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How to watch Cdramas at different levels

Watching Chinese Dramas 

Immersion is an important thing in your language journey, but there are different ways to get the most out of it, and it all depends on your level. Even though it would be amazing to be able to watch a Cdrama completely in Chinese It's actually quite hard and requires almost an advanced level, or a lot of time depending on the drama, but that doesn't mean we can't use them to immerse ourselves when we are on another level.

Why is it important to watch shows, movies, cartoons, etc. in your target language?

Sometimes it seems that watching a show or movie in Chinese might only be for enjoyment, which is quite valid. But from the perspective of learning, it's a way to see how you can use structures in conversation, understand new patterns, and finally to practice. 

Beginner level 

You are starting your language journey, and you want to practice Chinese through shows or cartoons, both of them are great options it only depends on what you are looking for, for instance if you want something you can watch with subtitles in Chinese, the best options are cartoons, you will still need to look up some vocabulary, or you might not be able to understand everything and that's okay, everything takes time.

You can also watch more complicated series by using (), in this app you'll be able to watch your desired drama with subtitles in English and Chinese you'll learn a lot of new words while still being able to understand the drama. 

Resources: Peppa Pig (小豬佩奇), 新我們這一家, 蠟筆小新, Masha and the bear (瑪莎與熊), 福星大嘴鳥, Power Puff Girls ( 飛天小女警).

Intermediate level

You have been learning Chinese for quite some time, but just like me, you are still not able to watch a soap opera or movie completely in Chinese. From my own experience there is a method that will be quite useful in this stage and that's to first watch a drama with English subtitles or with subtitles both in English and Chinese, and then after a while you can watch completely in Chinese; this will be helpful because you already know the plot so when you encounter some words you don't understand it will be easier to guess the meaning of it. During this process you'll find that translations are often quite different, and you'll enjoy a lot more the drama, because things will make much more sense.

Another way to do this is to first watch an episode in Chinese and then in English, so that the parts you didn't understand the first time become much clearer, but to be honest this method feels a lot more time-consuming than the one that I previously mentioned. 

Finally, cartoons can also really help you and on this level you'll probably be able to understand almost everything, that's why you can easily watch them with Chinese subtitles or if you want a challenge, you can simply watch them without subtitles or instead of watching a cartoon choose an Anime.

Cartoons/Animes: 快把我哥帶走, 魔道祖師, Big fish and Begonia, Wish Dragon, The brave animated series, Green snake. 

Advance level 

For this level there are two main options, to watch dramas completely in Chinese with Chinese subtitles or if you are feeling bold to simply watch it without any subtitles, this will probably be quite hard, and you'll need to really focus on it, but this happens in every language, but  it would be quite helpful to sharpen your listening skills.

Dramas: Accidentally in love, Le coup de fondre, Falling into your smile, Moonlight, Triad Princess, Life plan A and plan B.

Finally, if you want to see your progress, one of my favorite things to do is watch the same drama every year and each year I can easily see how much my Chinese has improved, in my case the drama I watch every year is: Accidentally in Love.


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