What is LCFM? How does it Work?
***UPDATE (January 6, 2013): Guys, the site recently got hit by a massive wave of viruses. After 6 weeks of babying the site back to health, it's finally somewhat functional. It's still not pretty and the Free Trial sign up doesn't work – I'm currently trying to fix that. For now, please click here to access the Free Trial.
(This program is also used by Dr. Schmidt, Ph.D to teach Chinese to his students in Africa. Dr. Schmidt has authored over 20 books and textbooks in the fields of Chinese Studies, Linguistics, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese and African Studies and Cultures, and Religious Studies and Theology. More on him here.)
What do you get after you purchase LCFM? (try out a mini-version in the free trial)
* Download links for all movies for all nine (9) movies listed below (the files are neither hosted on this site nor uploaded by me. If some do not work, we can find them – you just need to be patient).
* You are paying for subtitles (and some other supplementary materials) – NOT movie links. If the links don't work and you don't email me to help you find a new one, you will not get a refund. I'm not selling movie links!
* Download links for all bonus movies (English) listed below (if you buy before April 30, 2013 ). It's difficult to find foreign movies in Chinese. It's best to buy the Chinese-dubbed DVD. In total, 20 movies! (9 Chinese, 11 Non-Chinese/Bonus Movies).
(Note: I do not endorse free downloading of movies. However, many of these movies are difficult to find in many countries, so I would like to "point you in the right direction" and help you find the movie links – which are not hosted on this site nor uploaded by me. They are simply readily available on the internet. Please note that location of movie files on the internet is not static. Some files get taken down after a while and links need to be updated. Also, I'm not selling movie files – so, in the event of a link not working immediately, please be patient when I try to help you attain them (you need to email me). If, for some reason, a movie link becomes unfindable, I am not responsible for this. But 99% of the time, we can find them and I will do my best to help you).
For each movie (including all the bonus movies), you get:
* LCFM subtitles, which include: Chinese (ch), Pinyin (p), Direct Word-for-Word Translation (wfw), Fluent English (en) translations and combinations thereof. So, for example those files would look like this:
- rango-pinyin-only.srt
- rango-ch-p-en.srt
- rango-ch-p-wfw-en.srt
- rango-ch-p.srt
- rango-chinese-only.srt
- rango-english.srt
* The special media player that enables you to simply "stick" on the above subtitles onto your downloaded movie file (or any movie you already have in your house or on your computer.)
* LCFM Glossary: A list of every Chinese word mentioned in the movie in chronological order, includes Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Pinyin, and English definition. (Currently not available for Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Lost in Beijing, King of Masks).
* LCFM Flashcards: In jpg format . Flashcards are useful in testing yourself at remember the Chinese characters. These flashcards will play on your iPhone, iPod, iPad or any device that supports jpg files (which is pretty much every device these days). Currently not available for Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Lost in Beijing, King of Masks.
Test it all out in the Free Trial
(includes a sample movie, sample subtitle files, media player, and more).
So, how does it work?
Simple:
1. Download your movie
2. Download and install the media player
3. Open your movie with the media player.
4. Drag and drop your desired subtitle file onto the media player.
5. Done (subtitles will start playing automatically).
Order before April 30, 2013 and you will also receive my unique subtitles (and flashcards, glossary, etc) for these movies for free:
* Rango (Nickelodeon, 2011)
* Mulan (Disney's)
* Lord of the Rings I, II, and III (complete set)
* Harry Potter 1-5 (complete set)
* Finding Nemo
(11 extra movies)
NOTE: World Without Thieves is no longer available.
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Try it all out in the free trial!
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THE INFO ABOVE APPLIES TO ALL NINE (9) MOVIES LISTED BELOW (and Bonus Movies):
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More info on LCFM… (Basically a big long sales pitch that you don't really have to read because I've covered all of the program features above)
LCFM: LEARN CHINESE FROM 9 AWESOME MOVIES
LEARN TO READ AND USE OVER 3000 OF THE MOST COMMONLY USED CHINESE CHARACTERS “PASSIVELY” BY WATCHING TEN (9) OF THE GREATEST CHINESE MOVIES EVER MADE WITH UNIQUE SELF-TEACHING SUBTITLES.
This powerful learning program is simply not taught in any Chinese language learning product, it’s not taught in any Chinese language learning book/CD/DVD, and it’s not taught in any university by any Chinese professor, teacher, or tutor. This new Chinese-learning program coupled with new learning methods using the latest technology is designed to jump-start your Chinese level. It is perfect those who are currently living in China, have already studied some Chinese, or for those who think that learning a language from movies is an effective way to learn a language. This program is not boring and does not focus on “grammar rules”. This is a program that helps you learn Chinese in an enjoyable way. The result: Your ability to read and use over 3000 of the most commonly used Chinese characters.
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Not ready for LCFM? Why not take a free trial? Click here.
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WHY DID I MAKE LCFM? WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT LCFM?
6 years ago I came to Shanghai on a teaching assignment, planned to go straight back to Canada after I finished, but got sucked into the whole Chinese culture, decided to stay and learn Chinese. I tried to learn Chinese at reputable universities here in Shanghai (Donghua Da Xue, Hua Dong Shi Fan Da Xue), I tried tutors, and I bought a few online/DVD Chinese Learning programs. None of these methods worked for me. Studying seemed more like a chore – writing characters over and over again, memorizing vocabulary lists. Nothing was sticking – there had to be a better way. My university classmates, even after studying Chinese for 2 years could not even hold a conversation with a native Chinese speaker. The courses are so drawn out. I mean, really, 2,3,4 or more years to learn a language? I don’t think so. They never mention that:
LEARNING LANGUAGES FROM MOVIES IS THE MOST POWERFUL AND FASTEST WAY TO LEARN A LANGUAGE.
Chinese language classes are just textbooks and teachers. What a great way to turn you OFF a language. Instead of getting bored in a classroom, why not get excited and watch a movie with…
UNIQUE, INTUITIVE SUBTITLES THAT WILL HELP YOU LEARN CHINESE RAPIDLY.
How do other parts of the world learn English? That’s right, through Hollywood/American movies. I remember meeting this one Chinese guy named Rocky who had the best English I’ve ever heard. How did he learn his English? From Al Pacino movies! The guy swore a bit too much, but other than that it was flawless! So, doesn’t it make sense that we can learn Chinese through Chinese movies? You bet it does!
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The Learn Chinese from Movies (LCFM) Program does NOT have any of the pitfalls of “reputable” DVD/CD/Online Products!
Instead…
the LCFM Program includes these features:
LCFM teaches Chinese Characters because learning only Pinyin will slow you down. So many “pinyin-only-learners” look back in regret, knowing they should have started with Characters from the get-go. Chinese characters look intimidating, but they’re not all all, as I will show you in this program
LCFM has badass movie transcripts. To learn any language a transcript is a must, it jump starts your learning by pairing up visuals with audio – especially Chinese because of their very visual/pictographical writing system
LCFM teaches you enough characters to read most of a Chinese newpaper – over 3000 characters (9 movies total)! This is more than Rosetta Stone, Fluenz, and Pimsleur combined! This program will teach you the 3,000 most commonly used Chinese characters and more.
Also, reading body language, looking at gestures, and having decent audio – like from movies – is ideal when learning a language.
LCFM will show you how to speak each word perfectly.
LCFM program is the only one on the market that uses a full-length Chinese movie (now 9 movies!), with “magical” subtitles that will learn Chinese FOR you.
I don’t mean to come across as this big “hater” – go ahead and try all these other “reputable” online/DVD/CD programs and see what you think. If you like them, that’s great. But if you don’t, maybe it’s time to try something new.
Anyways, my point is that during my Chinese learning road to “fluency” I realized that there were many downfalls in every method for teaching Chinese.
I really like movies, and I really like learning Chinese. Why don’t I just learn Chinese from movies? But, there’s only one problem – I only knew a few Chinese characters (at that time) – the rest of the characters I simply couldn’t read or pronounce. It’d be really cool if the movie had pinyin too. So I thought why don’t I take a cool Chinese movie and add my own Chinese, Pinyin, and English subtitles. And that’s what I did and it worked pretty well for me. But sometimes I forgot which Chinese character had which meaning and I didn’t want to search in a dictionary every time I forgot a Chinese character. So I thought I’d go ahead and add a word-for-word (WFW) direct translation line.
The Word-for-Word Direct Translation Line
(see picture below) saves you HOURS of time. You do not need to use a dictionary to search for individual words!
(April 2nd, 2011 Update: the WFW Translation line is now available for all 9 movies.)
Anyways, after I added these “magical” subtitles it looked like this:
I did this for a few movies and then just watched the movies over and over again until I knew almost every word and every line of the movie.
It absolutely SKYROCKETED my Chinese level.
I could pick up those super-hot Chinese girls with non-existent-English with my new silky-smooth Chinese. I got job offers through my new Chinese friends at companies in Shanghai. Travelling through China was now a breeze and so much more enjoyable. Getting Chinese prices – for food, housing (buying and renting), maids, clothes – comes with good Chinese skills. You can basically live like a Chinese person- ie, super cheaply! You can save money and be efficient at the same. In general, my quality of life improved and I became much happier. Even if you just go to China often for business, your Chinese skills makes everything more enjoyable.
So back to my story – my friend saw these videos I made on my computer with these "intuitive" subtitles one day and later convinces me to share these with some more people.
I put a few videos on youtube. Before I knew it, some videos had received:
over 180,000 views!!!!!!
I was blown away.
During the first year, a got a few hundred emails and lots of youtube comments as well as close to 200 Youtube users subscribed to my “channel” (If you’re a youtube user, you’ll know that this is quite a high number for a niche like this). People were leaving unbelievably nice comments and loved the whole “magic subtitles” concept (Chinese, Pinyin, WFW, English subtitles) and wanted more.
Here’s an email from Dave who just got to Shanghai:
Hi there, just wanted to say thanks so much for putting together the subs for these movies. I’ve just moved to Shanghai and doing a lot of self-study, and I’ve found them incredibly helpful. They’ve really helped me a lot with my speaking and listening skills. I feel like I’m picking up the language a lot more because of what you’ve done. It’s really empowering and really expands my world since English is very sparse here, and in many cases, nonexistent.
Much, much appreciated.
Cheers
Dave
Here’s another from Youtube user crock703:
This is a great way to passively studying language.. the educational videos get so boring.
Here’s another email I got from David (a different Dave!) who even wanted to help me make the product for free:
Learning Chinese through watching movies is a great idea, and I have tried doing it myself. But without pinyin subtitles (I don’t have time for hanzi) I don’t learn much from the movies. I got an English transcript of a few Chinese movies (original version) and translated it into Chinese (with my tutor). I then tried to watch the movie but even though my translation was good it was not very close to the actual dialogue in Chinese.
I am glad someone else has taken up the challenge, and am happy to support your efforts at least through purchasing the product. Tell me if there is any other way I can help out.
Dave
Here’s an email from Kevin (who also bought the DVD) who also wanted a DVD to watch while on the couch with Pinyin subtitles. He also brings up a good point about watching Chinese movies in the theatre:
For myself, the product I would really like is DVDs with pinyin subtitles, like what you have on your site already, but a full DVD so I can sit on the couch get comfortable on watch the whole thing. Also pinyin transcripts of the movies would even be great with the characters and english would be great too. so you can read the transcipts before you watch the movies, then when we watch the movie you dont even need the pinyin subtitles on the screen and just focus on building up your skill to watch the movies like you would have, say in a theater.
Best,
Kevin McKenzie
Here is a screen shot of the Youtube Channel comments from some of my loyal subscribers:
I didn’t really want to go through the trouble of creating this program, I wanted just continue teaching high school math and travelling in Asia on my holidays. But the emails just kept coming. So I had a choice to make – either change email addresses (which I really hate doing) or create this program (and make some money, ha). So I chose to create the program. I had never created this kind of program before. It was quite a challenge and took me about half a year to complete. All the while…
I kept getting emails from people asking me when the program will be completed, such as this one from a guy named Mark:
How’s the program coming. I’m ready to be your first customer. No rush. i just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget.
With such positive feedback, I believe this program was decent and believe it can really help all you Mandarin Chinese learners out there. Keep in mind, I’m not some sort of professional Chinese teacher. This program, however, is used by Dr. Schmidt, Ph.D to teach Chinese to his students in Africa. Dr. Schmidt has authored over 20 books and textbooks in the fields of Chinese Studies, Linguistics, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese and African Studies and Cultures, and Religious Studies and Theology.
This program, is used by Dr. Schmidt, Ph.D to teach Chinese to his students in Africa. Dr. Schmidt has authored over 20 books and textbooks in the fields of Chinese Studies, Linguistics, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese and African Studies and Cultures, and Religious Studies and Theology.
What do you get when you buy this program?
* For 9 AWESOME movies (and bonus movies), you get their download links, unique subtitles, Chinese character writing worksheets, flashcards, transcript, and glossary of words.
* Watch it from your couch and absorb the language passively
* One of the FEW programs made by a Chinese learner FOR Chinese learners!
* You will learn over 1700 Chinese characters (enough to read most of a Chinese newspaper) in 4 months or less just from Spring in a Small Town alone! And over 3,000 Characters total after watching all the movies.
* Traditional (Taiwan, Hong Kong) and Simplified (Mainland China) subtitle options also available (Spring in a Small Town only)
* BONUS: I will show you how to write (with proper stroke order) and pronounce every Chinese character used in the movie.
* A transcript that includes the entire dialog of the movie (in the “Unique” subtitles format – Chinese, Pinyin, WFW, English), broken down by scene (25 scenes, 83 minutes total). For the 9 NEW movies, you get the same transcript format.
* Vocabulary list for all 9 movies (if you’re one of those people who like vocab lists) of every word used in the movie. So, when you finish a movie you can see in an instant all the words you need to know.
* Flashcard Package for all 9 movies: Flashcards for every Chinese character used in the movie.
* Bonus LearnChineseFromMovies (LCFM) “On-the-Go Video Package” – which is basically the whole DVD movie with Magic subtitles in video formats that can be played in any portable device (cell phone, iPhone/iPod, etc, etc). This is only available for Spring in a Small Town. 
* Bonus 3-month study guide program that will get you reading most of a Chinese newspaper in no time.
* Bonus secret Chinese character remembering method that instantly reveals the mystery of why each Chinese character is written the way it is. This method alone will skyrocket your Chinese, transforming these “lines and squiggles” into meaningful, easy-to-remember pictures and ideas.
* Bonus dictionary that can be installed on any cell phone – no matter how old or crappy your phone is. The dictionary contains over 80,000 Chinese words and phrases
***Works on BOTH PC and MAC computers***
Sign up for the free trial and see how exactly LCFM works.
Comments, questions, testimonials? Please feel free to contact me and I will reply shortly.