Learning Mandarin with Chinese dramas is one of the best decisions I made in the past year, and Tides of Goodbye Chinese drama is one of the best dramas I’ve used to learn Mandarin in a while. In this post, I’ll share everything I learned from the drama and how I did it.
I have loved Chinese dramas since they became mainstream, long before I ever thought about learning Mandarin. So, when I decided to learn Mandarin, the first thing I thought about was ‘how can I learn from these dramas?’
I didn’t immediately start out learning Mandarin with movies. I started with textbooks and apps, but when I actually realized how many words I could recognize because I’d heard them in movies, I was so pleased. That was how I transformed Chinese dramas into a Mandarin teacher.
Many Chinese dramas later, I’ll be telling you how a modern Chinese drama, Tides of Goodbye, helped me pick up real Mandarin in the most surprising way.
Learning Mandarin from Tides of Goodbye Chinese Drama
After seeing so many reels about Tides of Goodbye, I decided to give it a try. The 2-hour+ drama was a game-changer in many ways. Simple conversations, the use of common words, lots of emotional scenes, and an easy-to-follow speaking pace.
I’ll break down what I learned from this drama and tell you how you can learn Mandarin from it as I did.
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7 Days FREE Trial- Modern Context and Everyday Language
Tides of Goodbye is very helpful for learning Mandarin because it uses modern, everyday language, unlike a lot of historical Chinese dramas. The characters talk about family, friends, work, relationships, and other topics that are useful in real life.
The main character’s story centered a lot around marriage and childhood friends, so many words in that context were repeated often throughout the drama, making it easy to remember them.
Some of the modern words I picked up include:
- jiātíng (家庭) — family
- hūnyīn (婚姻) — marriage
- hǎo (好) — okay
- wǒmen zǒu ba (我们走吧) — let’s go
Thanks to this drama, I could throw in some basic day-to-day words into my conversation in Mandarin.
2. The Interplay of Emotions and Tones
Tides of Goodbye had a lot of emotional acting, especially from the main character. She went through a lot of emotional states, from disappointment to sadness, fear, resignation, and love.
During the emotional scenes, I saw the character’s tones change, become fast, clipped, rising, and falling. A normal word like “nǐ gàn shénme? (你干什么？) — what are you doing?” took on a rising or falling tone, depending on the emotion the actor was expressing.
Another expression, “suàn le (算了) — forget it” sounded different when said in different tones. I could pick up how it sounded when the character was happy, irritated, or sad. As I watched the drama, I played some scenes on repeat and mimicked the words to get the pronunciation and tone right. This action helped much more than reading the words from a book would have.
3. Cultural Nuances
From watching Tides of Goodbye, I learned a lot about cultural nuances in China like politeness and respect. I got a better grasp of social cues by watching how conversations between friends were somewhat different from conversations with parents or people of higher authority.
I learned how parents express encouragement to their kids, how friends speak casually to each other, how staff speak to their bosses, and how couples speak softly in intimate moments.
A lot of conversations happened within the context of friendship, family, and relationship, so it was easy to pick up the cultural nuances associated with each context.
By the time I finished watching this drama, I had learned a lot more than vocabulary. I learned:
- The emotion behind simple statements
- The authentic sound and pronunciation of Mandarin
- Simple phrases and their meanings
- How people speak in everyday contexts and situations
Although I didn’t pick up so many words (it doesn’t happen overnight), my tone became more accurate, and my sounding of Mandarin words massively improved.
Here’s a list of Mandarin words I picked up from Tides of Goodbye that I’ll probably never forget in my life.
| Word | Meaning |
| méi guānxi (没关系) | It’s fine/It’s nothing |
| tīng qǐlái bú cuò (听起来不错) | Sounds good |
| dāngrán (当然) | Sure |
| mí lù (迷路) | Get lost |
| fāshēng le shénme (发生了什么) | What happened? |
| qǐng yuánliàng wǒ (请原谅我) | Forgive me |
| nǐ zài gàn shénme? (你在干什么？) | What are you doing? |
| guǎn hǎo zìjǐ de shì (管好自己的事) | Mind your business/it’s not your concern |
| wǒmen zhǔnbèi yīxià (我们准备一下) | Let’s get ready |
| jì chéng shì shí (既成事实) | What’s done is done |
The Practical Steps: How I Used Tides of Goodbye to Improve My Mandarin
Learning Mandarin from movies doesn’t just happen. There’s a ‘How’ to it, and these are the methods I use to learn from Chinese dramas.
- Shadowing
Shadowing simply means repeating simple phrases and lines to practice pronunciation and rhythm. I replayed lots of scenes and repeated the words or sentences, trying to match the tone, pronunciation, and reading. It helped a lot.
- Alternating Subtitles
I started out with English subtitles to get into the flow and understand the meaning of words, then I switched to Chinese subtitles to connect the sounds with text. Then, to quiz myself, I turned off subtitles and tried to guess what the actors said.
It probably sounds hilarious, but it worked for me, and it might work for you, too.
- Writing Down a Few Words Per Episode
I wrote down 1-3, simple, commonly-used expressions from each episode. By the end of all the episodes, I had a long list of words from the drama. But that wasn’t all. I then looked up the words, their meanings, and saved them for future practice.
- Rewatching Scenes and Clips
You would be shocked to find out how many scenes I rewatched. Not just for shadowing, but to internalize the emotions behind them. The emotional scenes were so captivating I had to watch them several times. It definitely helped with retention because I can still remember those phrases.
- Active Engagement
Watching Netflix to learn the language needs more concentration than when you’re watching for fun. You need to pay attention to everything. Reduce the playback speed if necessary. Replay some scenes as well.
It is also okay to miss some things and go back later. I loved Tides of Goodbye because the episodes were short enough for me to rewatch when I needed to.
Who Does This Method Work For?
This method works effectively for beginner and intermediate learners who already know the basics of Mandarin and want to improve their listening, tone, and pronunciations. It is also highly effective for learners who enjoy visuals and storytelling in their learning process. However, it should be combined with traditional studies to improve reading and writing skills.
Here’s a guide on how to learn Mandarin from movies:
My Overall Experience
Learning Mandarin by watching Chinese drama is a rewarding experience. It may seem hard at the beginning, but you have to trust the process. The more you watch, the more the words become familiar, as they are repeated often.
You also need to practice and not just watch the drama in front of you. The more you shadow, write down words, and repeat scenes and dramas, the more you get immersed in the language and its vocabulary.
Look out for the action, listen for the emotions and tone. Most importantly, choose simple dramas that are easy to follow. The more enjoyable the drama is, the easier it is to connect to and learn with.
