Home With Kids : Great TV Show for Chinese Beginners

Home With Kids 🏚 A Simple Chinese TV Show for Chinese Learners

If you want to watch a light hearted Chinese TV show, but you are worried that it is too difficult for you to understand, check out Home With Kids!

In Chinese this is called Home With Kids 家有儿女 jiā yǒu ér nǚ

I still remember when I started to learn English, I asked my teacher to recommend a TV show to me, she said Friends and that TV show accompanied me for over 10 years.

Home with Kids is the Chinese equivalent when it comes to learning a language.

Home with Kids – Brief Introduction

Home with Kids – Where To Watch

Home with Kids – Main Characters

Home with Kids – Words To Know

Home with Kids – Tips On How to Learn Mandarin

Home with Kids – FAQ’s

Home with Kids – Brief Introduction

Perhaps a good comparison to this TV show would be Modern Family!

It is essentially a sitcom. It tells a variety of interesting stories that occurred between parents and three children after the combination of two divorced families.

刘梅 liú méi a nurse together with her son, and 夏东海 xià dōnghǎi a writer, together with his daughter and son.

They combine to make a new family and start to live their new life in Beijing happily together.

The show’s viewing target was originally expected to be dominated by children and parents, but ratings indicate that the viewing group is wider than expected, which means it has proved a lot more popular than many expected.

The play was first released on Beijing TV in 2005

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Home with Kids – Where To Watch

Overall Home with Kids has 100 episodes with each one lasting 25 mins.

You can see it below with English subtitles…

Despite the fact it has 100 episodes, you can dive in at any stage. The episodes don’t really follow on with a long term storyline, again similar to Modern Family and Friends.

Home with Kids – Main Characters

The drama is mainly centred around three cute kids who are lovely but because of the different personalities, they also have many fights and arguments.

But that again, what families don’t!

刘星 liú xīng, is played by 张一山zhāngyīshān.

His parents divorced when he was young and he moved to a new family with his mother.

His family name is also followed by his mother.

He is not good academically and pretty naughty also.

However he is very cute, smart and one of the most loved characters by viewers.

If you search for 刘星 liú xīng online, you will find many funny pictures.

夏雪 xià xuě, is played by 杨紫yáng zǐ.

You will also hear people call her 小雪 xiǎoxuě which literally means little snow.

She has to move to a new family because her parents get divorced.

On the other hand, she is very good academically and as the big sister in the new family, she is willing to teach her two little brothers how to behave.

夏雨 xià yǔ, is played by 尤浩然yóu hàorán.

You will also hear people call him 小雨 xiǎo yǔ which literally means little rain.

He was born in America and moves to Beijing together with his father.

Because of the culture shock, he makes a lot of funny language and cultural mistakes.

Personally, I like him the most during the show because his voice is super cute.

Bonus Tip : In China, when we name a person, we put family name first, then the given name.

Take 刘星liú xīng for example, 刘 liú is his family name and 星 xīng is his given name.

Want to discover your own Chinese name? Find out in seconds using our Chinese Name Generator here:

杨紫 yáng zǐ is also famed for other roles on Chinese TV including this one… Go Go Squid.

Go Go Squid! Learn Chinese with this Popular Rom-Com

Go Go Squid! An Upbeat Rom-Com Drama For Younger Viewers A foreign friend of mine recommended that I watch Go Go Squid (亲爱的，热爱的 qīn’ài de, rè’ài de). They told me that it was a hugely popular Chinese TV show and…

Home with Kids – Words To Know

The TV show is a comedy, you will hear a lot of jokes.

I will give you some examples here, to allow you to understand them.

• 小雪：我叫夏雪
  xiǎoxuě: wǒ jiào xià xuě
  xiao xue : My name is Xia xue

• 小雨：我叫夏雨
  xiǎoyǔ: Wǒ jiào xià yǔ
  xiao yu : My name is Xia yu

• 刘星：我叫下冰雹
  liú xīng: wǒ jiào xià bīngbáo
  liu xing : My name is falling hailstone

When they introduce themselves, xiao xue said that her name is xia xue and xiao yu said that his name is xia yu.

Then when it turns to liu xing, he said that his name is xia bing bao.

夏 and 下 has the same pronunciation – xià.

xiao xue and xiao yu’s family name is both xia 夏.

Xue 雪 and yu 雨 mean snow and rain.

When they say their names they genuinely just refer to their names. No puns intended.

However, when liu xing says his name, he just jokes, since it is already snowing and raining.下 here means falling.

Here are a couple more funny lines for you, both also involving liu xing:

• 妈妈：嘿，我真不该生你这个不懂事的
  māma: hēi, wǒ zhēn bù gāi shēng nǐ zhège bù dǒngshì de
  Liuxing’s mother : I really shouldn’t have given birth to you

• 刘星：谁要你生了？经过本人的同意了吗？
  liú xīng: shuí yào nǐ shēngle? jīngguò běnrén de tóngyìle ma？
  Liu xing : Who said I wanted to be born? You agree with me?

• 夏东海：我突然成了你爸爸，习惯吗？
  xià dōnghǎi: wǒ tūrán chéngle nǐ bàba, xíguàn ma?
  Xia donghai : I suddenly became your father, are you used to it?

• 刘星：反正我生下来就给人当儿子，给谁当都一样！
  liú xīng: fǎnzhèng wǒ shēng xiàlái jiù gěi rén dāng er zi, gěi shuí dāng dōu yíyàng!
  Liu xing : Anyway, I was born to be a son, whoever it is, it’s the same!

Here is another extract from liu xing – many Chinese parents agree with his little speech here.

What do you think? Tell us in the comments below…

我不愿意学，你就不让我学了啊? wǒ bú yuànyì xué, nǐ jiù bú ràng wǒ xuéle a?
If I’m reluctant to study, you will make me?

那时候我还小，我还不懂事.
nà shíhòu wǒ hái xiǎo, wǒ hái bù dǒngshì.
I was too young to be sensible back then.

难道您就不懂事吗?
nándào nín jiù bù dǒngshì ma?
Are you not sensible either?

您就应该从小培养我，从小教育我
nín jiù yīnggāi cóngxiǎo péiyǎng wǒ, cóngxiǎo jiàoyù wǒ.
You should educate me from an early age

从小您就得逼着我学
cóngxiǎo nín jiù dé bīzhe wǒ xué
You should’ve force me to study from the beginning.

Home with Kids – How to Learn Chinese?

When you watch this show, you will hear a strong Beijing accent.

There is a good chance for you to practice your listening skills when watching Home with Kids, listen out for the 儿 accent!

Each episode will have a topic, so it will make easier for you to understand the context and situation.

It lasts for 25 minutes instead of other TV shows that continue for 45 mins.

I think this is better when helping you learn because you will be able to study a whole episode in fairly quick time.

• Have a look briefly and try to understand the meaning with English subtitles.
• Turn off the English subtitles and use the Chinese subtitles.
• Listen to their sounds while you look at the Chinese subtitles.
  • You can do this several times until you follow what they said.
• Use pause and back keyboard to write some words or lines down if you think they are useful.
• Share or use what you learned from the show any chance you got

Remember to use your teacher, or a native speaking friend if you aren’t sure about anything.

The best way to learn is to talk and share what you’ve picked up!

Have you watched Home with Kids before? What did you think? Have you found another Chinese TV show equally useful?

Home with Kids – FAQ’s

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