5 Easily Accessible Chinese Audiobook Resources for the Avid Chinese Learner

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Had enough of the radio?

Are you done being stuck in rush hour traffic with the same top 40 results?

You are reading: Chinese language audio books

going for daily walks or exercising regularly and getting increasingly bored with high-energy electronic music?

or maybe you just want to kick back and do absolutely nothing, but aren’t in the mood to waste hours scrolling through twitter or other social media.

There is a way to make the most of this time, especially if you are trying to learn Mandarin Chinese! Listening to Chinese audiobooks is a great way to integrate learning naturally and make the most of your time.

and not just audiobooks of novels that have been gathering dust in your library. there are plenty of great Mandarin Chinese audiobooks that can help you speak fluently while leading a busy life.

Are the audiobooks worth checking out? shouldn’t we save the “learning time” for when we really have time?

download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable pdf that you can take anywhere. click here for a copy. (download)

why should i use chinese audiobooks to learn mandarin?

Audiobooks aren’t just great for catching up on books on the go. they’re also great for improving language fluency.

If you’re a beginner, keep an eye out for audiobooks that also feature side-by-side English translations. If you’re an intermediate or advanced learner, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself with a more difficult Chinese audiobook.

some are free. while many cost money, you may be surprised by the availability of free Chinese audiobooks. what’s better than free stuff, especially when it comes to resources that help people learn a language? not much!

reading for pleasure is a great way to fit in with Mandarin practice. at the gym, in the car, while resting, you can enjoy the fact that you are actively improving your Chinese . without doing much more than pressing “play”.

reading fluency, listening comprehension, and sentence structure can be gained through informal listening. there are a plethora of ways you can improve your fluency in a new language. talking to Chinese friends. watch movies in mandarin improvising with the music. why not expand your repertoire and include Chinese audiobooks in the mix?

Whatever level you are at, Chinese audiobooks will help you reach the next level. however, using a program like fluentu will get you there faster.

but that’s not all. fluentu also has a unique “learn mode”, where it takes videos and turns them into language learning lessons. “learn mode” asks questions based on what you know, setting you up for success.

fluentu is an amazing way to see all the new Chinese vocabulary you’re learning in context. With entertaining real-life videos, this resource is a great complement to your use of audiobooks.

Now let’s get to those resources!

audible

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard of this huge online audiobook resource site. they collaborate with almost everyone on youtube, and advertisements for this resource can be found everywhere.

However, the hype is definitely not without merit. Audible has a large number of audiobooks and a fairly sizable section of Mandarin Chinese instructional audiobooks, as well as some Mandarin language entertainment books. the user interface is also very easy to use. all you need to do is download the app, search for a book and buy or rent it. your audiobook will be ready to listen immediately.

audible audiobook recommendations:

“learn in your car: Mandarin Chinese” by henry n. raymond: don’t you want to sit in traffic listening to trash on the radio? Spend some intentional time learning Mandarin!

“十宗罪” (shí zōng zuì) — “the ten deadly sins” by 蜘蛛 (zhī zhū) — zhizhu — if you like serial killer crime thrillers, this gritty horror thriller will definitely please you. will seduce you.

operate

perapera is a language resource tool for Chinese, Korean and Japanese. On top of this, they have a pretty extensive list of audiobooks available. and most of them are free. (score!)

Most of these audiobooks come with a transcript in 拼音 (pīn yīn) — Chinese romanization, 汉字 (hàn zì) — Chinese characters and English. a transcript can make learning Chinese with audiobooks much easier for a beginner. Most of the books they have available are Mandarin versions of famous novels from around the world.

ximalaya

ximalaya is entirely in Hanzi and probably not the best audiobook resource for beginners in Mandarin.

For intermediate and advanced readers, you can enjoy an equally wide range of audiobooks, most of which are free. Ximalaya also has streaming features for some of their audiobooks, so you don’t even have to download anything! enjoy audiobooks, novels, biographies, podcasts, news, and much more.

ximalaya audiobook recommendations:

“昏婚欲睡” (hūn hūn yù shuì) — “die to sleep” from 君颜 (jūn yán) — jun yan —a young woman makes a deal with a mysterious stranger, only for him to come back six years later for what is yours. definitely an audiobook for soap opera lovers.

“谁绑架了我们的生活?” (shéi bǎng jià le wǒ men de shēng huó?) — “who stole our lives?” by 黑夜叔叔 (hēi yè shū shu) — uncle night — this self-help series of audiobooks is great for mandarin learners who want to change the way they perceive success while also learning a bit about social norms in china.

innovative language

the innovative language also has a handful of helpful audio textbooks. If you’re looking for more of a leisurely learning textbook than a Mandarin novel, this resource could be quite helpful.

Downloading these audiobooks is also a simple process. simply click “learn more” for the textbook of your choice, then “try it” and then “buy for 0.00” to download the textbook. they also have textbooks for all learning levels.

Innovative Language Audiobook Recommendations:

“Learn Chinese – Power of Words 101” with innovative language: If you are an absolute beginner in Mandarin, this audiobook can help you master over a hundred vocabulary words and sentence context with ease.

“free! Learn Chinese: Advanced Level 5” with innovative language: If you are a much more advanced learner, this audiobook can help you improve your fluency with context clues and real-life conversations.

tingbook.com

This Chinese audiobook resource offers everything from free Mandarin audiobooks to podcasts. As with some of the sites we’ve mentioned so far, this website is entirely in Chinese, so it would be much easier for the intermediate or advanced learner to navigate.

To download a book from tingbook.com, select the title of your interest. select 全本下载 (quán běn xià zài) —download, then select the orange 本地下载 (běn dì xià zài) —local download button to download the audiobook.

tingbook audiobook recommendations:

“把栏杆拍遍” (bǎ láng ān pāi biàn) — “hitting the railing” from 鸿达 (hóng dá) — hong da —if you like journalistic essays, this audiobook highlights the background of the Disputes between literature and politics in modern China.

“西游记” (xī yóu jì) — “journey to the west” by 鸿达 (hóng dá) — hong da — another great Chinese classic, this audiobook follows a Buddhist monk’s journey to find sacred texts in central asia and india.

Feeling a little overwhelmed by all these great audiobook resources? bookmark your favourites, download some audiobooks to get started, hit play, sit back and relax.

while learning at the same time, of course.