I'm in the process of learning both Mandarin Chinese and Spanish and
thought that an enjoyable way of learning these languages would be to
rent and watch some DVDs that contained foreign language tracks.  I'm
considering using the Netflix service to do this but can't figure out
an easy way to identify which DVDs on their site have either a Spanish
language audio track (I would think that this number would be quite
high) or a Mandarin Chinese language audio track (probably not very
many).  Subtitles are not important.  I'm basically looking for
American movies that would normally be in English.  However, movies
available on DVD through Netflix that are originally in Spanish or
Mandarin Chinese would be great too.

If anyone knows of an on-line database where I could find a listing of
movies with these language tracks, that would be awesome.  Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 21 Jan 2004 14:21 PST

Would this be useful?

http://thinkspanish.com/

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 21 Jan 2004 14:31 PST

Two more possibilities:

http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/browseby/dvdlanguage/Mandarin

http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/browseby/dvdlanguage/Spanish

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 21 Jan 2004 14:34 PST

And two more:

http://multilingualbooks.com/foreignvids-chin.html

http://multilingualbooks.com/foreignvids-span.html

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Clarification of Question by jpbischke-ga on 21 Jan 2004 14:37 PST

Exactly what I was looking for!  The thinkspanish.com site is genius. 
Not a lot of Chinese language movies but I guess that was what I had
expected.

Enter this as the answer and I will accept it.  Thanks pinkfreud!

Thanks for accepting my suggestions as your answer. Below I've
reposted the links I mentioned, plus some additional resources.

======================================================================

ThinkSpanish
http://thinkspanish.com/

Blackstar Video: DVDs with Mandarin Language Track
http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/browseby/dvdlanguage/Mandarin

Blackstar Video: DVDs with Spanish Language Track
http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/browseby/dvdlanguage/Spanish
 
Multilingual Books: Foreign Language Videos - Chinese
http://multilingualbooks.com/foreignvids-chin.html

Multilingual Books:Foreign Language Videos - Spanish
http://multilingualbooks.com/foreignvids-span.html

======================================================================

If you're using NetFlix, these links may be helpful:

NetFlix: Spanish Language
http://www.netflix.com/SubCategory?sgid=874&pgid=326

NetFlix: Chinese
http://www.netflix.com/SubCategory?sgid=631&pgid=326

The Internet Movie Database allows a search for movies with dialogue
in a certain language (not all of these movies are available on DVD,
however):

Internet Movie Database: Spanish
http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Languages/Spanish/
http://www.imdb.com/List?language=Spanish&&tv=on&&heading=10;Spanish&&nav=/Sections/Languages/Spanish/include-titles

Internet Movie Database: Mandarin
http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Languages/Mandarin/
http://www.imdb.com/List?language=Mandarin&&tv=on&&heading=10;Mandarin&&nav=/Sections/Languages/Mandarin/include-titles

======================================================================

Hope this helps!

Best wishes,
pinkfreud

Great answer.  Exactly what I was looking for?

Thank you very much for the five-star rating and the tip!

I meant to include this in my answer, since I thought it might be of
interest to you. It's an excerpt from a page about learning Mandarin:

"I can offer some advice on the learning process, based on my first
year. The first thing to realize, from the beginning, is that this
process is going to take quite a while. It will also require fierce
dedication to daily study. We learn our native language through daily,
intensive exposure to it; the more time a student can spend with the
language they're studying, the better. To that end, I highly recommend
that students cultivate the habit of watching Mandarin-language
television or film...on a daily basis, if at all possible. DVDs and
Video-CDs are available through many online retailers or on eBay, if a
trip to the local Chinatown is not an option. Avoid English subtitles
like the plague; they are a crutch that will only hinder the brain
from getting into 'Chinese mode.' In fact, I have found that watching
programs with Chinese subtitles reinforces my recognition and
memorization of the characters! The focus should not be placed on what
isn't understood, but rather on what IS...students will find that as
their studies progress, more and more phrases will 'perk up their
ears' as they watch. Fear not: the action on-screen will provide
enough context to follow the story; the goal here is simply exposing
the brain to the language."

Los Angeles Chinese Learning Center
http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/Deselms-Kevin.html

~pinkfreud