How to increase speaking speed

[heifeng]

As always, I agree with Imron.

Kind of an off-line conversation directed at Imron, but others might benefit too: If you get sick of those 60 articles ( I really like them all too, but am somewhat tramatized from going thru them so many times this past spring) you can get some interpreting practice materials (probably some online, I just haven't searched) which have all the Chinese passages w/ tapes or CD/s.

I have a ton of those CATTI practice materials, all w/ transcripts and the tapes (although the sample exams do include CD's), which cover a wide range of vocab. It's less literary, but none the less, can also expose you to some good vocabulary (i.e. topics in the news and names of countries). The Chinese is still fairly standard in the practice materials, but the pace of speech is a quicker and less exaggerated than those 60 articles. Not as good for pronunciation, but pretty helpful to listen to where the natural pauses should be in (looooong) sentences.

Ok, back to HeDiWen何迪文's deal:

My teacher has suggested listening to audio clips and writing down what is said x amount of times.

Good practice for your characters, but for speaking I actually recommend just repeating everything you hear like a lil' parrot. It's good for training your memory too.

Again, as Imron said, you really need to just bite the bullet. But it makes everything much better once you just get it over with...so stock up on some throat lozenges and get to work!

[so, um Imron, do I hear PSC somewhere in the near future for you??]

[imron]

PSC maybe someday after I get to the HSK

I would like to eventually do both, but I refuse to commit to a timeframe

[imron]

Try it with the links I provided above for 30 min a day over an entire month.

Well, it's now been a month, how did you go?

[mvk20]

The link in imron's post above marked "transcripts" seems broken - what was that, and is it still around somewhere?

[roddy]

It's working here, but times out sometimes - maybe keep trying and you'll get it. It's the transcripts of the readings used in the 普通话测试 - as good materials as any to use if you're looking for something to listen to / recite. Between the two links you've got recordings and transcripts.

[imron]

It's working here too. If you use firefox, you could always try installing this plugin which lets you browse the web as if you're within China. You might get less issues with timing out.

[mvk20]

Strange - I've tried it many times over the course of the day, and it just won't come up. It's not really timing out, either; it's just going pretty much immediately to "This page cannot be displayed/Cannot find server", just like when you've got the wrong address or something. I don't use firefox, so I can't use the plug in - maybe I'll try that at some point when I have some more time.

[Shadowdh]

I can get it fine here in the UK using firefox...

[Hoy Sum Fu]

This is such a great subject for me, as my chinese comes out slow as molasses.

[imron]

Well, no time like the present to begin making improvements. Start with the above, and come back in a month to let everyone know how you're getting on.

[HeDiWen何迪文]

I've been insanely busy with school lately but just recently, I entered a Chinese proficiency competition. There were three sections: character recognition, speech, and talent. I joined the first two and placed first in the speech section. I had to deviler a 5 minute speech about why I study Chinese in front of a panel of Chinese judges. I was extremely nervous and almost got sick beforehand, but I went up, recited my speech, without even looking at my paper, and the judges were over joyed. One teacher exclaimed "If I wasn't looking at you, and heard you speak, I would think you were Chinese." It was really awesome as I was so nervous about the competition and really felt like I was wasting my time and going to lose. But, I persevered and did my best. Now I'm going to the next round which is in either California or Ohio. If I do good there I will win a trip to Beijing for the finals. Wish me luck.

Oh, and here's my speech just to let you know how big a hurdle I had to overcome. and FYI I have been studying Chinese for a year and a half.

大家好。我的中文名字是何迪文。我有个朋友学习中文三年多的时间了，他的中文非常好，常常用中文和我说话，我觉得中文听起来非常有意思，所以开始对中文产生了兴趣。再加上我有许多朋友学习外语，都有国外留学的经验，这让我非常向往，更让我对中文和中国文化产生了浓厚的兴趣。除了兴趣的因素，我想学习中文还有一个重要的原因，中国的国力日益强大，已经成为世界上最有权力的国家之一，学习中文可以增加我在未来的竞争力。我有个梦想，是想要到中国去留学，并且能够用中文和中国人交流，结交许多中国朋友。我现在已经学习中文一年多了。一开始我觉得中文非常难，但经过努力学习后，我开始找到正确的学习方法，我常常利用网璐和中国朋友练习对话。我发现中文并没有想象中困难，而且越学越觉得有意思。现在，我的中文程度越来越好了，我希望我可以继续努力，朝着梦想前进，有一天，我一定能够用流利的中文到中国去留学，在中国学习我所热爱的中国文化。谢谢大家。

Thank you for all your help! Wish me luck in the next round!

[Shadowdh]

Best of Luck 何迪文, well done on the first stage... 加油！！

[Scoobyqueen]

HeDiWen - I think you have done really really well. Congratulations! five minutes is a long time without looking at your notes and the comment from the Chinese is about not looking at you and think you are Chinese is a true compliment.

On the nervousness front, this is normal. Since you have overcome this hurdle which should have given you loads of confidence you wont be nervous like that next time. You will probably be a bit nervous but use this nervous energy (adrenaline or whatever it is) more effectively to boost your presentation with even more charisma.