Introduction
China has no shortage of TV shows, but not all of them are really useful for a language learner which isn’t almost entirely fluent. There are a couple shows I’ve found over the years which were extremely useful when I was less fluent, but which still remained useful as I got more fluent. This list includes 3 of the best I’ve found, and we’re going to steer clear of kid shows even though some would arguably be better from a language learner’s perspective.
I placed the shows in roughly the order I thought they would be useful depending on level, ranging from lower intermediate up to more advanced content. Each show has its own strengths and weaknesses, but I found all three useful from a language learning perspective for different reasons. I found they also blended together well to try and saturate language learning with multiple different content streams without watching the same thing entirely through. I tend to recommend shows for language learning over movies as shows have far more run-time with the same characters making it easier to get familiar with a specific voice and speech style.
1. 家有儿女
This show is first on my list because of the fact the episodes are relatively short, the language used is tailored to a younger audience without being childish, and because it covers so many common, real life scenarios that there are literally courses based around it. The show is a standard slice of life sitcom detailing the family dynamic of a blended family and the coming of age of the children as they go through various phases growing up, as well as the struggles the parents go through while dealing with their step-children. The show covers a wide variety of daily topics and hits so many more real topics than any textbook.
The show is composed of 30 minute episodes which work out to something like 25 minutes with the cuts for commercials which makes the episodes extremely digestible. There are few to be continued… episodes, but those can be broken up without really losing the story. There are a lot of episodes too, 367 to be exact. The show steers clear of any kind of dialect (except some Beijingisms in some characters’ speech).
Overall, this is a great show to learn from, but it can get a bit monotonous as it follows the standard sitcom formula. The show covers a large number of topics but doesn’t really veer into certain waters. This is a really good show for lower intermediate to mix in with other resources. The show still has content for more advanced learners, but there are better resources at that point unless you just like the show.
2. 爱情保卫战
爱情保卫战 is a realty TV show chronicling relationship issues where a few “teachers” try to help the couples work through their issues and either resolve what to do or how to change to make themselves better in relationships. The language is extremely authentic, though most people try to speak a bit more standard for TV (or they pick on this criteria perhaps). The language is very understandable most of the time and the situations (as a whole) are easily relatable for most adults.
The show is a standard hour long affair divided into two main sections. Each episode basically works out to be two 30 minute episodes with completely different guests on each. The language varies episode by episode as each couple is different, and each approach to their problems is different as well. The episodes vary heavily in consistency, so sometimes it’s worth just skipping an episode. It’s a realty show so there’s absolutely no continuity aside from the occasional update episode.
This is a really good resource for some of the topics that 家有儿女 doesn’t cover, in addition to situations that most shows won’t go near. The quality of each episode varies, as does the language, so some episodes are better than others for learning. The show tends to blend together after a while too, but since it covers so many different topics, it tends to stay pretty consistently useful from lower intermediate and up, though it tends to be most useful at a higher intermediate level in my opinion (I feel you get the most bang for your buck at that point). The show has also been going on pretty much forever with no end in sight.
3. 爱情公寓
爱情公寓 is a sitcom akin to something like How I Met Your Mother (and even literally rips off the bar for it) crossed with something like Big Bang Theory. The show is more focused at a young adult audience and chronicles how 展博 moves in with a bunch of people into the same apartment complex to find love. The humor tends to be similar to western sitcoms, but translated in a way to make more sense to a Chinese audience so a lot of the humor translates well with a few cultural adjustments.
The show is a little higher level than the other two in my opinion, but still not that bad for an intermediate learner with a little bit of replay for certain sections. Some of the jokes and conversations are a bit sharper witted than many shows, so one can usually follow even if the higher level joke is missed. The show is really well done and the language used is a bit more educated at times, but it’s still very accessible. The episodes are a bit long sitting at 45 minutes each, but can typically be broken up by scenes or require little rewatching to pick back up.
There are a good number of episodes for this show and the humor can be a little more relatable to a western learner, but this show really wasn’t my cup of tea. This type of sitcom just isn’t something I really like, and I couldn’t make myself sit through the entire show when I first watched it. This show seems good for an upper intermediate learner, or an advanced learner to really squeeze the most out of the content. An intermediate learner will get a lot still, but would probably be best picking something else unless they really like the show itself.
Conclusion
Of all the shows I looked at from a language learning perspective, these three were the best for me to take from and provided the most content and material without veering too far from real life. These shows also seemed to be the most useful across a wide range of language levels and were something different than standard dialogues or the news. The content may be a bit questionable depending on taste, but the linguistic content is gold.