Presentation nerves

[Scoobyqueen]

Just gave a presentation last week to

Edited April 15, 2013 at 08:13 PM by Scoobyqueen
typo

[animal world]

I can't address "tone fright" per se but what you describe sounds normal. I speak English with a slight accent because once you move to another country as an adult you'll never lose the accent. The accent tends to get stronger when i'm tense or tired. Other people in the same foreign boat has reported the same phenomenon. Ditto when i come back from a stay in Europe where i talked mainly in other languages for a while.

[anonymoose]

All kinds of things can happen to pronunciation when one gets nervous, so just put it down to experience, and you'll be better next time.

Also, I've noticed that when I speak through a microphone, my Chinese sounds horrible (or maybe it's just my voice sounds horrible with a microphone).

[Scoobyqueen]

Thanks for the feedback.

Also, I've noticed that when I speak through a microphone,

You can ask the sound engineers to make your voice sound less metallic or high pitched (if you are a woman that is). Women's voices tend to sound a bit metallic through a mike.

For some odd reason, I think I was nervous about the presence of some German ministry representatives eventhough they wouldnt have understood what I was saying.

[gerri]

What I've recently noticed most is that I'd love to ask somebody for the pronunciation of a hanzi by simply saying how I think it's pronounced and giving what I say the rising inflection of a question - which is, of course, a way you mark a question in languages which are not tonal themselves... this interference is sometimes really bothering. (I wish I were at the level where I could give presentations and have the OP's problem )

[animal world]

I wish I were at the level where I could give presentations and have the OP's problem

Likewise!

I think whenever you give a presentation or record yourself, you become somewhat self-conscious. Whenever i hear my own voice on a recorded piece in whatever language, i always wonder, "is that really me?" and "do i really sound that weird?"

[Scoobyqueen]

I wish I were at the level where I could give presentations and have the OP's problem

It takes me a lot of preparation to present in Chinese (unfortunately) but I do try and put myself in that situation and look for opportunities (more than I have to) to present as I feel it helps me improve this area. With enough time to prepare, I believe you can do the same.

[renzhe]

I think that, generally, the first thing to go wrong when you are nervous is the thing that you find the most difficult. For many of us, these are the tones.

You'd probably start messing up the adjective declension if you were giving a talk in German. Personally, I get noun genders mixed up in such situations if I don't speak carefully.

I also find that my tones get rubbish if I'm talking about very complicated topics. I spend too much time looking for the right words, and trying to explain things, and I end up forgetting to think about the "little" things. It goes to show that tones are still not an automatic process, and that I can only nail them properly if I actually think about them while talking.

In a stressful situation such as giving a presentation, you are usually thinking about too many other things.

[heifeng]

Yes, yes, yes I can totally relate! We were doing some practice exercises/presentations in front of class the other day for some consecutive interpreting and I totally got butchered & raked over the coals in front of everyone on my pronunciation because apparently my tones (and general 老外accent) really came out bad. My teacher even seemed shocked how bad it came out and commented on normally I don't have that problem when speaking

Basically I had/have a similiar problem as what Renzhe mentioned:

I also find that my tones get rubbish if I'm talking about very complicated topics. I spend too much time looking for the right words, and trying to explain things, and I end up forgetting to think about the "little" things.

I'm still in a bit bad mood because of it...sort of...well, not really, just an excuse for me to buy ice cream. But now, to actually address the problem, I need to do more self recording doing those type of exercises. Practice makes perfect (in theory at least:mrgreen:). Or at least more practice will make you more confident and less prone to errors. (At least that is what I am telling myself today heh)

We all discover more little problem areas as we continue to use the language, which is a good thing, right!? At least it means we are venturing into new areas to challenge ourselves and improve our skills. The fact you are trying to address the problem is a definite plus! Don't stress yourself out too much, that won't help, next time just own the stage:clap

Edited November 15, 2009 at 06:13 PM by heifeng

[doraemon]

Yeah, I know. Happens to me as well. For me, it's not so much the nerves but rather trying to finish the presentation as quickly as possible because I hate being on stage, and also the expectation that I have to say everything perfectly(which I usaly don't:oops:). Sometimes the tone a word becomes distorted and I would have to repeat it over and over again until I get it right. It can be quite annoying.

[imron]

But now, to actually address the problem, I need to do more self recording doing those type of exercises

Yep. It's painful, but it does help

[xianhua]

I remember when I made my wedding speech in Chinese a few years ago. My tones were steady; however, the piece of paper I was holding, was anything but. My new wife told me it was quite obvious, but I was totally oblivious to it.

Edited November 16, 2009 at 01:22 PM by xianhua
Smiley face for very happy doesn't seem quite right.

[heifeng]

Yep. It's painful, but it does help

yeah, good thing no one is a stranger to pain at this point, right:mrgreen:

[wushijiao]

It's really quite amazing how much confidence can affect pronunciation, even in advanced speakers. I've been on both ends of the spectrum.

For what it's worth, I think these tips might help:

-Really prepare well and know the material. You'll at least feel confident, content-wise, which will hopefully lead to confidence in pronunciation.

-Practice doing the whole thing beforehand. If you fumble, actually write down a script, and then rehearse the script.

-Have an outline, notes made

-Before giving the presentation, try to chat (in Mandarin) with one of the people listening to the presentation, ideally someone who tends to make a lot of eye contact, or who is rather senior in the organization. This way, you get a "warm up", and during the presentation, they'll hopefully give you verbal/body language feedback.

[renzhe]

^^ Excellent advice for giving presentations in any language.

I am the type who really likes improvising this stuff, but even I have started investing a lot of time into preparation, with great results. If you prepare your slides really well, and have a clear idea about which points you want to make, and how you want to make them, you will be more confident and can concentrate better on the quality of the talk itself.

I don't rehearse scripted talks like some people, but I make sure that the slides are well-prepared (especially the reasoning chain), and if there are some crucial/tricky points, I'll prepare the wording for those tough spots ahead of time. If you do this, you can improvise the rest easily.

[jbradfor]

I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced "tone fright"?

I find I get tone fright every time I speak out loud. Saying it in my head, I always sound near-native.

As others have said, it takes experience. Not just practice, but experience. The only way I know to really get over fear is to spoke to large groups enough times.

I am the type who really likes improvising this stuff,

Likewise, except I always try to have the opening 3-5 minutes planned out and practiced. Once I get going, things flow (in English at least), but it's getting started that trips me. And if I start wrong, it's hard to recover.

[SunDaYu]

This has happened to me recently. Until a few days ago I was speaking very quick and fluid Chinese, seemingly, without a problem. I asked my teacher to correct ANY mistakes that I made, but it seems like she didn't understand that I literally meant ANY, rather than usage errors.

So, a few days ago, I met with one of my old teachers to do a language exchange. She told me that I have problems with my 2nd and 3rd tones, especially when they are said right next to each other, and she had an interesting test to prove it. After I took her test and imitated what she said more closely, I realized that even very basic words like "我，美，有，很“ I still tend to say incorrectly. This was a huge shocker for me since I had, rather arrogantly I believe, thought that I was beyond the level of basic pronunciation and that my tonal errors were not regular unless I simply mixed up the tone.

I never thought that I would still say them incorrectly even when I knew the tones, especially with such easy and basic words.

So, ever since then, whenever I speak Chinese I try very hard to emphasize the tones, but it makes my Chinese extremely choppy and not nearly as fluent sounding. The added stress and pressure affects my speaking as well, leading to more stuttering, which apparently is really bad in Chinese.

It's really amazing how pressure, stress, and being oversensitive about the tones can really tone down the Chinese of even a decently advanced learner.

[chrix]

SunDaYu, what kind of test was this? Would like to know more about this...

[SunDaYu]

She had me read off individual characters with no pinyin and to just say 什么 if I didn't know it. Then l read individual words, followed by sentences. And then a whole page on 儿话 individual words。

Then she made me read it all again with the pinyin added and compared the changes in the sounds.

Lastly, after figuring out that my 3rd tones sometimes rises too high, therefore, to them, turns into a 2nd tone, she made me switch back between 2nd tone and 3rd tone words while randomly throwing in consecutive 2nd and consecutive 3rd so that I could feel the difference as I said it.

Truth be told, I can actually feel a difference now that I didn't before from the exercise. Perhaps I can make a copy of the test and upload it here if she lets me. No guarantees though, because it's for some kind of research.

[Questyn]

Certainly, happens to me, too. I like the theory that the first thing to "go" when we're under stress is the aspect of the language found most difficult by the speaker.

But I also remind myself: when I'm nervous (or tired) my native English goes askew, too. I mispronounce things, mix up words, stutter, etc. At least you noticed your tone errors as you spoke -- that indicates a high level of Chinese right there.

I remember when I began to "hear" my own accent while having conversations. I cringed! I thought I was better! I began asking my one-one conversation teacher to correct my accent with a vengeance. I attribute a couple semesters of her help to my great improvement since then. I can fool people on the phone (they think I'm Chinese). It's been worth it. But under pressure... the tones are indeed the most likely errors I'll make.