Tackling unclarity

[Lingjian23]

So I've been studying this language for some time now and it is way too late to turn back. My problem is listening.

When someone speaks clearly I have no problem understanding what they say in any normal interaction. As long as we're not talking about nuclear physics, I generally get it. Most of my friends speak very clearly so I don't have a problem there.

But the sad truth of the matter is that most Chinese people don't speak clearly. They don't move their lips or clearly enunciate some consonants. This is a serious problem. Sometimes I wouldn't even be able to spell out the pinyin of what they're saying (and by they I mean my male co-workers).

Anyone else had this problem? I realize this is probably something that is just painful until I've interacted with it enough to improve, I'm looking for some kind of product / service / method I can work with independently to speed up the process. Normal listening programs aren't what I'm looking for since usually the speakers speak very clearly (even if the speak is like that of a normal conversation between two native speakers). I feel like this is a big enough problem that there might be products tailor-made for it but I haven't found any yet.

[imron]

The First Episode Project might provide some of what you are looking for.

[Shadowdh]

I have this problem too and sometimes find that even when they speak clearly its confusing... as if my ears arent receiving a clear signal or forwarding it on to the brain (of course this could be due to old age too hehehe). I have found that using the First Episode Project (pointed out by Imron above) and the antiwave podcasts http://www.antiwave.net/ (plus a few others) has helped greatly. I just keep plugging away at it day by day and see what happens... so far its been ok...

[renzhe]

I feel that this stage is normal when learning Chinese, and I found it more difficult in Chinese than with other languages.

I also feel that the best way to go is to attack it with volume and increasingly difficult listening. I also found the First Episode Project extremely helpful for all levels.

[JenniferW]

What you're experiencing isn't unique to understanding spoken Chinese. There's a vast difference in all languages (I think) between the spoken language of all speakers outside formal situations which demand clear articulation and avoidance of elision, etc. All languages have characteristics of the spoken language such as rules for linking, elision, and deletion and if you don't know these rules, what you hear seems unintelligible. Languages also all have variation - even speakers of the 'standard' will vary in their pronunciation. Language learners also usually have problems processing spoken language at normal speed.

One approach is simply to expose yourself to more of the real, normal, thing as a conscious activity - with the aim of learning from it. What you sound as if you're coping with is speakers who are accommodating their speech to what they judge your listening level to be - something people do automatically if they're kind, considerate, and have any awareness of the difference this can make. Consciously listening to people talking on buses, in the supermarket queue, etc, where you can listen without needing to respond, is one way to do this. Supermarket-type situations are good, too, because you often here the same mini-interaction half a dozen times with only small variation. Radio - even Chinese radio - can help, and you'll probably know which stations to listen to for unscripted chat. Phone-ins can be great listening material.

Let yourself listen to some of this without trying to understand. You need a stage of simply getting familiar with what 'normal' speech sounds like. Focusing on the sounds rather than the meaning is useful at certain stages. But with the radio, you can record things like phone-ins, and use it for listening, listening and listening again. Small samples listened to a million times can be great for effectively cracking the code. You could also get a Chinese friend to listen with you, to say the same bits with careful articulation, at a slower speed, for comparison.

What eventually happens, as your brain works out what's been missed out, elided over, added (between vowels), what vowel variation is possible while retaining intelligibility to another native speaker, is that you work out enough of the rules to be able to understand. Bits of the understanding may be conscious, but much may be unconscious and you just seem to have moved on to being able to understand things.

I used to teach English (to non-native speakers), and I honestly think I have just the same problems myself, learning Chinese, as my students learning English used to have.