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Ever thought about using podcasts to learn Chinese? We highly recommend it. Improve your Chinese listening comprehension with one of these Mandarin podcasts.
Being able to listen, interpret, and react in a different language requires a lot of skill – and practice. The more we expose ourselves to different speaking styles and familiarise ourselves with the vocabulary, the better our Chinese language skills will be for it!
One of our favourite ways to develop those all important Chinese listening comprehension skills is by listening to Mandarin podcasts. Podcasts are a great (and often free!) learning tool. They enable you to get totally immersed in a language of your choice while on the go, and with so many podcasts out there these days, you can guarantee that you’ll never be bored or in want of content!
Continue reading to discover a wide range of Mandarin podcasts to learn Chinese.
iMandarinPod.com is designed to help people to improve their Chinese. Releasing a podcast almost every day for over 14 years, iMandarinPod spoils their listeners with a wide range of topics and difficulties to choose from. Their content spans the following five topics:
iMandarinPod podcasts are free. Through their subscription option, listeners can gain access to a learning guide (with pinyin) for each podcast including full podcast transcripts, vocabulary lists, and exercises.
Suitable levels: All learners
One of our favourite podcasts to learn Chinese is Chillchat. Chillchat is a podcast talking about daily life in China, news, and other topics of general interest to help Chinese learners improve their listening skills by exposing them to real conversations. Suitable to all levels, Chillchat covers a wide range of content that varies in difficulty. Their Mandarin podcasts are lighthearted and enjoyable to listen to due to the fun topics and conversations they address. Foreigners are also commonly featured participating in the podcast, which is extremely beneficial to boost morale and inspire new learners. Listeners are further supported by Chillchat’s full range of transcripts, available on their website.
Suitable levels: All learners
Created by Chinese college students, Slow Chinese follows the theme of daily life when living in China. Speaking about what life is like in China, listeners have the chance to delve into the importance of Chinese culture and etiquette. Their short bite-sized lessons (lasting around 10 minutes) mean that learners can conveniently listen to episodes on a commute or whenever they have free time. Like its name, the unique feature of Slow Chinese is that everything being said is spoken especially slowly. This slower speed makes it easy to make out certain words even if the vocabulary is advanced. Concerning additional material, Slow Chinese is not too well equipped but the podcast itself is really interesting, giving insight into affairs about Chinese culture from a natives perspective.
Suitable levels: Upper Intermediate to Advanced
Unlike many other Mandarin podcasts which tend to cover more general topics, BearTalk differentiates itself through its focus on technology, books reviews, and self improvement. Loved by many, the podcast won the iTunes editors choice award in 2013 and has been featured in numerous newspapers and articles worldwide ever since. The slow and careful manner of BearTalk’s speech style makes the podcast suitable for intermediate learners. Beginners, on the other hand, would struggle with the informal language, conversational tone, and advanced technical language included.
Suitable levels: Intermediate to Advanced
Addressing the theme of mental health issues in China, Ruixi engages with her audience on a personal level, often asking after their wellbeing and discussing issues that affect our everyday life. Speaking in a slow calming tone, many listeners opt to use Ruixi’s podcast as part of their bedtime ritual. The slow nature of the podcast makes her content fairly easy to understand despite the occasional difficult vocabulary. These bite-sized 15-minute lessons are perfect for when you’re getting ready in the morning or about to lay down to sleep, and is a great podcast to learn Chinese from.
Suitable levels: Beginner to Intermediate
You may also be interested in: The Best Mandarin YouTube Channels for Learning Chinese
Originally a TV show, Behind the Headlines with Wen Tao comes with audio-only versions of their episodes. This Mandarin podcast is a current affairs discussion show with each episode taking the form of a natural conversation between Wen Tao and two other guests. There are a mix of topics spoken about which all relate to current affairs in China. We would not recommend this podcast to anyone below an advanced level due to many of the guest speakers coming from either Hong Kong or Taiwan, meaning you would already have to be used to a range of accents and speech styles.
Suitable levels: Advanced
See also: The Best Chinese Shows on Netflix to Boost Your Mandarin
Podcast of the day by bbcchinese.com gives you the best interviews on a hot topic or despatches from its reporters based in Asia and elsewhere. The podcast covers current affairs both in China and across the globe, and is spoken at high speed using rather formal language. While arguably not the most entertaining of Mandarin podcasts on this list, it does offer a lot of value in terms of advanced vocabulary and topics studied. We would only recommend the BBC podcast to advanced learners due to the speed and difficulty.
Suitable levels: Advanced
We hope this list of Mandarin Podcasts will help you boost your Chinese listening comprehension skills. For more articles like this, be sure to check out our blog and subscribe to our newsletter in the sign-up bar below.
Feature Photo courtesy of Shutterstock, Photo 1 courtesy of iMandarinPod, Photo 2 courtesy of Buy me a coffee, Photo 3 courtesy of Youtube, Photo 4 courtesy of FluentU, Photo 5 courtesy of Soundcloud, Photo 6 courtesy of Lujuba, Photo 7 courtesy of BBC
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