Movies good for listening

[Qiuyue]

Hi

I recently watched Narnia on DVD at home and I realized that was a marvellous chinese lesson. Not only did I enjoy watching it, but I practised my listening ability at the same time! And of course, my understanding of grammatical and semantic rules.

I watched the movie with english subtitles, but the reverse is also possible of course, if you wanna practise reading.

Viewing without subtitles would have been to hard for me, I am intermediate, but comparing chinese and english expressions was really useful. Next time I´ll use the pause- and rewindbuttons in order to grasp everything they say and ponder upon it for a while.

I can recommend Narnia for this, cause they don´t speak very fast and the vocab is not too complicated.

Perhaps you can give me some other tips in this purpose??

[pattifranklin]

I wouldn't be able to give you any for american movies, but "Don't talk to strangers" (不要和陌生人说话) and Chinese Style Divorce (中国式离婚) are both excellent for listening.

[md1101]

i enjoyed "天下无贼" (A world without Thieves)

[hughitt1]

無極 (the promise) was pretty good movie IMO... cartoons can also be good for practicing depending on your level... both 蜡笔小新 & 樱桃小丸子 are pretty good shows that are popular in China.. Alot of the disney movies can also be found in chinese versions with a very excellent dubbing..

If you want more of a challenge.. maybe try a tv series, or variety show?

Keith

[heifeng]

Any of Ge You's （the bad guy from 天下无贼）comedies are pretty good (ie 不见不散）I remember way back when I bought a ton of them, some how I just never get sick of that guy! Hey we could seriously do a degree of separation game with Chinese movies and Ge You。

Also the actor who plays An Jia He in 不要和陌生人说话 was one of the robbers on the train in 天下无贼....it seems like such a small movie world doesn't it....

[erik-the-red]

無極? The Promise by Chen Kaige?

I can not recommend this film to anyone. It cannot compare to "Hero" or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" by any standard.

[atitarev]

Mulan cartoon is OK, I think. You can find DVD's in both Chinese and English with subtitles in both or get subtitles off the web.

I enjoyed "天下无贼" (A world without Thieves) as well.

[imron]

If you're a fan of Ge You, you might also want to check out a TV series he did way back in the early nineties, 编辑部的故事 - Stories from the editorial board.

[Prodigal Son]

I thought that Jet Li's Fearless, aside from being great to watch, was fantastic listening practice. 帮帮你的师傅吧！

[Shadowdh]

I second the fearless vote... great movie with lots of good listening practice...

[flameproof]

For very short flics: www.youtube.com

I love the Danwei stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=Danwei

What a classic!!!

ChinaPods VideoHotPot clips are also enjoyable to watch (and listen too)

i.e.:

(they got plenty more)

Maybe i am a bit OT here, a seperate Youtube resources topic would be appropiate.....

[Long Zhiren]

I enjoy the Documentaries made for IMAX.

Alaska was a good one.

DVD's rock. You can change the audio language options very easily.

[daxia]

If you want good Chinese practice, why dont try wathing one of all the 连续剧's there are out there.

A good one is 亮剑。Its pretty popular here in China to.

I would stay a way from 中国式离婚. I think I lost maybe 10 pts of IQ by watching it.

Check out http://www.btchina.net and search for 内地连续剧 .....

[nephridium]

I'd recommend any movie that you like. If you have seen it already and can get a hold of a Mandarin version of that film you won't get frustrated trying to figure out what the heck is going on.. I'd like to know how they dub Monty Python films though, have yet to see a Chinese version (e.g. of the scene in which 'Biggus Diccus' goes I'm gonna give you one more chance. This time I want to hear no "Weubens", no "Weginalds", no "Wudolph the Wednosed Weindeers". No Spencer Twacys! Or we shall welease no one!)

Oh btw, any recommendations on good DVD/VCD shops in Beijing? Found this thread: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/110-hsk-sample-papers31 - not many posts there though..

[Shadowdh]

Nephridium theres a good one in the lobby of the SAC... also another down wangfujing (I think) past all the flash hotels away from the center and on the right... (I can check the actual addy of that place later, as I am not sure if its on wangfujing or another street that wangfujing turns into)...

[nephridium]

Thanks. Do they keep stock off all the "important" movies/TV shows?

In any case watching bi-/multi-lingual films is fun. Having Chinese subtitles displayed while watching may also be useful.

[bjfall]

A friend who was already an advanced learner told me that Korean movies and TV series were good practice for listening. She would turn off the subtitles whenever she watched, so that she would only have to rely on her listening skills. I'm not quite at that level yet; watching would then be a pain more than pleasure. But maybe it's the way to go when learning a foreign language?

A Chinese friend who's involved in teaching foreign students said that linese.com has good pods for practice listening.

http://www.linese.com/cc/20408000000000000,75.html

They seem to be for upper intermediate/advanced learners, so they're not really fit for me. I've been seeing more demand for intermediate stuff, so maybe this can help others. Give me a shout if you know of something else. Thanks!

[qingfeng]

I would recommend Ang Lee's "eat drink man woman", “饮食男女” in Chinese. It's a good movie and has corresponding english version easily accessible.

[mandarinstudent]

I loved the Movie Yi Yi. It has an interesting plot on top of good listening listening practice

[Toffeeliz]

·"yi yi"? is that the chinese version of GiGi?