term and thorny problems for Sino-US relations.

我的同事蒙克請BBC中國事 務編輯陳時榮對谷歌撤出以及中美關係做了分析。

My colleague Meng Ke has asked BBC's China Affairs Editor Chen Shirong to analyse Google's retreat from China and Sino-US relations.

谷歌為甚麼要選擇在今年一月初和中 國政府攤牌、就關於網上搜索信息的過濾 問題來攤牌。

Why would Google in early January this year decide to put their cards on the table with the Chinese government, to put their cards on the table when it comes to the issue of filtering search results on the internet?

實 際上是間接地指責了中國政府對於谷歌的一些用戶進行了黑客攻擊。

In reality it's [Google] indirectly accusing the Chinese government for staging hacker attacks on some of Google's users.

這個是與美國政府2010年所要推行的這個 數碼外交是有關聯的。

This has something to do with the "digital diplomacy" that the United Stated government is planning to carry out in 2010.

尤其是谷歌在 後來就檢查追蹤到底這種黑客攻擊發生在甚麼地方的時候，動用了美國國家安全機構，就讓外界對於谷歌的做法是不是純商業性產生了一定的懷疑。

 Especially when Google investigated the origin of these hacker attacks, and made use of the United States National Security Agency, [this] made the outside world to start to have certain doubts about whether or not Google's actions were of pure business nature.

谷歌跟中國的爭端說明了中美之間的這個價值觀上的差異。

Google's dispute with China has illustrated the difference in value systems between China and the US.

 

而且這種差異，它是一時半會兒解決不了 的。

And this kind of difference cannot be resolved within the near future.

 

但是影響中美關係的，是不是主要就是更切實的這些比如美國 人關心他們的就業啊、關注人民幣的這個升值啊、貿易逆差啊，這個是不是更主要。

But that which influences the relationship between China and the US, isn't it mainly, more practical, these, for example, that Americans are concerned about their jobs, focused on the appreciation of the Renminbi, the trade deficit, aren't these are more important?

 

當 然，這個沒錯。中美雙方現在這個關係 啊，一方面是最大的超級大國，一方面是最大的發展中國家，所以雙方都有一些很現實主義的成份在裡面。

Of course, that's right. This relationship now between China and the US, on the one hand you have the biggest superpower, on the other hand you have the largest developing country, so for both parties there are some very realist elements involved.

谷歌的事情再大，更多是牽涉到意識形態領域的、牽涉到中國的言論自由、網絡空間的言論自由，推而廣之，是涉及到人權問題。

No matter how big the Google issue is, to a greater extent it involves the domain of ideology, [] freedom of speech in China, freedom of speech on the internet, [and] by extention, it involves human rights issues.

但是，關係到 美國人的飯碗了沒有，並沒有因為這個直接影響了 谷歌的收益，或者是直接影響了谷歌和其他美國的公司在中國的經營。

But [are these issues] related to American jobs? [These issues] certainly haven't directly affected Google's earnings, or affected the operations of Google and other American companies in China.

但是目前看來，中美之 間關係的癥結在於 雙方既要合作，同時要爭取各自的利益。

But as it appears at present, the crux of the relationship between China and the United States lay in the fact that both parties have to co-operate while at the same time they must fight for their own interests.

尤其是在 全球金融危機還沒有完全消退，情勢不太明朗的情況下，雙方的主要目標還是應該是 恢復經濟、恢復就業、推進雙方以及全球的貿易，然後在貨幣問題上達成一定的理解和諒解。

Especially under circumstances where the global financial crisis has not yet waned and the situation is not very clear, the main objective of both parties still ought to be the recovery of the economy, the recovery of the job market, the promotion bilateral as well as global trade, and furthermore to reach a certain [level of] understanding when it comes to the currency issue.

 

那最近就是...溫家寶 在 這個    北京       會見          中國發展高層論壇          西方代表         的時候的這個 講話，很多人說是溫家寶對美國 [摆出了] 一種乞求式的求和的一種姿態，你怎麼看呢？

Then recently… Wen Jiabao's speech when meeting with the Western representatives to the China Development Forum in Beijing, many people are saying that Wen Jiabao assumed a sort of beggar-like, peace-seaking attitude, how do you see this?

 

溫家寶在這個時候出面說話，他是軟中帶硬。

At this point when Wen Jiabao came forward and spoke, he acted soft but this approach came with some hardness as well.

因為溫家寶在人大閉幕會 的記者會上也已 經說了，對中國施壓、想讓中國去給人民幣升值，這件事情是做不到的。

Because Wen Jiabao already said at the press conference of the National People's Congress' closing ceremony that to exert pressure on China and to want to make China let the Renminbi appreciate, this thing cannot be pulled off.

溫家寶總理當 時也說了，即使在過去中國比較貧窮落後的情況下，壓中國做甚麼事情也壓不成。

Premier Wen Jiabao also said at the time that even in the past when China was relatively poor and backwards, China could not be pressurised into doing anything.

反過來，中國 在目前美國內部的政治局面是這種局勢情況下，那麼是不是也有可能在某些方面做出讓步，所以這是還是有空間的。

Conversely, China, with the current domestic political situation in the US, isn't it also possible that in certain areas they will make concessions? So there is still room for this.

星 期二美國國務院實際上已經宣佈中美雙方的經濟和戰略對話還是會按計劃於五月底在北京舉行。

On Tuesday the US State Department has in fact already declared that economic and strategic dialogue between both parties will still be held according to plan in the beginning of May.

中 美雙方都需要把事關重大的事情放在前頭，要有一個輕重緩急來處理這個問題。

Both parties must put important matters first, they must prioritize when handling this problem.

而且，美國在宣佈這個雙方的對話的同 時，再次提到了奧巴馬政府上台以來所提到的中美關係這個定調，就是積極的、合作的、和全面的夥伴關係。

Moreover, while the US announced this dialogue between both parties, they once again mentioned the tone that was set since the Obama administration came to office, i.e. a pro-active, co-operative and comprehensive partnership [with China].

當然了，你無論是奧巴馬總統接見達賴喇 嘛也接見了，美國宣佈批准向台灣出售武器也出售了，該做的還照做，但是呢，在雙邊關係問題上不能搞僵，而且在很多一系列國際問題上，馬上很快就要出現的就 是國際核不擴散會議，很快也要召開。

Of course, whether it's President Obama receiving the Dalai Lama, which he did, or the US announcing to ratify arms sales to Taiwan, which have been sold, what had to be done was done. But, with the issue of bilateral relations you can't let things come to a deadlock, and with a lot of international issues, [for example] very soon there will be the international nuclear non-proliferation meeting, it will convene very soon.

所以在這些一系列問題上還是需要中國來協調或是中國的合作，不能搞的太僵。

So in this series of issues you still need to China to co-ordinate or China's co-operation, so you can't steer things too much towards a deadlock.

 

溫家寶說他好像理解美國有兩百萬失業 人口，那麼他同時又說了中國有兩億多失業人口，引起了媒體的這個..這個廣泛的這種引用啊。

Wen Jiabao said, it seems, that he appreciates the fact that the US has an unemployment population of 2 million, but at the same time he said that China has an unemployment population of over 200 million. As a result the media has cited him extensively.

這個是 不是說明了就是說溫家寶對[unintelligble]他不會在這個問題上做出讓步。

 Doesn't this illustrate that Wen Jiabao will not give in with regard to the [unintelligble] problem?

這是肯定的。 因為兩百萬和兩億到底多大，這，中國的是一百倍。

That is certain, because how much is 2 million really? China's is a hundred times bigger.

但是這裡面不是很快就被中國的媒體進行修改了，就是，說是”中國是兩億人面臨就業的壓力“。

But wasn't [the citation] altered by the Chinese media, I mean, to "China has 200 million people facing employment pressure"?

因為這兩億人實際上很多是包括中國的農業過剩勞力。

Because of these 200 million people, in fact many of these include [workers from] China's excess agricultural laborforce.

 

你剛剛提到了美國的中期選 舉，他美國有選舉壓力。中國雖然不是一個民主國家，是不是中國人在跟美國人打交道的時候，他也 會面臨國內的一些壓力呢？

You just mentioned America's mid-term elections, that America has the pressure of elections. Even though China is not a democratic country, isn't it true that when Chinese people have dealings with people from the US, they also face some pressure from within China?

 

壓力是肯定存在的，但是這種壓力，他不是來自具體的要...需要誰的選票，你沒有這個就會失去選票、就會失去位置。

There is definitely pressure, but this kind of pressure, it doesn't come from the specific... requiring someone's vote. You don't have this, that you will immediately lose a vote, or you will lose your position.

中國的情況是，即使是在有些地方對美國進行讓步了，但是他只要是面子上能說 得過去的，不是說完全屈服於美國的壓力，而是考慮到這對中國也好，去看輿論、他的媒體怎麼來報這個事，怎麼來 解釋這個事，那麼最後，國家出面，還是說，啊，"小不忍則亂大謀"。

The situation in China is, even though China has made concessions to the US in certain areas, but as long as they can justify it so that there will be no loss of face, and this is not to say that they are completely giving in to America's pressure, but that they are considering that something is also good for China, and seeing how the critics and media reports this issue, how they explain this issue, then finally, the country will come forward, and will still say, "impatience in small matters can indeed mess up the greater plan".

比如說，現在已經講了，在與中美關係 的相處上，那麼中國應該學會冷靜、退讓，已經在為中國政府的某些方面的退步在做鋪顛。（TW: 鋪陳）

For example, that said, in dealing with Sino-US relations, China should learn to be cool-headed and compromising. [The Chinese government] is already paving the way for the government's concessions in certain areas.

那是BBC中國事務編輯陳時榮對谷歌撤出以及中美關係所做的分析。

That was BBC China Affairs Editor Chen Shirong's analysis of Google's retreat from China and Sino-US relations.

[songlei]

which reminds me, how about we create a topic or other kind of platform on which we can pool all our transcripts? i don't know if there's many of you here that do any transcribing in their free time, but if there are, we can help each other out greatly!

[roddy]

Click here. Title it 'XXX Podcast transcripts' or similar, and away you go. You can use the attachment function to add files if necessary.

[ilprincipe]

hello, yes, I would be happy to pay (money) for the BBC transcripts.

thanks for posting a sample, songlei, but I can't find the BBC podcast anymore! I can only see the most recent 5 episodes, dating back to April 2010, but nothing from earlier times

Is it their policy to only post 5 latest podcasts?

so, in practice I could not locate the audio of the March 25 transcript you posted.

thanks anyway

[songlei]

ilprincipe: i uploaded the mp3s to the forum; you can see them as attachments below the transcripts.

edit: not in this thread but the thread entitled: the transcription project: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/25226-the-transcription-project

[ilprincipe]

thanks a lot for the link to the mp3.

Again, if someone is willing to type the trascripts (I am asking our Chinese friends who read this forum), I will be happy to pay (cash, not blood ..

I would believe there would be a few of us who would be happy to share the costs. The BBC is one of the most popular and interesting podcasts, maybe a bit advanced, but...there again, it is a real news reel.

thanks

[ma3zi1]

I also want to add that "America vs. Taiwan" is pretty enjoyable. There are both video and audio podcast versions.

It's a husband and wife that talk to each other and discuss various topics for about 45 min to an hour in each episode. They can be kind of raunchy too, like they will talk about sex or bathroom stuff, etc... not in a gross way though.

They end up sharing very intimate details about their lives. My favorite episode is called: 『你怕甚麼』, and it is just this husband and wife pair talking about their fears (like death, failure, etc..). Very real stuff.

The husband is an American, and his accent takes some getting used to. The wife is from Taiwan, and she sounds pretty standard. They only speak in Mandarin (expect for when the husband can't remember a word and uses the English word in substitution).

[jbradfor]

Second for "America vs. Taiwan". I didn't realize it was a husband and wife team. They are available on iTunes as well (free).

The level is a bit high for me. I would call the vocabulary intermediate to upper-intermediate (they keep it casual), but they talk fast. Actually, he talks fast, she she talks super fast. At least for me. SlowChinese is more my, umm, speed.

Oh yeah, but no transcript, I think.

[Meng Lelan]

songlei, great transcript, maybe BBC should hire you to do stuff like that?

[ma3zi1]

Yeah, there is no transcript of "American vs Taiwan" (sorry if there was any confusion about that). However, if you look at your iPod while the podcast is playing, there is a long-ish stream-of-consciousness blurb in Chinese about this episode's "topic".

I say "topic" because sometimes they get side-tracked and never make it to discussing their target topic, but it's always fun to see where their conversation goes. I agree that they do talk fast, but that's just natural talking speed I think.

[calibre2001]

America vs Taiwan sounds good! FInally, an alternative to Princess Remy is available as far as real life informal mandarin is concerned.

[Hesham119]

This is what you are looking for: Lingq

there you can find many articles with audio and transcripts, and what is great about it is that you can just point your mouse to the new word and it gives you the pinyin and meaning, it has articles for all levels

I have been in it for about 3 months now and it has really increased my amount of vocabulary

wish it could help you

Hesham

[songlei]

got some good news for those who want to practice their listening and speaking skills. i've been listening to a program called 冬吴相对论 a lot recently. this is a show hosted by two interesting fellows who discuss business and everyday life-related topics with quite some depth, usually invoking chinese and western literature and philosophy. it's not only good practice material if you want to make your spoken chinese more sophisticated, but it also delivers in terms of humor and colloquial speech patterns. (i am not paid to promote their show, i just think it's one of the best things i've heard in terms of podcasts, second only to antiwave's 超级难说 episodes)

the downside is that i noticed that my chinese is still not good enough to follow the episodes properly (and i recently passed the top/tocfl at advanced level 6, which only shows how meaningless official test scores are, but i digress). therefore, i decided to start transcribing them. now here's the good news: when i googled one particular phrase because i couldn't figure out its meaning using dictionaries, i discovered that there was a transcript online for that particular episode i was working on. even better: turns out there are a lot of chinese fans of the show, and it seems that there are accurate transcripts of all the shows available online in one place, baidu wenku (wenku.baidu.com). these are not the type of transcripts that paraphrase what is being said. on the contrary, every ooh and aah is provided, meaning that the secrets of chinese kouyu are finally exposed.

to get started, all you have to do is download the episodes from itunes (there's about 200 of them, each 30 minutes long), and then search for the name of the episode (e.g. 第174期：让爱心充满力量) on baidu's wenku. you need an account to download the doc files from wenku, but that's easy enough (just enter yor email, user name, and password. no need to respond to confirmation mails or anything). and there you go, virtually unlimited high-level colloquial chinese by two entertaining folks who are knowledgeable about many different topics.

have fun and good luck!

[Jimmy Conway]

Songlei, that sounds great. I wonder if you not just could upload some of the scripts here on chinese forums. Just attach a file with the scripts you already have downloaded, that would be fantastic!

thanks

[Gleaves]

I just listened to epsiode 203 of 冬吴相对论. It was about the decline of reading. Great stuff. Good sound quality and I like the hosts. Thanks for this one, songlei. This is prime study material. Transcript to episode 203 attached.

冬吴相对论203.txt

[Meng Lelan]

阅读的消失, nice topic, nice transcript, 谢谢 to Gleaves for fetching it up here.

[songlei]

Jimmy: they're really easy to find on baidu. just follow the steps i described and you can find pretty much all of them!