Good TV show for practicing listening and reading?

[wobblythoughts]

Hello, I just found out that I have cable television, sort of.

I'd like to know if anyone has any recommendations on any particular show that is worth seeing (in other words, that is not absolute TV junk) in order to practice listening and reading and be entertained and/or informed.

Please post the name of the show, time and channel.

F.

PS I also posted this under the "Resources and General Study Issues" forum.

admin> PPS please just post in the one forum.

[thph2006]

You'll probably need to be more specific about where you are and which cable service you have before you get any meaningful suggestions. Here in California we get several CCTV channels, a few Taiwan channels and a couple local channels with some Mandarin programming. If you have Dish Network there's a package called Great Wall with 15 Chinese channels for $29.95 US. I like the cooking and game shows because there's lots of context to help you decipher unfamiliar words. The dramas (Chinese soap operas) are also good because the ongoing storyline helps again with deciphering meaning from context. For me, news is the hardest to understand.

[爱柳alice]

Hey Fernando,

I have searched in vain for a good TV program that would keep me going for more than 2 minutes... and I've given up now. Sorry !

But I find that watching films is most effective, especially the ones by big directors such as Ang li, Zhang Yi mou or Zhang jia he.

And if you live in China you can easily find them at your local "DVD dian". (sometimes they have English subtitles too!)

You can also ask your Chinese friends, what films they like.

[wobblythoughts]

I am in China, I assumed this was assumed. In Beijing specifically. But I now can see that the Internet is everything they say it is: it really does connect the whole wide world! And it's so fantastically alienating!

Hahah, I found it funny that the name for the package is "Great Wall".

Seriously, I appreciate your recommendation about the soaps. I also thought about scrubbing my mind with them and you make a good point. I'll skip the cooking and game shows though.

As for you Alice...

I've been in China for a year now, and haven't really watched TV at any point. But I have sitted (accompanying Chinese people) through many programs. I understand your feeling completely. I found the 刘 family particularly unsettling. One of the only shows that I enjoyed watching on CCTV is "Action English". Especially the slang gringuita, the Chinese guy and the video girl, in that order. The guy in Hollywood is unbearable. The opening segment is okay too. But this program is for amusement, and, oddly enough, I don't have CCTV9.

I don't really want to study by watching films. I like to watch films to watch films. Besides, I already outbought myself. I have a mental map of about 30 stores and bought about 456 of them, as part of my recent strategy: "Do everything extremely and then stop it forever".

I don't know. I guess I'll try to find any one show that is on one or two times a week or something. I'll also try to find a more erudite one. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

F.

[gougou]

Any suggestions?

Have you checked out the Trashy Soap Opera of the Month Club? Also not active anymore (feel free to revive it, though!), it could give you some starters. And if you should decide to watch 中国式离婚, you'll have a decent amount of material to help you through it already.

[carlo]

I don't watch a lot of TV but some of the shows on Phoenix TV, like 铿锵三人行, could be a possibility. This is like three people sitting around a table chatting about a random subject in a variety of accents (Beijing, Taiwan etc).