Going through this list now. Can anyone recommend a simple movie or TV Show that might use a lot of these words to help my listening comprehension? Many of my favorite movies are way too complex.

Thanks.

I'll say two words: "sugo" and "ideas", just google it, and you will be in Taiwanese drama or TV shows heaven!

and if you need help to figure out what TW drama is good or not, check this:
http://www.spcnet.tv/tv-series.html#

From my own personal experience, if you enjoy TW drama, then it'll be a really really good practice for listening.

Thanks Balsa. This site looks very cool.

Are Taiwanese and Mainland accents/dialect in dramas fairly interchangeable or is there a big difference? I mean if I pick up expressions off a Taiwanese drama and use it in China for example, are people going to stare at me funny? :)

My Taiwanese friends make fun of me for my Beijing accent (my tutor is from Beijing and I also learned from Pimsleur which uses the Beijing accent).

Taiwanese dramas mostly use Hokkien... and their subtitles would probably be in Traditional Mandarin.
Hong Kong uses Cantonese mostly.

Unless you get the ones that are dubbed in Mandarin like the ones in Singapore.

Jwww1066, you and me both. Ma Laoshi (the first year teacher here) has a very strong Beijing accent. for instance, I didn't even know you were supposed to pronounce "点" "dian," I thought it was supposed to be pronounced "diar." Good job Ma laoshi!

To me Taiwan vs Mainland Chinese is kinda like US and British English. Accent is a little different, and vocab is different too.

With that said though, I don't think people will stare at you funny for using Taiwanese expression in China, but you should always have a heads as some words can be totally different, like for cheese.
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=1&wdqb=cheese

While 起士 is used almost all the time in Taiwan, I don't recall ever seeing it in China...


One thing about Taiwanese drama that can be a little annoying is the use of English words or expressions, I've seen this trend growing over the years... oh, and you may also hear some Taiwanese dialect too from time to time, whenever they are talking to an elder, hehe

Hehe, I think as long as your accent is comprehensible, it doesn't matter too much. The CCTV anchors' pronunciation includes at least some use of 儿化韵, like 一半儿....

@balsa:

at Mcdonald's I believe they use 吉士 which doesn't appear among the mdbg choices. Cheese is seen/used so rarely I have a hard time really feeling out what word is more common here.

More power to you if you can watch the Taiwan dramas. :) They are doubtlessly good practice... But I just can't handle the dozens of weepy melodramatic tv programs. hehe. Admittedly, I was never a fan of US soaps either, so I'm sure that's my downfall.

I opt rather for the goofy talk shows since people use everyday conversational language. My favorite channels on tv these days are cooking channels. After being here a couple years, they had the first programs I actually started to be able to really understand since the vocabulary and sentences accompany the actions on the screen. "add a little of this (noun). Stir it for 2 minutes." "mmm, tastes good... add a little salt." etc. :)

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I've heard good things about the live-action TV adaptations of the four classics - 三国演义，水浒传， 西游记，and 红楼梦 - are all pretty good, and I can vouch for the CCTV cartoon version of 三国演义. Of course, they'll probably have some antiquated language, and it helps greatly if you're already familiar with the stories, but that's my suggestion. I've learned a fair bit and gotten a ton of practice from watching the 三国演义 cartoons, and I plan on moving onto the live action version when I'm done with the cartoons.

@kohoutek hehe I hear you about not being able to handle those melodramatic stories... though they can also be very cultural, it's true that it's geared more towards a feminine audience.

and would you mind sharing what cooking shows you are watching?? I am very interested :)

@FatDragon 三国演义 looks like a great series. Everything is spoken clearly from what I could tell. Since there are subtitles I have an app on my iphone called estroke that I can just write in a word I don't know and it pops up instantly. I think I might order the DVDs and watch this series thoroughly. I read somewhere the animation was actually done in Japan.

Thanks!

@balsa I wish I knew the names. haha. Honestly I'm a chronic channel surfer, so I just surf until I hit one I can understand or looks tasty. :)

Here's one I found on youtube, that seems pretty much like what you'd find any given day on tv here. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNyH9I80_3w