Why studying Chinese through films and cartoons is very effective.

You probably know that many Chinese learners prefer to study Chinese using films and TV series. Today we want to share with you proven methods for learning Chinese using video. So let’s get started 我们开始吧.

1. Table of Contents

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   You learn and have fun at the same time.

It’s no secret that Chinese films are not shown very often on big screens in Russia. But among them there are worthy films that could quite appeal to the Russian viewer. Of course, the main genre of Chinese art that has become famous around the world is martial arts films. Kung fu masters, flying daggers and swords, dragons, but this is only a small part of Asian culture.

If you want to understand the mentality of the Chinese more deeply, then you should watch more serious films, and there are many of them in Chinese cinema. And every year the number of good films is only increasing. It is especially nice to watch Chinese films without subtitles and dubbing, which will allow you to hear the real voice of your favorite actor. This will convey the whole range of the language in its primordial naturalness. Did you know that Jackie Chan speaks Cantonese dialect in many films?

2. You develop the skill of perceiving Chinese by ear

After you have gone through all the recordings from adapted literature, you need to increase your listening [tīnglì] level. Movies and TV series will definitely help you with this, and here’s why: the audio recordings in adapted books are often recorded in sound studios, where the speaker speaks everything clearly, slowly and distinctly.

In real life, everything is completely different. Every person has their own speech rate, pitch, diction clarity, which in turn affects the sound of speech. Movies and TV series give you a chance to feel this difference. In the course of learning, you will hear many times what other dialects sound like. And how nice it is when you watch and understand the native speaker – many who learn the language from scratch will understand this feeling.

3. You increase your vocabulary

A huge plus that you will gain from watching movies is the replenishment of your vocabulary. Moreover, the vocabulary that you will hear in movies and TV series is completely different from that in adapted books. You will be amazed that many phrases that you learned at the initial stage are not used in certain situations. A simple example, 你好 (hello) – not everyone knows that the Chinese use this phrase very rarely when greeting each other. Most often they just nod their heads or say: 回来了 welcome back.

And there are many such examples. Moreover, there are a huge number of modal words that express a particular emotion. For example:

快点儿啊 – Come on faster.

你吃不吃啊 – will you eat or not?

别忙啊 – Don’t rush!

Moreover, the Chinese use modal words very often. And TV series, domestic ones in particular, will help you learn not only about the life of the Chinese, but about the language as a whole.

4. You learn colloquial phrases, look at word order and get acquainted with slang.

The word order in Chinese is very important. You can’t just take and say whatever you want, otherwise you just won’t be understood. Or you will be understood, but your speech will be like Master Yoda’s speech from “Star Wars”. Also, many new TV series released in the Celestial Empire contain a lot of slang.

And if you want to talk to young people, you should definitely watch movies and TV series to stay on top of the latest trends. As mentioned earlier, the number of colloquial phrases in movies and TV series is an order of magnitude higher than in Chinese language textbooks.

5. You learn natural speech

While watching videos you listen to natural speech, not the monotonous recording from textbooks. Moreover, movie actors observe logical pauses and reinforce them emotionally, which is very important in Chinese. After all, Chinese is a very melodic language since it has a tonal system.

After a certain period of time, without realizing it, you will start copying the speech of native speakers. And some Chinese will be amazed that you are so similar to a Chinese person (in behavior and communication manners). And this will motivate you not to stop at the achieved level.

6. You learn to understand the humor of the Chinese

Humor is of great importance in China. Everyone loves jokes and people who can cheer you up. China is no exception in this regard. True, their humor is peculiar. As for me and my opinion, Asians see humor from a completely different perspective than a Western person.

Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to understand. But in general, you can if you watch their comedies and TV series. Over time, you can even tease the Chinese yourself, of course if the jokes do not affect the person himself. As they say, the East is a subtle thing and you need to observe the line in everything.

7. You learn the peculiarities of another culture

When we watch movies and TV series, we absorb certain cultural values of a particular country like a sponge. By understanding the mentality of another nation more deeply, we thereby begin to understand why the Chinese act in a certain way, and not otherwise.

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