Please criticize my accent mercilessly

[djwebb2004]

I have attached an audio file. I know there are errors, but I thought it better to post an audio without the text to see if people can understand! I think it probably my 1) 1st one is not high enough 2) my 2nd tone is too vague 3) my tone 3 sandhi is wrong, and 4)my 4th tone does not go down properly enough... Thank you for any help.

19mar_1440.mp3

[Koneko]

Generally it's pretty good, just some intonation issues.

K.

[Horatio]

Err, This is my first post so it seems kind of stink for it to be a criticism:oops:

First your spoken Chinese blows mine out of the water.

Thing I noticed was your 为什么 not really pronouncing the sh of shen. Maybe you're copying the local dialect?

[djwebb2004]

Horatio, many Chinese do not pronounce sh as sh and it is easy to get lazy in this respect, as it is easy to pronounce it the way the southerners do...

[Koneko]

I would like to add that most Southerners do not pronunce words ending with "g" clearly either.

"Change yourself to suit the environment not vice versa."

DJ. K. strikes back

[igotyofire]

are you reading?

[djwebb2004]

yes, that is why the audio is not very good. I am reading. I will try to do one another day where I am just talking naturally.

[heifeng]

Sorry, but you said be merciless:

I played your file for the guys in my office (who for the most part are just exposed to my funky Chinese, thus exposure to other foreigners is limited):

the good news is they could understand you for the most part.

The bad news is they agreed that pronounciation didn't seem really really clear and accurate.

Whatever my opinion counts for*, maybe some of the pauses in the sentence aren't that natural so it loses a lil' bit of overall flow and pronounciation could be a bit "crisper" if that makes sense...(*not much hehe)

Do you have a native speaker's recording of what you read so that you can imitate? I'm suffering from the same reading and recording issues and will spend an hour or more on a short HSK type passage so I feel your pain....

加油...

[chenpv]

In my opinion, djwebb was doing a great job trying to pronounce every character the right way, given he managed to keep the flow as natural/fast as he could. And I believe he is able to enunciate those characters with a relatively relaxed reading speed.

Incidentally, I also noticed that westerners tend to have very heavy nasal sounds while speaking Chinese, which makes them very distinguishable from native speaker no matter how accurately they manage every pronunciation and intonation. Well, don't mean to force any Chinese learner to sound exactly like a native speaker, it's just... how I feel, possibly, just me...

[gato]

djwebb, I notice that you have some general tone problems ("中国", for example). If you can submit a shorter clip (maybe just 30 seconds), people would be better able to offer more specific comments.

[djwebb2004]

Thank you for your comments. Next time I will post ordinary speech, not reading. And a shorter passage.Yes, pronunciation always holds my Chinese back because if I speed up people can't understand and so there's a limit. Also a problem is that my Chinese friends are used to me and can understand - but that does not mean anything really. As soon as I talk to a new person, I feel the difference.

[igotyofire]

some parts sound great to me and other parts i hear the prounciation of the word sounding a bit funny. but this is comming from a fellow laowai hehe

[againstwind]

Hi,djwebb2004

I tried to listen to your recording carefully and write down what you read.

Is it? I am not sure if I got them accurately, espcially words in the brackets, but as a whole, I think you did well.

Some problems do exist (excuse me).

a) I noticed that your pronounced most zh, ch, sh as z, c, s obviously. I am also curious if you were imitating local (southern) accent?

B) Some tones weren't accurate, I mean fo exmaple 1st pronounced as 2nd like "加jia1以反对/ 加jia2以反对". However, you've aware of your tone such as '1st one is not high enough'. That's right. So it made you speak in some Northeast accent. BTW, have you been to Northeast China?

c) Some breaks heard unnaturally. I suppose that you were not familiar with some words so that you hesitated. But I don't think it is big problem. Just learn those words by heart.

Then I did a record work, but not sure for some words. Therefore I posted what I heard. I know you will post the passage next time, but you see... I don't assure some words. Anyway, anyone wants to check their Chinese listening abilities please skip passage below.

这本书是讲中国人的。中国人的事最不好讲。比如腐败。中国人喜欢腐败吗？当然不喜欢。提起腐败中国人没有不咬牙切齿，痛心疾首，恨之入骨的。就连那些行贿受贿者也未必当真喜欢腐败。如果不受贿，即可财源滚滚，他为什么要冒丢官（铩羽）的风险？如果不行贿，就能（通行无阻），他又为什么要拿自己的钱送人？渴望腐败的大约只有一种人，在种种权钱交易和权色交易中拉皮条的。但那是极少数。多数人是不喜欢腐败的，但他们又离不开腐败。事实上许多中国人一旦自己有事，首先想到的便是拉关系、走后门，请客送礼。如果所有的官员都当真既不（辞请）也不收礼，恐怕不少人就会怅然若失，心里（空落落）的，不知道自己的事到底办不办得成。所以不反腐败是不行的。反得太厉害，（怕）也不行。最好是留一条尾巴，限制在吃一两顿饭和收（一两条烟）的范围内，则皆大欢喜。你说这是逼出来的也未必。比如公款吃喝是大家都反对，都憎恶的，但如果你请（那）从未参加过的人一起来吃，则多半会欣然前往，且（面有得色）。可见，他反对的并不是公款吃喝，而是别人有份，自己没有。因为自己没有份儿，便只好连公款吃喝一起加以反对。

p.s. Something wrong with my attachment. I tried many times but just can't upload it ( a 900kb mp3). I may need Roddy's help.

腐败.mp3

[赫杰]

Well done!

I think everyone has already made some great comments on your recording, so I got nothing too much to add. Perhaps some of your tone problems and hesitations are rooted in your nervousness? I don't know, you just sounded a bit nervous to me, nervousness is a definitive factor when speaking a language, I feel. When I speak with people and become nervous, I now tend to pause more often in between words (English too), because I am thinking about how to calm myself down,,,,,sometimes will sound like a 智障者, heh heh, well not far from it i guess,,

Just throwing something out there

HJ

[大汉之子民]

Generally speaking, you are good.

I listened your audio file casually, and understanded without script. But your pronunciation have a very strong foreign accent.

Some words are wrongly pronounced, such as 冒(mao4) 请(qing3)客送礼 送(song4)一两条烟 etc.