Chinese Audio Clips with Quizzes

[xueshengDan]

The first one is pretty funny... Yes, I have had this happen before. I learned from this the term 那你到底想怎么样吗, that one is a gem. Becareful not to use it too often only when a little irratated. I've got two weeks to start fall classes, so I will devote the next two weeks to these clips.

[Gleaves]

Be sure to check out the two shows (爱情公寓 and 潜伏）if you like clip 1 and 3. Both are great.

Well played, imron.

[Mike N]

Thanks for this Gleaves! This is like 听力课 on steroids--I love it! What program(s) are you using to rip the audio? I'd love to do this with some of the 非诚勿扰 episodes. I think that they lend themselves particularly well to making quizzes, as most of the material is already presented in question and answer format!

Thanks again.

[Gleaves]

I have only watched only one episode of 非诚勿扰, but I was thinking that it could be an great source of interesting snippets.

I've been using a combo of programs. For video (that I have downloaded or ripped to my hard drive), I've been using freemake video converter to cut it down and then covert to mp3. For audio, I've been using audicity to trim/edit. I have been using mp3gain to normalize the volume (not a necessary step, but clips from different sources have ended up with a pretty big range of volume levels). I throw the files into iTunes and clean up the metadata, add lyrics, album art, etc.

I haven't messed with recording streaming audio much (like from youku), but in Audacity, if you go to edit>preferences>audio I/O, you should get some recording options. I think each computer is different depending on your sound card, but on mine if I set it to "stereo mix" it will record whatever sound is being played by my computer.

[xueshengDan]

Gleaves I have been listening to these everday on my mp3 while at work, thanks again for your work on this. Dan

[Gleaves]

From here out, I'll be putting up new clips on the blog 中文挑战. As the name implies, the blog will be about quick posts with Chinese challenges. Have a look. I put up a new audio clip there from the kung fu movie classic the Five Venoms. Click and see if your Chinese listening 功夫 is up to the challenge.

[Mike N]

I downloaded Audacity and tried to use it to record some streaming audio from 非城勿扰 and, after some very minor fiddling with my recording settings (had to enable Stereo Mix on my "Recording" sound settings), it works like a dream! Now the possibilities are endless. Thanks for the info, Gleaves. I'll make a few clips and quizzes this week and share them here for everyone to enjoy!

[Gleaves]

Good stuff, Mike. Glad you got it working. If you'd like to join the effort at 中文挑战, shoot me a message.

Another audacity tip courtesy of roddy, if you go to Edit > Preferences > File Format > you can choose a bit rate for MP3 export. Mine defaulted to 128k. You can play around with lower bit rates to get smaller files, often without much loss in quality.

[Epickyle]

Hey Gleaves, good job with this! I listen to this on the MTR to work. Finished the first one and more or less got it but a couple of grammar points escape me, is this thread the best place to discuss it or a separate grammar thread?

Anyway keep up the good work!

[Gleaves]

Good work, Epickyle. I would do a quick search on the forums to see if they are grammar points that have come up previously. Otherwise, either here or its own thread would work (new thread would probably get more eyes).

Also, be sure to check out 中文挑战 for new clips and other challenges.

[imron]

New threads for new topics please It'll save us having to split it out later.

You can always link back to this thread for reference if needed.