chinese-audiobooks

5 Easily Accessible Chinese Audiobook Resources for the Avid Chinese Learner

Had enough of the radio?

Done with being stuck in rush hour traffic with the same top 40 hits?

Do you take daily walks or work out regularly, finding yourself growing bored with the high-energy electronic music?

Or maybe you just want to relax and do absolutely nothing, but you’re not in the mood to waste hours scrolling through Twitter or other social media.

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

And not just audiobooks of novels that have been collecting dust on your bookcase. There are a ton of great audiobooks out there in Mandarin Chinese that can help you become fluent while you’re living your very busy life.

Are audiobooks really worth looking into? Shouldn’t we save “learning time” for when we actually have the time?
 


 

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 leisure is a great way to fit in Mandarin practice. At the gym, in the car, while lounging about—you can enjoy the fact that you are actively improving your Chinese without doing much more than pressing “play.”

Chinese Audiobook Resources and Recommendations to Improve Your Mandarin

Whatever level you’re at, Chinese audiobooks will help you reach the next one. However, using a program like FluentU will get you there faster.

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Click here to check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.

FluentU Ad

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, which sets you up for success.

FluentU is an amazing way to see all that 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 massive online audiobook resource site. They collaborate with just about everybody on YouTube, and advertisements for this resource can be found everywhere.

However, the hype is definitely not without merit. Audible has a massive amount of audiobooks and a pretty sizable section of Mandarin Chinese instruction audiobooks, as well as a few Mandarin-language leisure books. The user interface is very simple to use, too. All you need to do is download the app, browse for a book and either buy or rent it. Your audiobook will be ready to listen to immediately.

Audiobook recommendations from Audible:

Ximalaya

Ximalaya is entirely in hanzi and probably not the best audiobook resource for Mandarin newbies.

For intermediate and advanced readers, you can enjoy an equally ample supply of audiobooks that are mostly free of charge. Ximalaya also boasts streaming features for some of its audiobooks, so you don’t even have to download anything! Enjoy audiobook novels, biographies, podcasts, news and much more.

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Audiobook recommendations from Ximalaya:

Innovative Language

Innovative Language also has a handful of useful audio textbooks. If you’re looking for more of a textbook for leisurely learning rather than a novel in the Mandarin language, this resource could prove to be pretty useful.

Downloading these audiobooks is also a simple process. Simply click “More Info” for the textbook of your choice, then “Try It,” then “Buy for 0.00” to download the textbook. They have textbooks for all levels of learning as well.

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Audiobook recommendations from Innovative Language:

tingbook.com

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

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.

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Audiobook recommendations from TingBook:

 

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of these great audiobook resources? Bookmark your favorites, download a few audiobooks to start, press play, lay back and relax.

While learning at the same time, of course.
 


 

And One More Thing...

If you want to continue learning Chinese with interactive and authentic Chinese content, then you'll love FluentU.

FluentU naturally eases you into learning Chinese language. Native Chinese content comes within reach, and you'll learn Chinese as it's spoken in real life.

FluentU has a wide range of contemporary videos—like dramas, TV shows, commercials and music videos.

FluentU brings these native Chinese videos within reach via interactive captions. You can tap on any word to instantly look it up. All words have carefully written definitions and examples that will help you understand how a word is used. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.

FluentU's Learn Mode turns every video into a language learning lesson. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you're learning.

The best part is that FluentU always keeps track of your vocabulary. It customizes quizzes to focus on areas that need attention and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You have a 100% personalized experience.

Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store.

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