How good is this Italian guy?

[wannabeafreak]

Found this guy on Youtube and he sounded pretty good.

I can't hear any trace of Italian accent in his speech and sounded like any mainlander that would hear in China when I cross the border on occassion.

Can someone rate his Mandarin? Is it like Da Shan type level?

http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=YiXOYqYgGA0

[imron]

His Chinese is very good, however in my opinion, he still has an obvious foreign accent. It's not very heavy, and it doesn't affect comprehension, but it's still there.

I also don't think it's at the Dashan level just yet. There are a few places where there are some unnatural pauses e.g. at around 1:13 just before the 之外 in 所以除了母语和英语之外.

Edited January 13, 2009 at 01:25 AM by imron

[heifeng]

His Chinese is very good, however in my opinion, he still has an obvious foreign accent.

agreed.

on a psc rating, I would give Dashan a 1B-2A (teacher level for language instruction...which, well he does have his Chinese instruction programs)

I'd give this guy a 3B max

I can't hear any trace of Italian accent in his speech and sounded like any mainlander that would hear in China when I cross the border on occassion.

Well that's b/c you aren't used to Mandarin far north of the border I'm assuming. The same thing happens to me when I hear British English, I can't really hear people's ESL accents as clearly as I can if they were to speak w/ the American accent since I dunno what to listen for....

[Hanlink]

It felt like a very good scripted performance, one for a competition perhaps, but that should not detract from the fact that the guy has achieved a very decent level of Chinese. There are certainly a couple of areas of pronunciation which sounded a little bit off at the beginning, and his phrasing in places sounded rushed and not enough pause after 的 in my view, but parts of it sound native and as a whole I would class it as quite near-native; certainly lots of Chinese people are not as standard.

Hats off to the guy! It is not an easy level to attain.

[yersi]

It's a scripted and rehearsed performance, so obviously it's hard to gauge how good he really is. One of the things about Dashan that makes him so special is that even off the cuff he's really fluent and precise.

Anyway, I'd say he is definitely one of the better westerners I've heard, his tones and intonation are almost perfect. Like Imron said, he has a noticeable foreign accent but unless you are a freak like Dashan or grow up in China that's impossible to avoid.

[Scoobyqueen]

It looks like he is using a teleprompter. If he is, his reading ability is very good. If it is rehearsed as someone suggested it would seem strange to make the tone mistakes. I think he is just reading it out on first take.

Just a question at 1.29 he mentions 我国 referring to his own country. However, I thought that when you used 我国 it means China (as used by Chinese newspapers). Is the usage still ok when you refer to your own country ie you are not Chinese or should you say 我的国?

Edited January 13, 2009 at 09:27 AM by Scoobyqueen

[Hanlink]

我国 does not have to mean China, but 99.9% of times, especially if you're in China, that will be the reference point, which is probably why it feels odd to you that somebody is using it and not referring to China. He is definitely using it correctly. I would also not make a distinction in meaning between 我国 and 我的国, and for this phrase, the 的 is quite pedantic.

[gato]

on a psc rating, I would give Dashan a 1B-2A (teacher level for language instruction...which, well he does have his Chinese instruction programs)

I'd give this guy a 3B max

I agree with heifeng. On an accent scale of 1 to 10 (10 being native-level), I would say Dashan is a 9, whereas this guy is probably a 7. While his pronunciation is good, there is still a clearly noticeable foreign accent. He's also enunciating each character too clearly. A native wouldn't have such clear pauses between characters (maybe it's because he's reading). Dashan sounds much more fluent than he does. He also has some non-idiomatic word usage here and there.

[L-F-J]

to start... 论学习外语的重要性

[L-F-J]

overall his pronunciation is good, though i can tell he's not a native speaker without looking at him. just from his voice.

the rhythm isnt completely fair to judge because he's reading, which can even make one's native language sound unnatural.

his tones are good, but i suspect its because he is reading pinyin with tone marks, rather than the characters!

also at 4:20 he pronounces 追求 wrong, because he stumbled, which shows me that without the aid of a script he's probably not as fluent as the video might at first suggest.

he should do a video where he's just speaking his mind in chinese, and then we can rate his ability more accurately.

[wannabeafreak]

also at 4:20 he pronounces 追求 wrong, because he stumbled, which shows me that without the aid of a script he's probably not as fluent as the video might at first suggest.

Hmmm... That's a bit harsh. I can either a prepared or impromptu speech and stumble on nearly every 5th word in English. I recorded myself speak English once and I sounded quite broken with Australian accent.

[calibre2001]

He has a very textbook accent.

[gato]

Here's a fairly recent interview in Chinese with Dashan. He's very good.

Dashan Interview Nov 2007 (Chinese)

[wannabeafreak]

MANDARIN: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=G1cNk4tPlr8

CANTONESE: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=RTHH3RMdrWk

What do you think of his Canto and Mandarin?

[roddy]

Merging two topics - I'm not convinced we need a new one just for some bloke on Youtube talking Chinese.

[calibre2001]

MANDARIN: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=G1cNk4tPlr8

CANTONESE: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=RTHH3RMdrWk

What do you think of his Canto and Mandarin?

I like his canto more 'cause he sounds more natural and comfortable using it. In any case, his chinese is damn good!

[wai ming]

MANDARIN: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=G1cNk4tPlr8

CANTONESE: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=RTHH3RMdrWk

What do you think of his Canto and Mandarin?

CANTONESE: my boyfriend listened to a bit without seeing the video and thought he was a native speaker, and said his accent was a lot better than 河國榮's (no offence to 河國榮 ) - definitely the best non-native Cantonese speaker he'd ever heard. The only other comment he had was that he paused a fair bit and used 呀 etc quite a lot (although my bf acknowledged that this is quite normal even amongst native speakers).

MANDARIN: pretty good but not as good as his Cantonese. Even I picked up a few tone mistakes. Still pretty good though.

Btw, I've read his blog before. His written Chinese is really good too.

Edited January 15, 2009 at 02:31 PM by wai ming
Added comment on his writing.

[yonglin]

MANDARIN: pretty good but not as good as his Cantonese. Even I picked up a few tone mistakes. Still pretty good though.

His Mandarin has a Cantonese accent, which is pretty cute in a way I guess. He definitely learnt Cantonese first.

[L-F-J]

I can either a prepared or impromptu speech and stumble on nearly every 5th word in English. I recorded myself speak English once and I sounded quite broken with Australian accent.

even when reading the text right in front of you, you would mispronounce a word?

i think this cantonese/mandarin speaking laowai is more fluent in mandarin because he's not reading. he's just speaking his mind and its coming out very naturally.

although of course, the italian guy owns him in the pronunciation and tones of mandarin.

[Hofmann]

Michael's Mandarin isn't as good as his Cantonese.