The Best Chinese Podcasts For Learning Mandarin

Podcasts are a great way to make progress in any language. They tend to be lengthy and boast a larger variety of vocabulary. And, of course, podcasts dive deeper into topics of particular interest.

Podcasts can be a form of meaningful content that allow you to strengthen your listening comprehension and develop a stronger sense of intuition in their target language. In this post, we’ll share some go-to resources to find Mandarin Chinese podcasts for language learners of all levels. We’ll also provide some tips to use podcasts more strategically to make real progress in Chinese.

Our Go-To Chinese Podcasts: 

Mandarin Bean

Mandarin Bean is an interactive website for Chinese language learners. The website is full of free language lessons and downloadable content, including free podcasts and short stories for every skill level. This is a particularly popular resource amongst teachers and other users.   Highlights: 

• Podcasts and short stories are offered with pinyin.
• The website is full of engaging topics (i.e. “Seating Position Can Affect Grades”).
• Materials are organized by HSK level.

Slow Chinese

Created by an excited team of teachers and volunteers, Slow Chinese is a free, interactive website for Chinese language learners to listen to culturally-themed podcasts spoken by native Chinese speakers. Highlights:

• This is a free resource.
• Episodes include short stories and longer conversations.
• The topics vary and are designed to stir conversation (i.e. “Would you date someone less educated than you?”).

LingQ Chinese Podcast 

At LingQ, we not only provide a language learning platform to enhance your favourite study materials. We also create optimal resources for the language learner. For example, LingQ currently has two series of podcasts for Intermediate Chinese learners. LingQ Chinese Podcast 1.0 includes 44 episodes and LingQ Chinese Podcast 2.0 currently has 29 episodes posted and is available as a course on LingQ.

Translate words and phrases as you listen adding them to your personal vocabulary database.

Highlights: 

• The podcasts follow an interview format between two native speakers.
• Episodes are accompanied by an interactive transcript on LingQ’s platform.
• Topics encompass cultural topics and current events.
• If these podcasts are too difficult, LingQ also offers a collection of Chinese mini stories designed to help you build a strong foundation.

Learning Chinese Through Stories

As the name suggests, Learning Chinese Through Stories is an interactive website where students can choose the types of stories that they want to read, listen to the podcasts, and learn some interesting vocabulary along the way.   Highlights: 

• The site includes both native Chinese stories and stories translated into Chinese.
• Podcasts are organized by level.
• The site also offers a ton of free resources, including blog posts and videos.

How to Use Podcasts to Learn Chinese

There are many free Chinese podcasts and other resources for learning Chinese. However, how exactly should you “study” a Chinese podcast? How can these types of resources actually improve your grasp of the language? Below, we’ve included a handful of tips.

Incorporate listening to Chinese podcasts into your everyday tasks

When you’re washing the dishes or walking the dog, take advantage of this time to listen to an episode of your favourite podcast. Language-learning is about consistent exposure.

Listen to the podcast and read the transcript

Reading and listening, especially simultaneously, are key to building strong comprehension skills in your target language. You’ll understand the material more thoroughly, become a more fluid reader, and you’ll develop a stronger grasp for pronunciation and sentence structure.

Focus on comprehension first

Don’t stress about grasping every single word in an episode. Podcasts contain thousands of words, and it’s not likely that you’ll understand all of it. When listening to something for the first time, simply try to grasp the main idea and overall flow of conversation.

Gradually increase the difficulty of what you’re listening to

Similar to lifting weights or playing the piano, when language learning feels too easy, it may be time to change the difficulty. Engaging with materials that are slightly out of your comfort zone ensure that you’re able to make significant improvement. Ultimately, you want to push yourself to listen to Chinese podcasts designed for Chinese speakers, not language learners.

Make sure you actually enjoy the material

This tip may seem obvious, but it’s important. Don’t force yourself to listen to material that you’re frankly not interested in. Language learning requires a lot of intrinsic motivation. To increase the likelihood that you’ll consistently interact with the material, you need to choose podcasts that touch on topics that you really want to know more about. Find out what other LingQ users recommend for using podcasts to learn a language. LingQ offers forums for language learners to interact, share tips, and motivate one another. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMQqDWrJ034 Enjoyed this post? Check out polyglot and LingQ cofounder Steve Kaufmann’s blog post for some tips on how to learn Mandarin!