Post a sample of your pronunciation here!

[wushucrab20]

Here is the text if it helps:

 

Edit:the audio practice I just posted is on the previous page.

 

我在中国留学的时候，在清华大学听过的最有趣的讲座无疑是一个70几岁左右的教授讲的关于宇宙与生物学的关系还有人类以及地球的未来的讲座。他的讲座给我留下了深刻的印象。因为呢他的讲话方式还有涉及到的内容很有科幻色彩，而我本来对那一类的艺术，电影，话题等等特别感兴趣。还有很明显他自己对该话题也充满热情所以讲的津津有味。在他的讲座当中他提到了一些很吸引我的概念。

 

第一个是人类将来有一天一定会自我毁灭。至于这是否是一百年后，数万年后的事情很难说，但总有一天人类会因为自己的破坏性的行为以及贪婪的趋向毁于一旦。第二个是光合作用是一切生命的基础，小到最微不足道的细菌等微生物，大到人类本身，一切都是由光合作用给地球提供的条件而来的。因为我上本科的时候学的是生物专业的，所以我觉得他描绘的某些情况不太成立，但是仍然是非常有意思的。

 

最后他讲了关于黑洞以及人类以后是否能够找办法通过黑洞到达新的宇宙的想法。他先介绍了自己对黑洞的了解还有科学界对黑洞这种现象的解释。然后他说人类自己不可能穿过黑洞而安然无恙的在对面出来，就算在最安全的情况下乘坐者最结实的高级太空船他们还会被撕成碎片。他说如果某天真要有希望穿过黑洞的话，人类必须先制造有智慧的机器人，然后要么自己发明一种能让机器人转化为能量便穿过黑洞的技术或者是人类灭绝之后由机器人发明这样的高级技术。但是只有在机器人的质量转化为能量才能承受得了穿越黑洞的压力而完整的出来并且重新恢复原来的质量形势和状态。

[anonymoose]

I thought that was excellent. How long have you been learning? What's your background?

[wushucrab20]

Thanks, I started learning about 4 years ago. I spent some time in China studying Chinese, so that really helped. My Chinese has improved a bit since then too, but not necessarily speaking skills so I decided to try to make a routine to practice like this and hopefully it will improve with time.

[anonymoose]

That's pretty impressive for just four years.

[陳德聰]

I found it impressive as well. I am not sure what reading it directly from the text (also noticed that the text you provided does not seem to be verbatim) adds to the exercise though, since your rhythm and intonation are very flat and hurried when you were reading.

 

I didn't notice any pronunciation issues, though the first few times you said 發展, your /a/ was a bit more fronted than I'm used to hearing, so it stood out a bit. It sounded like it rhymed with "fat" or "cat" moreso than with "father". But that was the only thing that I really had to say. Maybe I'll listen to it again.

[imron]

Agree with what was said above.  One other thing I would pay attention to is to try and reduce your ums and ahs.

[wushucrab20]

Thank you anonymoose and 陳德聰.

 

@陳德聰   Yea, I see what you mean about the last portion. I guess it would be better to read it at a natural pace and try to have as natural of a tone as possible while adding more emotion. I'll be more careful about sticking to the text too, I think part of it just became habit after doing it from memory. Reading quickly though does have some benefit for me in general though because then when I talk at a normal pace afterwards it just seems easier, like jogging uphill and then walking afterwards, but its an exercise I can do on my own. Anyway I'll change it up next time and see how things go. Its also interesting that you point out the "a" pronunciation, because I have never had that feedback before. I'll pay attention to that in the future. That sort of feedback is really useful too, because its not something I can easily catch on my own.

 

@Imron  Thanks, I'll work on that too. Its good practice anyway for any type of public speaking situation even with English so I'll see if can cut down the pauses and filler next time.

[imron]

Pauses and filler would probably be ok if they were Chinese pauses and filler.  Ums and ahs however come across as English filler and so it jars somewhat with your Chinese.

 

The other thing I would add is to do it more than once a week.  Maybe not the whole process you outlined above, but at least the speaking and recording part, and maybe a brief re-recording to reduce things like ums and ahs.  You can then do the other (more time consuming) parts once a week (or more if you have time).

 

Spending 10-15 mins a day doing this sort of thing is going to be more effective than spending an hour or two once a week.  I would using something like Don't Break the Chain or my own 100% to keep track of progress.

[Guest realmayo]

 I guess it would be better to read it at a natural pace and try to have as natural of a tone as possible while adding more emotion. 

 

If you're looking for relevant listening material let me put in a word for 锵锵三人行 and the post here http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/42490-qqsrx-list-of-episodes/ -- yes these are conversations rather than monologue and the speakers can be slightly exaggerated because they are speaking for an audience but might still be useful for exposure to the ebbs and flows of natural speech. Edit: and emotion.

[wushucrab20]

Here's today's practice. I changed things slightly so that the portion I did from memory is a relatively close translation of what I produced in English when discussion the topic. Part three is sort of the combination of 1&2 with some adjustments and is read aloud not memorized. The text for the final portion is below:

 

几天前我看到了一个新闻说俄罗斯有个人快要成为世界上首位自愿参与头部移植手术的人。他之所以愿意参与如此危险的手术是因为他患有一种不治之症，想提高自己的生活质量并且延长他的寿命。他全身的肌肉好像因为他的病已经开始萎缩所以如果他不动这个头部移植手术的话他会无法生活。因此他希望得到捐给他的一个全新的身体。我了解到这个情况的时候感觉特别不可思议。打算给他进行手术的医生是一个很有争议的意大利人。虽然该医生有一些很极端的想法但因为他有自己的很有经验的专业团队，所以说不定能够做好这个手术。医生那方似乎已经为此次手术开始计划和准备。要想考虑进行这般复杂的手术，必须对种种可能出现的危及患者生命的情况做好准备。我真的很好奇他们打算怎么在移植头部的同时维持病人的血流以及生命。我也想知道当手术结束时，他们怎么样才能使他切断的脊髓与一个新的脊髓产生生物融合。若真正的能通过头部移植手术的方法赋予病人崭新的生活条件，就可能会对国际医学领域和医疗标准开创先河。

 

 

 

[makochan]

Your Chinese is so good!  Your accent is particularly good that I think you are an American-born Chinese and grew up being exposed to some Mandarin?  Hah, if not good job on the hard work!

[wushucrab20]

Thanks makochan, but actually I started studying Mandarin as an adult. There are actually lots of native English speakers at least worldwide that have achieved high Mandarin Chinese levels as adult learners and have very native like pronunciation. I still have a lot of areas to work on but thank you!

[wushucrab20]

Here is the third one. I did the same thing as last time in terms of what the three steps were comprised of. I've found its very difficult to spontaneously talk about a topic, while discussing it relatively clearly and still wrapping it up in under a minute.

 

 

我最好的朋友之一是在上初中的时候认识的。因为当时我们发现了我们俩之间有很多共同爱好和话题所以很快就成了好朋友。我们初中毕业之后开始上了不同的学校但是那时我们还经常找出了时间聚一聚，打游戏，出去玩儿。我们还分享了生活中的种种事情包括上高中的快乐和痛苦。然后不久以后他就随着他的家人搬到美国南方去了. 他的离开让我琢磨，他会把对故乡的思念带到新住处，还是把它以及童年的所有回忆抛在曾经被他当作家的地方。

 

他走后我们虽然保持联系了但是时间长了发现了不是很方便交流。后来我就安排了每年暑假到他那儿去两个星期。第一次去的时候发现了EL Paso是一个很有意思的地方与我长大的地方完全不同。尤其是El Paso的环境。因为我们的家乡有很多树，植被，草原，绿色遍布，还有很多河湖和池塘所以环境特美。但是El Paso在沙漠中也基本上位于山脚下的位置所以在那里生活算得上是一个新的生活体验。这样一来一下子给了我们提供了用不完的探索这座沙漠中的城市机会，我朋友还给我介绍了El Paso 的一些最别致的地方和最好玩的事情。他还让我尝了El Paso与我们的家乡菜最不同的美味小吃。

 

所以在那里待着很有趣因为我看到了那个城市的风格，包括整个城市的布局。对我来说最醒目的一定是树立在每座房子之间的大石墙，那样的建筑是我从未亲眼见过的。另外因为这种建筑这么普遍所以让郊区的环境显得更为壮观，同时也给我带来了很新鲜的感觉。因此我对这些所有的细节都记忆犹新。我也清晰的记得房子后面都有短短的硬硬的草，赤着脚走在那样的地面跟踩在北方的湿漉漉的长软草相比也明显有不一样的感觉。El Paso的气候很干燥可是这种变化非常受我的欢迎。我觉得住在那儿很酷因为从朋友住的地方看得到墨西哥。

 

几年后我不再到El Paso去了，而且我跟我朋友的关系很快也变得像他刚离开家乡的那段时间一样遥远。直到有一天他突然做出了一个出乎意料的事情，因为那个时候已经有很多年没怎么见面甚至联系，可是他跟我说他要到我上本科的地方参加我的毕业典礼让我很感动。他到了以后我就感觉好像没什么不一样了只是显得更像一个大学生罢了。看来真正的友谊是不会随着时间的流逝而变的。

[calibre2001]

Hi all,

 

It's been a long time. Here's a new recording of my 朗讀 using the text below.

My reading speed is rather slow here.

 

Criticisms and feedback wanted. Thanks.

 

「妇女节快乐」！在越南妇女节隔天，有机会跟来自东南亚的姊妹们见面，除了问候大家，更要感谢每一位姊妹，妳们让台湾成为最美丽、多元、丰富的故乡。

这几年来，我交到很多新移民姊妹好友。住在屏东、我半个同乡的胡清娴，推动多元文化课程不遗余力；住南投的宝莲和美兰细心教我如何采茶、挑茶。宝莲和美兰曾到民进党参观，我邀请她们和她们的家人、孩子到主席室，一一坐坐主席的位置，我衷心希望，台湾的新住民或新住民之子，未来能有机会当主席、做总统。

每一位来到台湾的姊妹，都是我们最丰富珍贵的资产。我上个月提出的「新南向政策」，未来除了要引导企业的投资，我们和东南亚国家更可以在文化、教育、公民社会、国际组织等各领域，进行更多元、更深入的交流。而每一位姊妹，都是我们的最佳顾问。我们推出三项新移民政策，希望能为姊妹们做更多，让大家拥有更好的生活：

一、保障新移民姊妹得到更平等的社会福利待遇。

我们要保障姊妹们的福利和服务跟本国人相同，并积极增加地方政府各单位的双语服务，提高对不同国家的文化敏感度。

二、研议放宽新移民姊妹的学历承认。

让姊妹们在台湾就业、进修或学习时，有更妥善的接轨，并积极解决各种就业歧视，让大家有机会参加职业训练、就业媒合服务，提高薪资水准，改善家庭经济。

三、新台湾之子，一定要学习母亲的语言。

执政后，我们将致力于强调东南亚语言的重要。让熟悉各种东南亚语言的人才，带领台湾走向国际，成为我们与东南亚各国的外交先锋。

 

funvjiekuaile.mp3

[edelweis]

I'm no expert.

I hear z instead of zh.

姊 sounds like zi ?

[歐博思]

Not to beat a dead horse but....

 

08年度中国最具幸福感10大城市出炉

 

2008年12月26日在云南昆明，揭晓了2008年度中国最具幸福感城市，其中10座城市入选，并举行了隆重的颁奖仪式。这10座城市分别是杭州 宁波 昆明 天津 唐山 佛山绍兴 长春 无锡 长沙。其中杭州由于连续五年在调查推选活动中名列前茅而获得金奖。

此次评选由新华社《瞭望东方周刊》联合中国市长协会从今年四月开始，调查内容涉及自然环境，交通状况，发展速度，文明程度，赚钱机会，医疗水平，教育水平，房价，人情味，治安状况，就业机会，生活便利共12项指标，采取专业公司调查与公共调查相结合的方式进行，近300家媒体参与，共计700万张调查问卷和 7000万次网络投票。

 

 

a chinese forums soundclip.mp3

[陳德聰]

Before I go any further, calibre2001, you speak with a Taiwanese accent but you pronounce 姊妹 as zǐmèi instead of jiěmèi? Are you studying on your own?

 

I noticed that you tend to pronounce 4th tone as 1st tone. You said yuē南 instead of yuè南, gēng要 instead of gèng要, etc. I think you also seem to drop the 2nd tone when it is in the second syllable, for example 多元 became 多yuǎn or even 多yuan, and 交流 became 交liù. I guess I can do a more specific one later.

[calibre2001]

Edelweis & 陳德總，

Many thanks for the feedback.

The original text uses 姊妹.

Based on research and own understanding, 姐妹 is jǐemèi and 姊妹 is zǐmèi.

Reading it out as 姐妹 is the reason for numerous re-takes of this 朗讀.

[陳德聰]

姊 <- this character is pronounced jiě in Taiwan colloquial speech as far as I know... the Taiwan MoE dict seems to agree too. That's why I thought it was odd that you speak with a Taiwanese accent but pronounced it zǐ.

[edelweis]

a trick word, excellent!

@欧博思: I can't hear anything wrong in your recording, but since I'm still not an expert, well...