Has anyone seen this program before?

Oh oh, didn't embed...try the link below. http://youtube.com/watch?v=auwrzHnRGCU

Xiaohu, If you like Su Fei you might like to have a look at Danwei's Channel as well. They have some short (a few minutes) documentaries out of Beijing. Another great source of Mandarin videos is our very own KMKFR's Channel. They're all really great ways to give the ear some practice.

Aw, man ... I love Su Fei. Great find! I'll hafta keep an eye on this.

What a lot of fun stuff they've done! But now I'm angry, with myself. She speaks in Chinese sentences that are not only easy to understand, but simple enough that I could say them, even make them up by myself. But she blurts them out with such confidence! Why can't I do that? Why can I say what Sufei is saying but only speak it as if the words are my last footprints in a minefield? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I gotta watch more of this and try to work it out. Maybe the knack will rub off.

yea actually I have seen it before. Christian posted it to Cpod on Dec 23rd but it is worth seeing again. I too was struck by how comfortable she was speaking Mandarin. Pretty interesting how no one connected Xmas to religion, but then why would they?

AuntySue, don't worry, from what I've seen she's pretty fluent so don't expect to have the same of confidence as her. She probably speaks more Chinese than English on a daily basis.

Bazza ... I think the point is a bit more subtle and (maybe) hard to see if you only watch that one video. I watched several and was very much inspired by her performance. She does not rattle off seasoned Mandarin ala DaShan. Virtually everything she says is something you could find in a Elementary CPOD lesson. And that's not a criticism. Far from it. I'm genuinely impressed and green with envy. She uses a very limited vocabulary -- but she uses it extremely well and with a supreme confidence that I (and Sue) could use a dose of.

I've seen Sophie, but not this particular one, 谢谢. Danwei puts a video up with Sophie every couple of weeks. The Danwei blog has some interesting things on it.

FuDaWei- I think you hit the nail on the head but Im sure she does get a lot of practice. Mandarin has an exponential learning curve but it does start out long and almost flat. I look forward to the day when the curve is steeper and progress is quicker but there is no turning back.

AuntySue: I think you can take heart 你可以放心吧，what others have said is true, she is using what you can find in basic Chinesepod lessons and using it very well, and thus able to communicate! I'ts like my first Mandarin teacher always said, when you're not particularly fluent but have enough vocabulary that you've created a tiny little snowball in your hand, it's so much easier from that point on because the snowball will grow and grow without nearly as much effort! Everything you know will work to reinforce the new things you're learning. He always said if you're in a Chinese area and you REALLY need to take a restroom break, you don't have to say 请问，厕所在哪里？All you need is to hop up and down with conviction and say the word 厕所, and they'll point you in the right direction! So don't worry I'm sure you have enough skills already that as long as you use what you know you can easily surpass Su Fei.

I've been a subscriber to the 'Sexy Beijing' channel on Youtube for awhile now, and still find the clips funny and insightful. I remember one episode explains how SuFei's family had lived in China way back when, so although she has the appearance of a full blown waiguoren, she's had quite the jumpstart on those of us that undertook Mandarin study as adults. Nonethelss, its still inspiring to see her attain conversational fluency.

Oh, I have no doubt she knows her stuff cold. Just watching her interact with a broad spectrum of native speakers demonstrates that amply. But the point is: I could pretty much write a transcript of her half of the conversations, and I'm barely out of the ni hao--xiexie--zaijian stage. Her approach is a great motivator; I find these episodes extremely helpful.

...and it's hard not to love Auntie Smacker!

I have seen quite a few of them but it was about 6 months ago, maybe they'd seemed more advanced to me then.