As I’m building up confidence with my oral Chinese, I’m starting to upload myself speaking to YouTube (it doesn’t matter really—practically nobody watches them, and anyone who is more advanced than me was once at my level).
I’m thus becoming interested in finding out who else is posting videos of themselves practicing/speaking Chinese (that are *not* ultra-edited and ultra-rehearsed, *nor* trying to manipulate you into buying something), i.e., genuine students or L2 Chinese speakers. Thus far, I’m aware of:
– [Crystal_BLR](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1n-YMrab5bJS6bK_6bMQiw)
– [Jaap Grolleman](https://www.youtube.com/c/JaapGrolleman)
– [JJsays – 雪莲说](https://www.youtube.com/user/jjsaysnyc)
– [玛莎CN](https://www.youtube.com/c/%E7%8E%9B%E8%8E%8ECN)
– [Thomas阿福](https://www.youtube.com/c/%E9%98%BF%E7%A6%8FThomas)
– [我是朱力安](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU9s0d_3Sl-tSkTel24Ugzg)
– [Xiaomanyc 小马在纽约](https://www.youtube.com/c/%E5%B0%8F%E9%A9%AC%E5%9C%A8%E7%BA%BD%E7%BA%A6)
Any more?
*Edit*: Thanks everyone! I’ll list them below to make it easier:
– [A.I.Channel China](https://www.youtube.com/c/AIChannelChina) (anime style)
– [Dashan 大山](https://www.youtube.com/c/Dashan) (although he’s in a league of his own)
– [超級爺爺 SuperG](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg9hGLdmUEYys7Uru_IAzCg)
– [Fluent in Mandarin](https://www.youtube.com/c/FluentinMandarinDotCom)
– [杰里德Jared](https://www.youtube.com/c/jaredfaa)
– [Jerry Kowal 我是郭杰瑞](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfIbForcbE83cxm8MScOTlQ)
– [口语老炮儿马思瑞 Laoma Chris](https://www.youtube.com/c/LaomaChris)
– [laoshu505000](https://www.youtube.com/c/laoshu505000)
– [老雷](https://www.youtube.com/c/%E5%BE%B7%E5%9B%BD%E8%87%AA%E5%B9%B2%E4%BA%94) (some paid content)
– [LeLe Farley](https://www.youtube.com/c/LeLeFarley)
– [Steve Kaufmann – lingosteve](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCez-2shYlHQY3LfILBuDYqQ) (in his [Chinese playlist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0RmGdS-Rns&list=PLiFB-yYuG2hjvdgAPg6L1yJJSqvtUq2G0))
– [我是阳离子](https://space.bilibili.com/314797142) (Bilibili)
– [无名的小雷](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcBcUj082kc6z_7nAt1PuRQ)
These are odd ones out (although I didn’t check every video):
– [Blondie in China](https://www.youtube.com/c/BlondieinChina); she occasionally speaks Chinese
– [Miki在新加坡 Miki in Singapore](https://www.youtube.com/c/MikiinSingapore) seems to be a TV show
– [Oriental Pearl](https://www.youtube.com/c/orientalpearl) has some Chinese-speaking videos e.g. [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ1BhNikUgU)
– [歪果仁研究协会 Ychina](https://www.youtube.com/c/Ychinamedia) doesn’t seem to have much Chinese
If you want the OG laowai then I think 大山 has some content on YouTube. If you aren’t familiar with his story, he is a Canadian who gained popularity as one of the first major non native Chinese speakers to do comedy routines. I’m not sure about now but when I first arrived in China in 2014 many old people would always talk about 大山 the moment I started speaking Chinese.
You can add Blondie in China
Just remember that many of these folks live/lived in China for a long time. So, do not let their skills discourage you.
[超級爺爺](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg9hGLdmUEYys7Uru_IAzCg) is a Japanese guy who speaks Mandarin, living in Taiwan.
I’m curious, what is your YouTube channel?
[杰里德Jared](https://m.youtube.com/c/jaredfaa/featured), a Canadian who lives in Nanjing with his Chinese partner Susu, although at the moment they’re in BC, where he’s from. I think he previously lived in Shanghai and spent some years? Months? of his childhood in Hainan, which may explain what is apparently a pretty impressive accent and style of delivery. He definitely enjoys mixing Chinese and English slang (starting with “bro”), so I guess that should be taken into account.
[我是阳离子](https://m.bilibili.com/space/314797142) (her YouTube channel is “Katherine’s Journey to the east”, but I’m looking to the bilibili channel because that has more Chinese). Mostly just wholesome travel vlogs from an American woman with a recent MA in environmental engineering from Nanjing University. Her Chinese partner Wei is often on the trips, although he can seem less enthused at times. She is also in North America right now, but heading back to China soon.
I have other recs, but I’m not sure what the limits of ultra-edited are (both of the above make polished video, Katherine less so), given that you put xiaomanyc :p
Lele Farley
老雷 https://youtube.com/c/%E5%BE%B7%E5%9B%BD%E8%87%AA%E5%B9%B2%E4%BA%94
口语老炮儿马思瑞 https://youtube.com/c/LaomaChris
乐乐 Lele Farley https://m.youtube.com/c/LeLeFarley
[郭杰瑞](https://youtube.com/channel/UCfIbForcbE83cxm8MScOTlQ)
[And people on this channel](https://youtube.com/c/Ychinamedia)
[Chris Parker](https://youtu.be/e2JYYZV0Ndk)’s old videos spring to mind, he streams English classes on wechat nowadays.
https://www.youtube.com/c/MikiinSingapore – japanese dude with singapore mandarin accent
[Kizuna Ai china](https://youtube.com/c/AIChannelChina)!
She hasn’t uploaded in a while, but [小雷](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcBcUj082kc6z_7nAt1PuRQ/videos)(no relation to 老雷） made a bunch of unscripted videos.
Teacher Mike
oriental pearl speaks chinese and japanese at a high level. she’s not really trying to teach you chinese, and most of her dialogue will be in english, although a given episode will generally feature either chinese or japanese interactions. it’s an entertainment channel aimed at chinese- or japanese-interested viewers who enjoy language-focused content.
Rita Mandarin Chinese
Rita Laoshi evaluates Oriental Pearl’s Chinese
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMK0Qbrj7Nc
Rita Laoshi evaluates Xiaomanyc’s Chinese
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey0gJvLO15c
Lele Farley and masirui have the best imo
I love the kind heart of [https://www.youtube.com/c/laoshu505000](https://www.youtube.com/c/laoshu505000)
He spoke Mandarin, Cantonese, learned a little Fujianhua, and a lot of other languages..