Using video to work on spoken Chinese (life in China vlogs)

As part of my ongoing effort to improve my speaking, I’ve started making short, unscripted videos about everyday life in China and the process of learning Chinese.

This is the third one I’ve posted on my YouTube channel. The idea is to keep them informal and unscripted, and just talk about whatever I happen to be dealing with at the time — daily life, travel, paperwork, language learning, etc.

Some videos will be in Chinese, some in English, and some a mix of both.

Anyway, here’s the latest one if you’re curious:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBZwv9v43ws

Wait, are you going to be in Weihai?  Where I live?

PS. If you're in Beijing around the embassies, if you see 使 and 领 on a diplomatic license plates, can you try to get a photo please?  I'd like to have original photos for here.  These are hard to get outside of the diplomatic areas of Beijing.

On 1/30/2026 at 1:39 PM, becky82 said:

if you see 使 and 领 on a diplomatic license plates, can you try to get a photo please?

I'll keep my eyes peeled , although I may get questioned, I know taking pics of military vehicles can be iffy

On 1/30/2026 at 1:39 PM, becky82 said:

Wait, are you going to be in Weihai? 

Ah, I was on that roadtrip and in Weihai like 6 months ago, just got around to making the video. How do you like living there? I was thinking Weihai or Qingdao could a be a nice place to retire.

There's a low cost of living in Weihai.  It's relaxed, and lots of retirees (they like a good chit-chat, if you want to practice Chinese).  Somewhat difficult to get a job.  There are beaches, and some mountains nearby.

On 1/30/2026 at 6:39 AM, becky82 said:

I'd like to have original photos for here.

What a cool site/collection! Is this yours, did you build it?

On 2/12/2026 at 2:24 PM, SuShuang said:

im living in ShanDong JiNan @becky82

I was there two weeks ago for the HSK6 exam (it was quite cold, so I didn't do much but try to get good sleep).  It seems Jinan people are very friendly towards visitors.

On 2/12/2026 at 5:06 PM, Lu said:

What a cool site/collection! Is this yours, did you build it?

Well, yeah.  I'm hoping other people will join in over time, but we'll see.  The whole project (More than enough Hanzi) started here with the Heisig corpus (although I've been doing similar things since HSK4).  I'm trying to reach character knowledge that is enough "for life"---nobody could reasonably expect me to know any character outside the corpus.  And I use it for study (rarer characters usually have very narrow usage and are easy to learn).

Sometimes, however, there are non-MteH characters (like fish) that you will encounter in the real world (e.g., at seafood restaurants), which I don't want to include in MteH because there are so many of them, and they are really hard to differentiate through "hints".  So I add "extras" and people can learn them with images.

On 1/29/2026 at 5:51 AM, suMMit said:

The idea is to keep them informal and unscripted, and just talk about whatever I happen to be dealing with at the time — daily life, travel, paperwork, language learning, etc.

Were the Chinese voice-overs in the most recent video also unscripted? Because (1) if they were unscripted: it is very impressive how fluently you can speak, it sounds very natural (I especially like the subtle 儿话. It's not exaggerated and just adds to the authenticity of your speech). You are able to communicate your meaning with no struggle or awkward pausing - which is not all that easy to do. Alternatively (2) even if they were scripted: your presentation is very fluid which means your composition, reading and presentation are all very good.

Either way, impressive! This makes me want to make a few of these style videos in Chinese myself.

On 2/13/2026 at 1:24 PM, dakonglong said:

Were the Chinese voice-overs in the most recent video also unscripted?

Thank you for your kind words, very encouraging. Yes they are all unscripted. I followed advice from AI for this, which was:

What I would suggest (very light-touch, no script, no memorizing) is this 👇

Think in chunks, not sentences

Before you record, just keep 5–6 “anchors” in your head. No wording, no full sentences — just ideas.

Set a timer, 15 or 20 min, enough time for 3 takes, stop there

Choose the one you're happiest with, do not try to perfect it

Edit out big chunks of dead air, you're done