Hello everyone! 大家好！

I'm interested in tips and advice in what other people do when they are not activly studying, but at the same time wants to maintain or get better in their target language.

For example i've always been fed with english through TV and the internet. Watching shows like Simpsons and such when i grew upp, gave me free lessons in the language. I also know a lot of people whom have learned a great amount of japanese through anime-series.

I'm now looking for something that I can watch/read/do to get better at Chinese without feeling that I'm actually studying. Does anyone know any good chinese TV-series? (with subtitles) I prefer comedy before drama.

Other advice is also appriciated.

Cheers

I listen to a lot of Chinese music and usually it is pretty easy to at least get the general sense of the song and learn a few interesting phrases as you go. I was watching China's version of "America's Got Talent" for awhile and that was pretty interesting. Other than that I tend to stay away from Chinese TV though because I can't deal with the low production quality.

Podcasts! I might listening to 30 minutes or so each day and this has really helped to tune my ear to the sounds of the language.

Books that come with audio are great, as are movies (with chinese subtitles on).

Podcasts are great. Anyone found any good ones recently? I can thoroughly recommend 伦敦华语 who have a variety of programmes...

Here you can find a list of 86 TV series inclusive links, where to watch ion the internet, vocab lists, discussions etc: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/24097-tv-series-recommendations-and-index-thread/
Besides, I have always radio on, when I'm at home (my favorite is Love Radio, shanghai, you can get it on the net also), when I'm on the road, I have my Iphone or Ipod with me with all my pods, music. I also watch a lot of movies and TV series.

If you are looking for a great anime that has basic grammar patterns and lots of useful everyday vocabulary I would recommend 蜡笔小新. It is a Japanese anime that has been dubbed and subtitled for the Chinese audience. Episodes are 10 minutes long and you can learn a lot from just watching. I'll see if I can find links for those of us not in mainland China. If you are than just click below.


http://www.soku.com/search_video/q_蜡笔小新 (for those in Mainland China)

http://so.tudou.com/nisearch/蜡笔小新/

Is there any chinese anime or chinese made anime
not just revoiced/subtitled japanese ?

alyx, I'm not really sure what anime encompasses, but maybe 喜洋洋?

Search on youku. Eg http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTI2NzYzNDU2.html

Byzanti, thanks for the 伦敦华语 tip! That's a really natural, conversational podcast.

I used to listen to 黑米公主 but she doesn't seem to update regularly anymore.

For TV shows, I've bought a few boxsets in Taiwan or from eBay. These are all either Taiwanese programmes (Black and White was good, PS Man is quite fun too) or dubbed/subtitled Korean dramas (I enjoyed Hotelier. Winter Sonata was a little tedious).

100% entertainment is a fun show to watch. You can get SOME of it subtitled on YouTube...

Anyway, thanks for the post. I'm looking forward to everyone's suggestions.

As to some TV shows that you might be interested in checking out.

I second the Black and White recommendation. It's a cute show.

Hot Shot is a fun 'sports' show but it doesn't have the best ending and the 'sports' aspect is pretty fantastical so you have to set aside your reality glasses if you try to watch it.

Um... I could recommend some romances if you're into that. ;)

Thank you all for your great advice! Looks like I have a lot of series to look in to. I will try to find some chinese music and download the podcasts Byzanti mentioned.

To share some advice I found the site www.mysoju.com some time ago. There you can find many asian TV-series. Often subtitled to English.

Cheers

Regarding SkritterJakes post, i found a better way to stream it outside of mainland china (atleast works better for me)

Just search for 蜡笔小新 at

http://www.verycd.com

and you can choose your prefered episode.

edit: seems like those where the original japanese version with mandarin subs. :/

These radio stations http://radio.bbtv.cn/ have some programs where they talk more slowly, like the show 渠成热线 at 9am, you can listen to it any time of the day.

Another site for Asian TV shows is http://sugoideas.com/

Most series come with a choice of English-subtitled or not.

I have a electronic photo frame with Chinese words and English definitions running at work;
http://www.skritter.cn/forum/topic?id=58930929
Have been using it for quite a while and it does help you to familiarise yourself with new words.