· tudou.com Chinese YouTube
If you are having trouble finding Chinese content to practice listening with, I found a neat site called tudou.com (土豆 - tǔdòu - which, as far as I can tell, means “potato”).
It’s basically a Chinese version of youtube, but it looks a lot nicer. When you watch a movie, the layout simulates a theater. I find that a nice touch. And just setting the background to black instead of “youtube white” makes quite a bit of difference in the experience.
I can’t navigate the site with any purpose yet because there are too many words I don’t know, but it’s easy to click around and play some clips in Chinese - some of which are captioned.
I think it’s a good learning tool. It’s easier than trying to find Chinese clips on youtube, and it streams a heck of a lot better than cctv.com (flash vs. WMV).
Comments
This entry was posted on Sunday, October 21st, 2007 at 10:33 am and is filed under Chinese. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
9 Comments so far
1. Dreamer on October 21, 2007 9:11 pm
那个视频网站确实不错
2. nermal kitten on October 28, 2007 7:08 am
hey, the url above is wrong. It should be tudou.com instead of todou.com. Tudou does mean potato–couch potato. It is the website I usually search for Chinese-related video content, the largest one in China.
3. 小罗 on October 28, 2007 1:30 pm
I typed it correctly everywhere accept there, doh. Thanks for the catch Nermal.
4. Vicky on November 30, 2007 9:53 pm
Hey, has anyone figured out how to download the videos from tudou.com onto an iPod? ================I haven’t found a good, safe way yet. :(
5. rocky on December 7, 2007 6:03 am
is this site legal? will i got trouble viewing online on this site?
6. MAC on December 22, 2007 11:28 am
It’s perfectly legal in China. Millions upon millions of people here use it. Although there are tons of legitimate materials on the site there is some content that raises copyright questions, but if they MPAA etc go after anyone they have to go after the site developer. They won’t even bother though because they’ll get laughed right out of Chinese courts. No, not really they’ll just waste quite a few years trying to sue and not really getting anywhere. You don’t have to register and you don’t have to download any content. It literally is Chinese Youtube.
7. on December 27, 2007 7:39 pm
just type the word kiss in front of todou in the url and it will take you to a download page.
8. Lynn the youtuber on May 21, 2008 2:40 am
I just stumbled upon an amazing Chinese kid on Todou (http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/l8F9bi0tagw/) , the sound quality is way better than it is on Youtube. Wondering why I never found this site before.Anyway, if todou really means potato or couch potato in China, that’s quite an interesting fact since here in Taiwan, we use it for peanuts instead. And especially the kind that is whole (roasted or raw), with the hard outsides still on. (well I’m not a peanut lover, so I’m not sure about it, but anyway, we call potatos 馬鈴薯)
9. 小罗 on May 21, 2008 7:42 am
I am 99% sure 土豆 means potato in Mandarin [DICTIONARY]but I don’t know if it really is a short cut for couch potato ( 沙发土豆？). Interestingly, 马铃薯 also means potato: [DICITONARY]. I wonder if they are different kinds or something. Peanut in Mandarin is 花生, but I don’t know if that includes the raw and roasted kind.
Thanks for the link, and the interesting factoid Lynn.
Speaking Resources
chinesepod.com
Podcast with different levels of conversation. Very helpful and entertaining.
imandarinpod.com
Another podcast, but this one is completely in Chinese, and the podcast text can be read on the web site while listening.
World TV Radio
Lists several Chinese radio and TV stations that you can watch online.
tudou.com
A Chinese version of YouTube (Streaming online videos in Chinese)
ENTER FOR FULL INFORMATION:
http://robrohan.com/2007/10/21/tudoucom-chinese-youtube/
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