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Best Sources for (Video) Content outside Chinesepod

I Have a Question
#1

I am a passive not active learner - and I cannot be bothered to sit down and learn actively. I can only consume Chinese - else it’s getting boring for me.
So by now I listened to more or less all HSK3-HSK5 classed chinesepod lessons twice (but never heard the audio fix - though I guess I should have as I still miss many words even though I can understand the meaning of all upper intermediate lessons - and a few months ago decided to start with the difficult lessons). Usually I just listen to Chinesepod while doing sports or driving by car/train.

Great sources:
chinesepod.com
My second source for learning - and I feel especially in the beginning this was great - is viki.com - however I watched most remotely interesting C-Drama there - and need some new material.

Great but much more limited in content - but super effective - foreign youtubers in China - my list:
from intermediate level - with english subs:
Afu Thomas: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC689uDf0ryZniKpuSK9ESTw
Jared: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgZtGFGS-SGyvAE9iqmTauQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5kzvUz4ff_nmds40SIVBDg
PKU Lila: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTNm6DuusMxAMb8czGnH0Pw

Tv Shows with foreigners - no english subs - you should be starting with advanced lessons on chinesepod already before you go for them:
e.g. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa2IIyWDlpx1M9tBu6cEGUA

Not good:
XiaoHongShu - way too little conversation. Hard to find good people to listen to. Maybe I should invest more time
Most drama on bilibili - Problem is that the subs are usually so badly translated / computer generated it is frustrating.
Any direct competitors to chinesepod - like chinese101 or others - way too little content and not good for listening passively.

My problem - I’m still not comfortable with watching chinese drama or movies without subtitles - if I concentrate hard I can understand something - but usually drift off after some time due to being lost.
So I need some more material like the above that is easy to consume.
Any tips for other foreign youtubers with very good chinese level that prefeably have subs so enable/disable? I need more material like the above that is good. Anyone here having favorites.

P.S:
I started learning Chinese long time ago - but never made it further than A1-A2 level (3 years of 2 hours per week chinese class as foreign language at University). Then 3 years ago I discovered chinesepod and viki.com and started just consuming Chinese. At some point I really have to attack characters - but didn’t do so yet. I spend maybe 2hours per day consuming chinese content those 3 years - plus living 4.5 month in Taiwan and 5 weeks travelling alone through China.
I can by now communicate fluently for daily life - even on phone quite okay (say ordering food in Chinese, or booking a tour/ticket whithout being afraid) - or able to travel with Chinese people speaking english for a week and maybe only falling back to English for 5% of the time (plus sometimes using English for single vocabs).
Some teachers told me my listening/talking skills are around C1 - between HSK5 and HSK6 - but yeah that seems not enough yet for really ditching subtitles and watching chinese news/drama without them. Goal: get to C2 level and able to communicate also about specific topics like technology, politics and so on - and understand any drama/movie in Puthonghua without problems (not every word - but 95% of the story). I want to get to HSK5 reading level - but yeah I know that means sitting down and starting to learn - likely with ANKI. Cannot commit yet to it. I had initially hoped to get to C1 quicker - and then being able to learn to read by looking at chinese subs on drama - but I think that will not work. Or would take ages. That will be good to continue once reaching HSK5 level on reading.
I will move back to Taiwan for winter if they drop the quarantine - cannot be bothered right now.
Taking Chinese group classes doesn’t work. At NTNU they told me I would fall into their highest or second highest level on talking - but cannot read so no way… I could take private classes but then it’s easy to find chinese friends when living in China/Taiwan so thought that is easier.

Oh yeah - in Taiwan for finding friends and speaking chinese - use “eatgether” app. That is crazy effective - way better than language exchange as you don’t lose half of the time doing conversation in English. I have not heard of an equivalent in mainland China.

#2

BTW - here is a good overview for content on Youtube:

– some more stuff that is pretty good: for Advanced learners:
Taiwanese family in Germany - no english subs but lots of non stop talk at not too difficult level:

For TV Shows that are not the same stupid love stories or ancient stories on youtube:
The first half of my Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkY0-_qW8x4&list=PLQqbdnAgoRmZFhKcaeEMvuf_syAYEFxoc

Nothing but Thirty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4zhJHw-BpA&list=PLkvG4EWPDB0lfJhiP-M9JYlW-IRph5RI7

In general the youtube channels of LeTV official Channel and MzTV have quite some interesting stuff away from the average stuff on IQIYI or VIKI. In general IQIYI has pretty good english subs too.

Another good series for upper intermediate/advanced is Be With You on IQIYI:

In general variety shows are quite a good thing to watch. Much more talk vs drama/movies.

#3

How can you understand Chinese Pod in the car when you don’t know the new words yet?

#4

You don’t have to understand everything. Its enough to understand 50 percent of the meaning IMHO. It really depends on your style of learning. I do it immersive and rather listen to a lot than repeat and bore out.

Im right now watching ode to joy without English subs. And I can follow the story. There are plenty of words I don’t get.
Plus often from hearing the same phrase I understand the meaning without understanding all vocabs, even missing key ones. Yet if you ask me those key ones I cannot give you a translation. Repetitive learning is faster, but too boring. If it’s feels like work I give up. Its all in my free time.

In general podcasts are much easier than video/TV. Has to be spoken clearly as no-one has subs. Enough of local Chinese depend on subs sometimes. so they can get away with talking gibberish from time to time or strange accents.

#5

BTW, another great source for Advanced content is BaiLinguo News from Taiwan - they are availabl on a lot of podcast sites and for their rather rare videos they have a youtube channel. Mostly it’s podcasts only however. It’s a great addition to the Chinesepod Media lessons - they do sometimes explain difficult words in English - but in general it’s no vocab section or similar - and you can listed to current political news with worldwide focus in “easy” Chinese. With easy meaning they try not to make it to difficult but don’t care much. The name is misleading as its 90% Chinese and rather some common chitchat in English from time to time.

I haven’t really found out how to use Douyin properly - I mean I guess there should be interesting topics? But I didn’t get how to get the algorythm propose me stuff that is with lot’s of spoken words and not just beautiful girls, cats, dogs and whatever. Maybe I should try tiktok first so at least I know how the app works a bit better…

#6

If you’re looking for passive listening, podcasts are probably the right way to go. My listening skills are at an HSK4ish level. Here are a few podcasts that are run by native speakers that I watch on Youtube:

https://www.patreon.com/mandarincorner - Note that the podcast isn’t free, but it’s pretty cheap ($30 for lifetime access to all episodes + transcripts)

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=82507291&fan_landing=true&view_as=public - also not free ($3 per month)

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#7

I’m much above HSK4 on listening - so I prefer content that is not too hard but in normal speed just without too hard vocabulary.
Sometimes I know feel they talk too slow in the chinesepod media lessons so it gets boring. On the other hand of course in media lessons especially I don’t know many of the words, especially those that are translated to English. I guess even in advanced I don’t know half of the words that are translated - so yeah my knowledge is quite spotty, I guess that comes from just passive listening for learning.

I’m right now trying to learn reading by just reading subs in shows/movies without an english translation. But not sure I will get anywhere. As that approach is not building up from a limited base, I think it’s not very efficient. Its best to always be able to understand 80-90% of the words/characters - but reading subs this way I maximum get 50-60% so not sure how much I have to do this to get a sudden kick to oh yeah I can read most in context (and then later also out of context).