Currently I know about 150 characters according to scritter and roughly 2 or 3 times that as spoken vocab. Saying hello, how many brothers I have or asking for some water I'm ok with. Clearly thats not nearly enough to really understand much though from a real source.

Last week a friend gave me some mandarin movies and I'm wondering if I should watch them now, or save them for when I might understand more than 1% of it. Would that 2 hours be better used studying?

If you fall in love with a movie and watch it obsessively, I could see that helping. Years ago a friend of mine was obsessed with a movie about a missionary sent out west; she would walk around saying "he has a devil inside him" in Cherokee.

James

I think it's important to start getting input in Chinese as soon as possible. Maybe a two hour movie that you only understand 1% of is not the best start though, maybe try finding a movie that you already know and watch it in Chinese or try listening to Chinese podcasts or radio while you study.

I think, at this stage, it will not improve your listening skill. But watching some interesting Chinese movies with English subtitles might give you some more insight into Chinese culture, history, way of thinking, inter-personal relationship etc. Some recent movies, which I like very much, are Aftershock, Reign of Assassins, Shanghai, If you are the one; some older ones are Beijing Bycicle, Life, Eat Drink Man Woman. You can't study 24 hours a day, so why not watch such movies for relaxation and at the same time learn more about Chinese society, it's also important to understand the language in the longer run.

How about starting to watch children's series like Xiyangyang yu Huitailang 喜洋洋与灰太狼. Every episode only lasts about 14 minutes. The content is easy to understand even if you don't understand the words. The language is simple. There are a lot of recurring sentences like the famous phrases by Huitailang: "Wo yiding hui huilai de 我一定会回来的! Wo yiding huihuilai baochou de 我一定会回来报仇的!" (I will come back for sure! I will come back for sure to take revenge!)

Anyway at this stage it is not important and also not possible that you really understand the movies, but if you watch Chinese movies, it will help you to get a feeling for pronunciation and speech melody of the Chinese language.

I started watching dramas from Taiwan and Korea after one year of Chinese. It helped that there were English subtitles while Chinese was spoken. Whatever the level of Chinese, it's always a great way to practice listening comprehension.

I kinda like dramas since the vocab is easier and more daily use. In mainland movies which are a lot about historical events or inspired from old legends, I know I usually miss some references, so that makes them less enjoyable to watch.

I like your pik Balsa - my kids love Octonaughts (sp??)- wish I could get Octonaughts in CHinese!

Kaysik - I would also recommend kids stuff for your level - you will still find it challenging enough!

http://www.asianparent.com/ Not sure where you are but this place has lots of kids DVDs.

If there is a particualr kids' program that you are familiar with the format (not sure if you ahve kids or younger siblings!), then search for it.

Best place to get DVDs of course if in China as they are so cheap - but otherwise just shop on line for them - many of the programs my kids watch you can get in Chinese, Sesame Street, In the Night Garden, Dora, Thomas, Pororo etc.

ALso, if there is an English movie you really like (have watched a few times etc), see if you can find in Chinese (again easier to find in CHina). You then know what they would be saying in English, and try and work it out from that angle.

Sorry if my communication not great - had to type fast...

Cheers,
Donna

There are certain types of movies that you'll be better off with. I started watching "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" (饮食男女) and became somewhat depressed with my inability, but then a few days later I started watching "The Colors of Love" （爱出色） and that was a whole lot better and easier. Trying something like "To Live" (活着) would probably mean you'd only learn something like .25% of what's said.

But just accept that you're not going to understand all of it. Some movies are going to be harder than others. I watched "Still Life" (三峡好人) with a friend who has already passed the level six HSK, and he couldn't understand anything until he switched on the subtitles. Dialects can be THAT tricky.

I'm currently abroad with a language immersion program, and I'll say this. You don't understand how limited your range and vocabulary is until you can't find the words to express yourself. Right now. You're essentially a small child. Start by watching some Chinese Children's TV. 羊羊 is very popular here, and we sometimes watch 大头儿子 in my Chinese class. What can be really good about 大头儿子 is that each little story is max 8 minutes long. But even then, sometimes they use specific vocabulary (You might know how to say apple, hand, and take - but if you don't know 偷 (tou1)is thief you might have a bit of a problem. But that episode could be good for your listening because you have a character called 小头爸爸 （xiao3tou3ba4ba）and they're constantly saying "小偷" “Thief” (xiao3tou1).)

This might sound less than enheartening... I hope it doesn't. Just accept that it's going to be a while before you understand a lot. HSK friend doesn't always understand everything either. The worst thing you can do is get down on yourself and frustrated. Believe me. I've been there. But one thing that can be really good about movies is it gets you listening to something. That's really important. More so than you probably realize.

P.S. Hongkong movies usually get dubbed over from the original 广东话 to 普通话。 Those movies are generally a bit easier to listen to and understand.

@ Kaysik
I just found this webpage. Maybe this is something for you: http://www.learn-chinese-from-movies.com/
I haven't tried it though.
Then I also found this: http://watchtolearnchinese.com/
And this: http://video.chinese.cn/en/ (This is from the Confucius Institute)