A great and fun way to learn Chinese Mandarin is by watching Chinese movies with English subtitles. Or, use English language DVDs with Chinese subtitles or dubbing to learn that way!
Find a scene which you particularly like, which contains good dialogue. Try and memorize what the actors say, then act it out yourself with all the gestures and feeling involved. Using your muscles and body to act out a scene will dramatically improve your retention - much more than sitting at a desk staring at words and trying to memorize them.
We searched high and low and have finally found an online source for DVDs with Chinese language features on them. Here are some of our favorite films available, below:
Original Language Mandarin Chinese Films
Below is a table of Chinese foreign films, which if possible to get with English subtitles would be an excellent way to gradually improve your Mandarin language skills!
Don't ask us if its legal (cuz we don't know), but there is Youku.com. Do a search for English (or your first language) movies or TV programs there and you will find that they all come with Chinese subtitles. Just the characters though... so your knowledge of them will have to be pretty good. Or you could use this method to improve your knowledge of the characters!
Help Others Live & Learn Chinese Mandarin
Are you learning this language or have you learned it successfully? If so, we'd love to hear about any suggestions you may have about learning the language. Have you seen any great Chinese Mandarin videos or dvds? Do you know an online source for DVD's with Chinese subtitles and dubbing?
Please e-mail us your findings using the form below. Your shared language learning experiences will save other language learners' time, energy, and money. In fact, that is the the mission of Live & Learn Languages!