Will this work to develop listening skills?

[imron]

Just out of curiosity, where are you getting the scripts for the CRI news programmes? When I had a look on their page http://gb.chinabroadcast.cn/, none of the online stuff had a script as such, just a general overview of the news item

An example of this, is this broadcast: http://gb.chinabroadcast.cn/8201/2006/01/13/1265@859516.htm.

Also, is there anyway to download the broadcasts as something other than wma, which doesn't seem to like being saved, making it a pain to listen to offline or jump and skip between different sections.

[赫杰]

No problem. Go here: "整点新闻" http://gb.chinabroadcast.cn/chinese_radio/index.htm --> click "更多"

then simply select which ever date you want to listen to. After selecting the date, the link to download "在线收听" the 9 minute program is underneath the main title. Now, in order to obtain the script, I click on all the titles in the page (which are the titles of the topics being discussed in the respective program) and paste the content into the an annotation machine for one nice easy to read already defined document (definitions appear at the bottom of page upon mouse-over and it saves time looking through the dictionary). I then save the annotated page to my desktop so that I may listen and follow along at anytime without having to be online.

Appearantly it does not allow you to right click and save as...haha I did not realize this because I always use Flashget...so look to get that if you can. I have the chinese version, but it should not make a difference.

Oh, I just got back from spending the evening at my friends house in 汉口, and I again noticed a huge improvement on my listening! I mean I usually have no problem understanding such common language, but today I was even understanding the local 武汉dialect spoken by his parents and parents friends...which usually I don't understand as often. I am going to 桂林 tomorrow for five days but after seeing these results, I can't wait to get back and study!! What a good feeling to see effort finally being paid off!

Good luck everyone and take care!

HJ

[imron]

Thanks, that's what I was was looking for. I'd already found another way around the wma issue too, using SDP http://sdp.ppona.com

Out of interest, CRI also seems to have another internet radio stream at: http://www.globalfm.cn but that seems to be a more or less realtime stream and doesn't have scripts.

[赫杰]

Old post, sorry. But I think an update on my progress might help those who are looking into pursuing the same goals. It has been over three months since listening to news radio. Since then, I have listened to cri nearly everyday using the methods that i have previously described. My end all goal is to listen to anything on the TV or radio and understand everything that is spoken on first hearing. And hearing that news is great for your listening, I started with news programs first.

I won't lie, first time i used such methods it sometimes took me a total of 12 to 18 hours (or three days) to listen to a nine minute program to understand everything. This is due to repeating, repeating, repeating the recording, finally looking at the script, realizing I did not know the words, recording the words in a word document (along with the context which took a while) and finally listened to the section all over again. And so, quickly say my progress is as follows:

first started: needed 12-18 hours (3 days)

after 2 weeks: needed 12 or less hours (2 days)

after one month: needed 6 or less hours (1 day)

and now after three months: need 2 or less hours - did it an hour the other day

so I usually can understand the meaning on first hearing now, but I need to repeat it sometimes and then pause it and think, to understand everything. And when I do encounter places where I have not studied they are like obscure nouns and verbs and such. So...now I am looking to study something else for vocab source...which brings me to cctv downloads...

I am sure everyone knows that you can download cctv programs online, but when I heard this I thought this was impossible because the files were too big...or it can only be streamed so I did not even look into it. well I looked into it the other day, and the files are usually not big at all, and it does not need to be streamed. so...I am happy. If I progress in the same fashion as I did with news radio, then this should prove invaluable for everyday listening, which I still have trouble with sometimes. Because in my mind, news radio is not too 口语，but a combination of various tv programs is sooo 口语。

Again I think this will help people with similar goals, so I will update my progress as I go along (probably be another few months haha).

Everybody good luck with studies! :)

HJ

[lau]

I know i'm being childish, and that my choice of literature is dreadful, but i find harry potter usefull for my chinese listening skills and for getting a bedtime story every night.

http://www.cnradio.com/library/lbtj/mfs/ has the audio files available, it's possible to get them through emule as well.

it's easy to find the e-book in chinese (and in english, if translation is needed for some parts).

the speed of reading is really nice, it's much slower than news, and the lady has a pleasant, clear voice. since i know the story, it's really easy to follow.

it has a surprising amount of 成语.

[necroflux]

Haha Lau no worries, Harry Potter was my first choice of listening material on this page as well.

赫杰 thanks for your emphatic posts regarding your study methods - I'm going to give these radio archives a shot. Incidentally I've done the very same thing you describe with different material - I listen to the material, memorize anything I don't know in that material along with the characters, and repeat until I feel like I can listen at normal speed with 100% comprehension. While this is a sloooow, laborious process, the sheer amount of improvement I have shown using this method has proven to me that listening to any amount of material which you do not fully understand is almost wasting time, in terms of growth factor. For all intents and purposes, it's in one ear and out the other. Now more than ever I can truly feel the snowball of improvement rolling down the hill, where more of the words I see/hear in any material are making sense and translations are taking less time.

Incidentally I have a Web program I've developed to foster the character learning process. Eventually it's my hope to program user accounts into the software and open it up to everyone. I've found that the fastest way to truly learn without fooling myself is the following:

1. Create different groups of words based on source material

2. As detailed above, find material at my level and fully translate it, entering any unknown characters, words, or even phrases into the program.

3. The program then quizzes me on the characters by randomly showing pinyin + meaning for the 詞語. I write the character, then check the answer. If I get it right, that word is dropped temporarily from the list. If I get it wrong, it gets readded and I have to write it correctly twice to remove it. After about three runs through a group of 100 (5-6 hours of work) and I'm good.

I previously thought writing characters was a waste of time but again, if you can write a character than you KNOW it. There are plenty of characters I can recognize but couldn't even start writing.. but those tend to float in and out much more easily than the ones I actually learn to write. Nothing surprising there I suppose.

[赫杰]

祝你好运啊！~~

Sounds good. Let us know when your program is accessible to everyone. I will be looking forward to it. Oh, and if you have any problems listening to the radio or feel it is not that practical for you for such and such reason, please post it. It will do everybody good to see different views.

Hmmm, about writing, I only can write around a thousand characters and it's shrinking daily from not practicing it. But when i listen to things i sometimes like to "write" the words in my head, and when i say "write" i mean just like picture the character in its basic form...basically confirm that i can "read" it, which is what is most important to me. learning to write a thousand characters helped me greatly in learning how to write and more importantly how to quickly memorize and recognize characters, but IMHO going out of my to learn how to write more is (to me) somewhat a waste of time. except for ordering in resaurants and filling out forms, you know basic writing, i will never use the skill. indeed , i have had some times where i needed to write out what i am saying in order to communicate with people, but instead of busting out the paper and pen, i busted out the cell phone and wrote it that way. our teachers here even said that we will most likely forget how to write after graduating or after finishing school, just because we will not use it. but they still wanted us to learn, 于是 i dropped my 写作 class. lol

this all just my two cents, but you are definately right! if you can write the character, then you pretty much "know it".

HJ

[necroflux]

Exactly! I don't plan on keeping up my writing ability either for the long term. And it may be that eventually I won't need to write a character to remember it, once a sufficient number of building blocks are in place. But as far as getting it to stick in your head initially I think writing is the way to go.

[赫杰]

o thank you god for cctv.com. o sweet jesus thank you. i am such nerd, damn.

ok, i am 90% sure this has been posted before, but i would like to reiterate. if you have not plundered the site of cctv, do so immediately. I am not even close to the end of plundering, but there is so many kinds of programs to download and yes most of them have subtitles, and you can download them pretty fast...well i dont know about how the speed is out of china. also, i remember seeing somewhere in the forums that scripts cannot be downloaded. well, i just downloaded the script for a 法治在线 program. which should prove really helpful because i noticed there were no subtitles for lady speaking at the beginning of the program. for 新闻 now...i am not sure. probably not, but i will continue plundering and see what i can find.

after slowing picking my through a 讲述program, looks like this process will be another slow and arduous one, a big reason is due to the vast increase of 成语. nearly every secion the anouncer said included one. quite different to the cut and dry news cast that i am so used to now....but this is indeed much more fun and interesting.

HJ

[necroflux]

Can you hook us up with some direct links to this material? Thanks!

Also, if you haven't checked out PPLive yet, go to PPLive.com and download that program. You can watch EVERY CCTV channel live along with about 100 other channels in Mandarin, most of which are subtitled.

[赫杰]

thanks for reminding me. i nearly forgot! first i have a question for you, are u still in the states now? you are able to download the cctv programs, right? and can you tell me what the speed is like over there? just curious...

okay about pplive. yes i tried it out, wow great program...but...for me at my level, i would rather want to have the ability to rewind the program, and listen to words that i might have missed...as my goal is basic complete and total understanding...2nd it is indeed a little choppy sometimes, that kinda sucks...3rd it seems that you can't rip this stuff to your harddrive...right? which means you have to be online to watch all this, well i don't have the luxury of being online all the time. is there a way to rip this to the drive using SDP or something? does not seem that way...anyway, pplive seems to be the ideal tool for keeping your level "sharp", especially when out of China! I love it! :mrgreen:

But for me right now, I still need to continue the same effort that i put into learning the news broadcast. which means repitition and if possible being able to follow along with the script.

k, direct links, i am not done plundering mind you, but here is some links to what i was refering to: i started with (and still am on) cctv1

http://www.cctv.com/homepage/profile/01/index.shtml --> cctv1

scroll down to 播出栏目 there is all your different kinds of 栏目.

now if you go to different cctv stations, you will see that there are some of the same 栏目 and some different ones. so my plan is to looking into all of these and see what can and cant be downloaded to the harddrive, and what has and does not have scripts.

scripts and video? for instance: click on 法治在线，scroll down to 法治查询 and there ya go! just click on the respective link to see the script.

some sites just have the scripts but no video feed, for instance click on 道德观察 and look into 播出节目. so i guess if you wanted you could tape the shows you want to watch and then sit there with the script in front of you and rewind and go through slowly that way...

okay one last question: is anyone else having problems downloading current cri 整点新闻 from http://gb.chinabroadcast.cn/chinese_radio/index.htm ??? SDP and my flashget cant get it... :help

i apologize in advance if some of these questions have already been answered, but it all seems to be in line with what we are talking about.

[赫杰]

This is in regards to the programs found under cctv1/cctv2/cctv3 and so on that can found at the top of the homepage of cctv.com...The majority of the programs under cctv1/cctv2/cctv3 etc. can be found near the bottom of the respective web pages.

I suggest to just search all around the site to practicing the 阅读, but if your lazy or just don't want to do it...

Here are the programs that can be downloaded to one's hard drive in media player or real player format.

Personal note: If I had to pick, I would say I like watching 新闻调查 and 讲述 the most. For me, watching and listening to the news is quite simple compared to these programs.

But like the news, just need time...

O! Yes, I know I missed some that can be downloaded, but I either did it for a reason, or just honestly missed it somehow.

s = script available (but most programs do indeed have subtitles)

cctv1

当代工人 - 往期回顾

讲述 s

东方时空 s

法治在线 s

发现之旅

亲历

焦点访谈 s

曲苑杂论

新闻调查 s

新闻联播

中华民族 s

cctv2

非常

交换空间

经济半小时 s

经济与法 s

绝对挑战

为您服务 s

中国财经报道 s

cctv12

法律讲堂 s

心理访谈

近日说法 s

庭审现场

中国法治报道

cctv10

最近科学 s

探索 发现 s

人与社会

半边天

百家讲坛

cctv5

体育新闻

体育人间

题图日谈 s

全明星猜想

健身房

电子竞技世界

cctv4的一些节目

cctv3

综艺 - hot star/连珠泡/黑匣子

中国音乐电视

真情无限

与您相约

艺苑风景线

艺术人性

演艺竞技场 - 网友点播间 - 注释：这里的小品好丰富啊 lol

新视听

想挑战吗？

舞蹈世界 - 在线看舞

外国文艺 ^6^

挑战主持人 - 精彩回顾

幕后 - 往期回顾

梦想剧场

邀请广场

欢乐中国行

。。。没了

请您们欣赏！

坚持到底

HJ

[Gaolisi]

Lau / Necroflux

I'd love to use the link to listen to Harry Potter, but am having no success in opening the CNR audio files. What am I missing?

Many thanks

[wenhailin]

okay so i know this is a little bit of a blast from the past, but i just thought if anyone else was trying to take advantage of some of the tips here, the CRI 9 minute news broadcast has changed location.

after spending about an hour or so hunting around the website, i eventually found it the transcripts and radio segments together at http://gb.cri.cn/1321/more/4974/more4974.htm

however this only goes up to the 31st of january 2008. can anyone confirm whether or not CRI still has this 9 minute news show? i couldn't find anything more recent, but there is still plenty of material for me to work through with the old stuff.

[imron]

Yeah, it seems that they've stopped updating the 9 minute news broadcasts in that location since the end of January. I had a brief look around their website a while ago to try and find if there was a new place for them, but didn't find anything. It's a bit of a pity really, as this was quite a useful resource. On the other hand, there's still plenty of material there, it's just not current.

[fluxs]

Hi guys,

for me a good way to improve my listening skills is by watching tv shows and soaps (mainly from taiwan).

A good program for this is called ppstream. I realize this will not be easy for beginners to do since it is a chinese program completely in chinese. But for those on a intermediate or advanced level it maybe worthwile.

cheers

[renzhe]

You can also use other programs, like sopcast, which carry many Chinese-language channels.

But, for watching TV shows, I find online streaming sites like youku.com, or download programs like eMule to be the best. Watch the shows you want, when you want, and in higher quality.

And over here we have annotated over 35 different first episodes from mainland, Taiwanese and Hong Kong shows, with explanations, vocabulary lists, etc. Anyone interested in watching Chinese TV shows should check it out.

[pingpangqiu]

Can anyone give me some good web links for online radio shows please.

I've already checked on the forum and use these sites:

www.multilingualbooks.com/online-radio-chinese.html

https://www.reciva.com/index.php?searchBar=CRI&option=com_cloud&action=search#

But I can't seem to listen to all of the radio shows on these two sites in the UK (only some of them) and am still searching for a really engaging one! I'm just looking to find one or two really interesting radio shows (preferably in Beijing) that will enable me to listen to loads of Chinese and help me to keep improving.

Many thanks,

Pingpangqiu:)

[imron]

The main CRI radio stream is quite good: http://www.global.fm

These two threads on podcasts also have some interesting links, although they're not strictly radio:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/10639-chinese-podcasts-w-transcripts

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/12072-chinese-language-podcasts

[pingpangqiu]

Thanks for that Imron:)