Imitating an accent.

[SunDaYu]

Has anyone ever tried to imitate a Chinese accent? I feel like speaking accented might make it easier for Chinese to understand you. Granted, there are a ton of accents in China, and many are very hard to understand, but I'm sure there might be some kind of standard accent that you could imitate to relieve interference from your native language's accent.

I know that this has worked really well for me while speaking Japanese and my friends who speak Spanish claim that native speakers find this easier on the ears.

I know this sounds like common sense, but there is such a variety of Chinese accents that I'm not sure what they consider to be standard and if the imitation might distract you from focusing on the tones.

Your thoughts?

[zhouhaochen]

well, what is standard depends heavily on where you are in China.

I might be biased from having lived here for a long time, but I feel that the Beijing accent, loads of "er" is best received all over China. They do not necessarily like ppl from Beijing everywhere, but linguistically, you cant really go wrong with it.

However, I would suggest trying standard putonghua first. Add some "er" for fun if you want. Comes kind of naturally after a few beers really ;)

[johndones]

I don't really understand your question.

Maybe I am mistaken, but most people that are learning a language try to mimic the standard (or whatever they percive as standard) accent when they start to study.

Later on they might want to try to learn a different accent (like Taiwanese, my personal favourite). Of course I'm sure there are some people that want to speak a particular accent from the moment they start to learn, but I guess that is not your problem, because you say "Has anyone ever tried to imitate a Chinese accent?“.

Does that mean usually you try to speak chinese with an accent from a different language?

Ok, I know that many people have some big trouble getting rid of their accent from a different language and some can't even after many years, but I guess most if not all of those people still try to mimic some kind of a Chinese accent.

If you never did that, then of course it's a great idea.

Speaking an accent that is familiar to most people will always make you easier to understand and that applies to any country, especially if you just have to say a single sentence to a person that never talked to you before, of course granted that there's no flaws in your usage of the language.

Not to mention that it will be many times more pleasant to listen.

Anyways, who'd like to be fluent in a language but sound like somebody that memorized a phrase out of a traveler's guide book?

[Scoobyqueen]

claim that native speakers find this easier on the ears.

I think this is true. In my experience, the less a native has to adjust/strain his ears the more likely he is to understand what you say.

I have often noticed that native speakers have wrongly judged someone "imitating an accent" as speaking at a higher level than he actually did, just because he sounded "native". Also, foreigners who speak a language with very few grammar mistakes but with their own strong accent coming through may not be judged as speaking as well as the one with more grammar errors but with a "native" accent.

[calibre2001]

Has anyone ever tried to imitate a Chinese accent? I feel like speaking accented might make it easier for Chinese to understand you.

Your thoughts?

It happens everywhere. In the UK, I learnt to use '馬-yonaise' (mayonnaise) to the local Kebab shop because he didnt the normal pronounciation of 'mayonnaise'. It's all about how exposed your counterparty is in terms of accents and pronounciations.

I was on a snow mountain recently in China asking locals for directions to a certain 白雲hotel. The first 2 people were confused when i said 白雲. I had to literally point to the snow and say 白的白 and the sky saying 雲的雲. From then on I just mimicked their pronounciation /accent of it and since then no one was stumped whenever i said 白雲.

[adrianlondon]

I'm assuming it will change over the next few years/decades, but in mainland China it still seems that you're not really allowed to speak with any accent. You're either right or wrong.

In London, I hear English spoken with all types of accents. For example, when a Frenchman says "zis is" instead of "this is" I don't say "what? What did you say? Can't you speak English? Haven't you learnt English?" before saying "this this this this" half a dozen times. I know that French aren't good at the "th" sound and use "z".

[calibre2001]

I'm not sure what you mean by accent but there are various types of accented Mandarin spoken in mainland china. I find the more important thing is getting the tones right (or in the correct ballpark) and using coherent sentences.

[adrianlondon]

By "accent" I guess I mean "wrong" ;) Or a "foreign accent".

[SunDaYu]

Ok, so I met with my teacher today and I decided to imitate a really deep southern accent I heard a lot near Hangzhou. Apparently, even when I get the tones incorrect it is actually easier for her to understand me when I speak that way as opposed to my regular foreigner accented mandarin.

I guess they are just used to hearing people speak in a certain way even though their tones might be skewed. I guess it just comes down to the ear.