Listening tips

[Snoop MM]

I'm learning to read and write Mandarin, and that's going fine. Its the speaking and listening i'm having trouble with. I haven't anyone to practise speaking with. My study group is a twice a week night class.

Can anyone recommend any music i can listen to, or spoken word stuff to help my listening.

I am at a pretty basic level ... i just passed my first term, and start my second at the end of this month.

I am thinking about getting chinese TV via cable to start listening to the news and stuff. Are there any radio/internet radio that speak Mandarin I can listen to that anyone knows about?

Thanks guys!

Snoop Marcey Marce

[kdavid]

www.chinesepod.com is fantastic for a number of reasons.

They've recently introduced a number of fantastic features that help them stand out from their competition. You should certainly look them up.

[wushijiao]

I don't think TV or radio would help much. Ideally, you want to do what they call "L + 1", meaning that you listen to something that is basically at your current listening level (L), but just a bit harder (+1). For example, listening to a dialogue in which you understand 90%, but have to guess 10%, would be more useful than listening to something in which you only understand 50%.

Anyway, like kdavid, I would also suggest Chinesepod. They have lots of stuff targeted for different levels. Their contents are also very practical if you live in China. But there are also many other podcasts out there as well. Good luck!

[roddy]

They've recently introduced a number of fantastic features that help them stand out from their competition. You should certainly look them up.

fill us in . . .

Music depends on what you like - have a look at the music forum on here perhaps, there are plenty of recommendations there.