Conversational audio content with subtitles or transcript

[jiaojiao87]

Hello!

 

I'm looking to find some clear audio recordings or videos of a person or persons speaking more conversationally, with the inclusion of a transcript or subtitles.

 

For example, I really like this woman's content:

https://youtu.be/ERZ9oVQzfWE

 

But most of her videos don't have transcripts or subtitles, which I am specifically looking for.

 

Anyone know of any good sources?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jan Finster]

Mandarin Corner has several interviews and they come with transcripts.

[abcdefg]

Agree with @Jan Finster -- I was going to recommend her myself, he just beat me to it. 

 

Here's a segment I watched just now. Interesting content, conversational Chinese, subtitles.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_XteZbz5pg 

 

This one has interesting side-notes on the accent with which the native Cantonese speakers of Guangdong handle Mandarin. Plus, you cannot help learning some useful aspects of the culture. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sBZ4rrdyzY 

 

Lots of practical language in all her videos. Clear and well focused. Cannot recommend them enough!

[jiaojiao87]

These are great - thanks so much!

[Jan Finster]

13 hours ago, abcdefg said:

Lots of practical language in all her videos. Clear and well focused. Cannot recommend them enough!

 

 

I agree. Actually, I hope Mandarin Corner realizes that they could fill a niche there since I am not aware of any other sites (e.g. TCB, ChinesePod) that offer lengthy interviews with transcripts. Intermediate learners want conversational non-scripted, authentic content (= not those mundane "strangers on the train" conversations you find in standard textbooks ("Is this seat taken?"). And radio podcast interviews are typically too advanced for intermediate learners.

[suMMit]

"Conversations" by Ollie Richards kind of fits the bill. Might be too easy for you based on your You Tube link, could suit others though. My only reservation in recommending it is the price, which I find quite high. When I purchased it it was 89 dollars, already not cheap, but they've added video and doubled the price. I don't know why they made that decision.

 

That said, I think its a fine piece of learning material and I don't regret spending the 89 dollars on it. It is a story made up 100 percent by conversation, no narration. There are a number of different characters, both male and female  and the recordings are crystal clear. The rate of speech is nice, neither slow nor too fast. I would say the vocab and grammar are basically Intermediate, maybe veering towards upper-int. I personally use A LOT of resources(too many)rotating them based on my mood, and this is just one of them. Thus I've been going through it very slowly, probably spent a year with it and I'm on unit 15 of 20. I say "work through it" but its very free form and up to the listener how they want to use it. It includes all transcripts pinyin/simplified/trad.

 

Though I think it's quite pricey, I have learned a lot from the material and found it enjoyable as well. He's working on a follow up sequel that will be coming out soon. I also love his podcasts. Here's a link:

 

https://learn.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/chinese-conversations-sales-page17551289?_ga=2.144488061.953750570.1620196019-1554928567.1620196019

[Jan Finster]

4 minutes ago, suMMit said:

Though I think it's quite pricey, I have learned a lot from the material and found it enjoyable as well. He's working on a follow up sequel that will be coming out soon. I also love his podcasts. Here's a link:

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Can you please tell us:

a) how many minutes or hours of audio there are? (it says "150-200 hours of study time" but knowing marketing people that does not necessarily mean 150-200 hours of dialogues...)

b) is Ollie's concept like Glossika (?): i.e. do they have a set of dialogues and then simply translate them into different languages, or are the dialogues actually specifically Chinese?

c) what is the level / difficulty and can you name a few topics they talk about?

 

[suMMit]

5 minutes ago, Jan Finster said:

Can you please tell us:

a) how many minutes or hours of audio there are? (it says "150-200 hours of study time" but knowing marketing people that does not necessarily mean 150-200 hours of dialogues...)

b) is Ollie's concept like Glossika (?): i.e. do they have a set of dialogues and then simply translate them into different languages, or are the dialogues actually specifically Chinese?

c) what is the level / difficulty and can you name a few topics they talk about?

 

Nowhere near 150 hours of audio. I think what he means is that if you listen many times, then listen and read, then read the English, do a dictation, shadow it, etc you could spend that amount of time. Each dialog is around 3.5 mins of fairly fast speech. 20 dialogs, so about 1 hour.

 

I have never heard Glossika. He says the story is same in other languages thought tailored and tweaked for each. I would say he does well enough with it, but there are times when you feel something is not very realistic for China.

 

Definitely intermediate. I don't really follow hsk but maybe level 4 or 5? There is some idiomatic language that is maybe upper-int. Work, exercise, describing cites, actions, writing, daily life, love, relationship, animals etc. are some of the topics.

 

I found what looks to be a free sample here: https://learn.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/conversations-preview

[Jan Finster]

16 minutes ago, suMMit said:

Nowhere near 150 hours of audio. I think what he means is that if you listen many times, then listen and read, then read the English, do a dictation, shadow it, etc you could spend that amount of time. Each dialog is around 3.5 mins of fairly fast speech. 20 dialogs, so about 1 hour.

 

Sounds like the definition of a rip off. 1 hour of audio for 197$. Olly Richards should be ashamed of himself.  ?

Mandarin Corner offers countless hours of authentic Chinese interviews for free (or 10$ total if you want the PDFs), a 2-year subscription to TCB with literally hundreds of hours of audio (albeit not conversational) costs less than 197$...

 

I despise those "internet polyglots" that want to make the quick buck and are too lazy to put in the hours. 

[suMMit]

13 minutes ago, Jan Finster said:

Sounds like the definition of a rip off. 1 hour of audio for 197$. Olly Richards should be ashamed of himself.  

I basically agree with you. I feel like Ive gotten my money's worth at the original price of 80 something dollars. He does have to pay the voice actors, write the story etc. But yeah 197 is ridiculous.

[suMMit]

I've got another recommendation, again not free, but more substantial than the above mentioned resource. That is Chris Parker's "Chinese Culture Conversations". I've only gotten through a few of the 30 conversations so far, but will do them all eventually. For me these contain hefty amounts of learning material. They are solidly upper-intermediate+ and discuss 30 different Chinese Culture topics in the form of Conversations between two people. Topics discussed are Chinese Food, Tea, Going to school in China, Traditional and modern music, etc. Tons of vocab, grammar, conversational language. The speech rate is native speed. Each conversation is between Chis and a woman (his wife I believe) with a lovely 山东 accent and she does not slow down at all. Some may poo poo the idea of listening to a non-native speaker, but he is about as good as one can get and I find that helpful and inspiring. Each audio is about 20 minutes, all have transcripts. Some are video. Yes, still more expensive than many other resources, but there's probably a smaller market for this. I will definitely get my money's worth from it.  Here's a link:

 

https://www.fluentinmandarin.com/content/chinese-culture-conversations/