The Beijing Brogue - love it or hate it

[Ed Log]

What are your views on the Beijing accent, some people suggest it is the proper accent, standard accent while other are not to keen on the constant 'err' 'err' 'err'

Sorry for the slightly biased title!

The Beijing accent - Do you love it, Hate it or don't think it is noticeable?

[Mouseneb]

I kind of enjoy it! I don't hear it too often though, and if I attempt to add it to my Mandarin pronunciation, generally somebody corrects me. Of course I live in Hainan, so that's probably why...

[doraemon]

I really like the Beijing accent, probably because I grew up speaking it with my parents and also that I'm constantly being exposed to it through watching mainland Chinese dramas (not so much me, but my mum) and CCTV news off the Internet. It's about as close as you can get to perfect Mandarin, even though Beijingers tend to use the "r" sound and roll their tongues a little more. But they're essentially the same thing. Now that I'm so used to it, it would sound weird to be if I didn't add 儿 to the end of many words e.g 一点儿, 事儿 etc.

[imron]

Added a poll so people can vote for it.

[imron]

I quite like it.

It's also worth pointing out that a) the Beijing accent is not Standard Mandarin, and B) adding 儿 does not necessarily mean a Beijing accent. Words than can/can't be modified by 儿化 in Standard Mandarin are fairly explicitly defined by the people who define such things (see here for the list), and it's also worth mentioning that adding 儿 is more than just an accent, as it affects the meaning/nuance of a word.

[wushijiao]

I voted for "love it". A lot of Beijingers that I know tend to be hilarious people, and somehow their humor works better in a thick Beijing accent.

[renzhe]

I agree with Imron here. I also like it, but I try to speak standard.

Beijing dialect is not standard BTW, but it is 1) quite close, and 2) well-represented in the Mainland media, so it is almost universally understood.

The Mandarin standard pronunciation was modelled on the pronunciation of the educated upper class of Beijing 100 years ago. It was not modelled after the way a taxi driver talks today.

[imron]

I voted for "love it". A lot of Beijingers that I know tend to be hilarious people, and somehow their humor works better in a thick Beijing accent.

This is definitely one of the reasons I like it, the general laid-back, easy going attitude that is associated with its speakers

[Daan]

Love it, but being in Taiwan, the only way to enjoy the "Beijing Brogue" is Beijing Sounds...one of my favourite* websites, gotta love that blog!

* Though Chinese-forums.com is of course second to none, dear admins ;)

[meah*]

Well, frankly speaking, I hate it. It is terrible, sounds ridiculous and undoubtedly, it is the ugliest accent ever. I just can't stand their misuse of the beautiful Chinese language, and besides it is not "standard", as many beijingers seem to think.

[Don_Horhe]

I really like it. Although having spent only about a week in Beijing, I really enjoyed listening to the people there speak, especially older folk in the parks. The only thing that stopped me from voting 'Love it' is the adding of 儿化 everywhere.

[Hofmann]

Although I don't mind it, it sounds vulgar.

[Outofin]

I guess it depends on who says it. I find it very adorable when Beijing girls chat and make fun of something, and extremely warm and nice when old Beijingers (grandpas in hutongs) say it. Of course, it can be ugly sometimes, for example, in soccer games.

In general I love it. Read 老舍 please.

[Ed Log]

It would seem most of the lovers of the Beijing 'rrrr' are people who like Beijing

Edited October 17, 2009 at 11:55 AM by Ed Log

[blackdigger]

love it.

Edited October 17, 2009 at 02:35 PM by roddy

[wushijiao]

It would seem most of the lovers of the Beijing 'rrrr' are people who like Beijing

Probably. Studies have shown that you are more likely to get a near-native accent if you empathize with, and can see yourself as part of the "in group" of a target language. In other words, if you can see yourself as part of the "group" or "club" who speak a language, and if they (or a person in that group) accepts you (at least to some degree), you're ability to learn the language (or the corresponding accent) will be pretty good. See Stephen Krashen in this article for more on that theory.

Therefore, I'd suggest that the many people who like the Beijing accent, or who have great Beijing-style Mandarin probably like Beijing, or at least certain people from Beijing. Or, it might be conceivable, that certain long-term expats in Taiwan who like the way Mandarin is spoken there actually speak with a Taiwanese accent, at least when with Taiwanese. Also, more generally, it's been shown in other cases that the more people identify with a place, the more they pick up certain distinctive speech patterns of that area.

[leeyah]

Although our teachers were Beijingers I never liked it too much, yes, it felt a bit vulgar. Having spent most of my time in China in the South, it wasn't really before recently that I started noticing, no, better say minding all the Southern confusion between z, s, r, l and the likes.

( Actually I couldn't resist, I've started taking notes of "jyut-ized" words, the latest jyut-pou jumble of the week is: "zhong li" 总理 !!)

Anyway, it must've been this constant mixing up of standard Putonghua by (some) 广州人 vs the sound of proper 北京话, during my brief BJ-GZ transfer days, now only on TV... but, well, as long as I'm in China anything goes... ummm ... that led me to appreciate more what LZ called BJ "brogue". Even if it gets too ... errrr-ish at times and may be a bit difficult to understand. Just heard a word in a TV series last night: 红眼病 was pronounced by all as "hoon-yan-been'rrr~" and yes, I liked it. :D

[bhchao]

Don't like it. Sounds too communist. Not elegant or smooth at all.

Pardon my bluntness.

[Hofmann]

.

[xiaocai]

Don't like it. Sounds too communist. Not elegant or smooth at all.

Sounds like a very communistic comment to me.