Comment on my accent!(2)

[semantic nuance]

Are you sure? Did you mean zhao2 (wrong) vs zhuo2 (correct)?

Oops! Typo!! Terribly sorry. I haven't noticed that I typed the wrong thing until now.It should zhao2 luo4. 著 zhao2 落 luo4 is what we use in Taiwan. So sorry for the typo!

[Ge-lin]

Wow, sound so Mainland! That was good! 你講得很好耶!

[Pravit]

Bomaci, your accent is very impressive. Do you live in China/have everyday contact with native speakers?

I did look at that thread about the chorus method, but as far as I understand, that method does not seem extremely different than the way most Chinese classes in China are taught - repeat words/phrases after the teacher. However, I think you and I agree on one point - imitating accents. I usually pick one or two accents that I like the sound of, then imagine how it would sound if that person were reading sentences aloud for me, then repeat it aloud myself until it sounds similar.

[bomaci]

Bomaci, your accent is very impressive. Do you live in China/have everyday contact with native speakers?

I don't live in China but my wife is Chinese. However I have also studied chinese a lot on my own.

I did look at that thread about the chorus method, but as far as I understand, that method does not seem extremely different than the way most Chinese classes in China are taught - repeat words/phrases after the teacher.

It does differ in one significant regard. You don't repeat the phrase after the teacher, you repeat it with the teacher. This difference is key. When you repeat together with the teacher/recording any pronunciation mistakes you make will be become very blatant, especially mistakes in the rhythm of the phrase. If your rhythm is incorrect you will be out of sync with the teacher and thus it will sound off. Furthermore I would think that most chinese classes only repeat the phrase once or twice. In the chorus method you should repeat the phrase many many times in order to allow the rhythm and melody of it to sink in. Usually you let the teacher/recording repeat 7-8 times first without you repeating. Then you repeat together many many times. I think you should try the chorus method. You already have quite a good accent. If you used the chorus method for a couple of months to practice your pronunciation I think you would see significant improvements.

However, I think you and I agree on one point - imitating accents. I usually pick one or two accents that I like the sound of, then imagine how it would sound if that person were reading sentences aloud for me, then repeat it aloud myself until it sounds similar.

The thing is , it is very hard to compare you own pronunciation with that of the model and trying to find what sounds different. Especially when it comes to rhythm. This is where the chorus method is so good. Any differences in rhythm will be blatantly obvious when you speak together with a recording instead of repeating after it.

[Pravit]

Ahh, I understand the difference now. It does sound like a good method, though I don't have anyone to practice it with here in the US, unfortunately.

[HashiriKata]

though I don't have anyone to practice it with here in the US

Hints:

I don't live in China but my wife is Chinese.

(Or buy a tape-recorder! )

[bomaci]

Ahh, I understand the difference now. It does sound like a good method, though I don't have anyone to practice it with here in the US, unfortunately.

Oh, you don't need a teacher to use this method. I myself use it with recordings of sentences. You just need a recording of the voice you want to imitate and some audio editing software. Then split the recording into sentences of mangable length (maybe 2-4 seconds) each and practice each one using this methodology.

[heifeng]

So now the 2 guys in my office want to listen to more foreigners speaking Chinese for their entertainment pleasure so I played luotuo xiangzi for them

Preface:

Due to my constand badgering they are like rialed up fight dogs when it comes to evaluating accents, so are only good at pointing out flaws, not giving positive feedback,

They said:

Good, but the more the 'er' hua, the less they understand (but they are born and raised in BJ) and that the pronounciation seems accurate but some parts are just too 别扭, not really natural enough.

My opinion, I could understand pretty clearly, but in the yeshenghuo recourding

I thought the wanshang's shang 'ang' didn't sound quite right, neither did yinxiang de 'xiang'

Maybe the j, in jiuba, beijing, kuaiji seemes slightly slightly off or something almost like a q....

keep up the good work though!

[Pravit]

Hmmm....I have an audiobook of Luotuo Xiangzi which Roddy pointed out, I might try using that with the chorus method.

Thanks for your comments on my accent, heifeng!

I agree some parts are a bit awkward - I still have some problems reading quickly enough to keep up with my speech. As for the erhua, were your coworkers unable to understand what I was saying because of it, or did it just make it less easy to understand?

My opinion, I could understand pretty clearly, but in the yeshenghuo recourding

I thought the wanshang's shang 'ang' didn't sound quite right, neither did yinxiang de 'xiang'

Maybe the j, in jiuba, beijing, kuaiji seemes slightly slightly off or something almost like a q....

Hmmm. I don't think my "j" or "ang" sounds are off, but of course I'm biased. Did anyone else notice this?

[heifeng]

(oh, it only seemed like one of the wanshang's sounded off a bit. The j could have just been the recording quality. I just practiced doing some tape recordings and I noticed that 1)some sounds definitely don't come across as clear (as what I hear at least) when recorded, and 2) recording too much definitely makes one light headed:( )

I think that with or without the er hua they could understand it. Mainy when the erhua was too heavy it threw them off a bit. they said was that you had the er hua, but somehow it wasn't quite right on, but then they could really explain it beyond that (My completely random guess is that when I compare how these guys speak (25ish Beijing locals) they have the er hua also, but it's not really really heavy, that is to say the sound itself is soft, not emphasized or drawn out. So if when you add the er hua, if it is too heavy or long it sounds a bit forced so then they got thrown off or distracted by it a bit)

[大汉之子民]

the 1th is good and the second is not very good.

therer are many mispronounced words in the 2nd audio recording file.

骆驼 luo2 tuo2

随手 sui2shou3

北平的洋车夫有许多#(what?)

讲究？

坐快车的主儿(zhur)?

车分儿(Che1 fen4 r)