TV Subtitles?

helzcurrah
 January 04, 2013, 08:05 AM posted in General Discussion

Hi Poddies,

I live in Shanghai and I just started watching local TV to try and increase my exposure to the language and popular culture. Does anyone know if it is possible to switch on subtitles so I can practice reading at the same time, and help me to link the characters to the sounds?

Thanks,

Helen

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adam_p_lax
 January 04, 2013, 08:22 AM

almost all chinese TV has chinese subtitles unless its the news or a live show

so almost any show you watch will have chinese subtitles. you just have to get use to reading them quicker and know enough of them to understand.

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helzcurrah

Thanks Adamplex! Do you know how to actually switch them on though? For example, in the UK it used to be that you go to teletext page 888 or something like that. My set top box and remote are all in Chinese and it's not so easy for me to go exploring the functions.....

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adam_p_lax

uh....im not entirely sure, do you watch the cctv channels? the subtitles are shown in the broadcast not something you have to program with your tv. other channels like the hunan and other regional and local channels are like that as well. i think that's nationwide in china. you shouldn't have to program your tv to see subtitles.

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helzcurrah

I just turned to CCTV 1, and after 15 minutes of adverts, I finally see a program with subtitles. Thanks!

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tingyun

I'm not sure there's much reason to do this from broadcasts on a tv set - little choice is a big problem in finding the right stuff for your learning level.

There are tons of digital sources - qiyi is a good place to start, very user friendly whether over the computer or through their ipad app

http://www.iqiyi.com/

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miskat

Seems that iqiyi.com has almost identical offering of American TV shows compared to tv.sohu.com, youku.com etc.. Does anyone know why there seems to be always the same TV shows in different web sites? Are they owned by the same company? Or making the deals with American production companies in co-operation.

Only PPTV seems to have little different offering.

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jdelkodelrit

general comment

i cannot, for the life of me, understand why you don't stick strictly to firstly giving the literal translation and then from there work your way to the meaning and intention. I can't stress enough how important this is. sometimes you seem well on the way but then you seem to suddenly veer of course. take for example the lesson 2079pb the expression "xian lai hou dao"

john starts of explaining it literally and then forgets to complete the literal explanation.

in general i enjoy chinesepod a great deal, there is always room for improvement