Finding a speech therapist in China

[pancake]

Hey y'all,

I am having problems pronouncing some of the Chinese sounds, e.g. the "r" initial in 日, and even some initials that I am pronouncing legibly are still somewhat non-native sounding. My Chinese is also very "throaty" (for lack of a better description.) Since I have been in China for a good few months now, I am starting to suspect that I will not be able to resolve this on my own.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not having problems being understood, it's just that I would greatly prefer to sound more like native Chinese. My Chinese teachers are therefore less-than-helpful: their standard for what constitutes acceptable pronunciation is too low for me.

So I want to hire a Chinese speech therapist to improve my pronunciation. Preferably someone who is ridiculously strict, and who can tell me exactly what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it.

Does any forum members have any experiences regarding this? Any ideas on how I might find a person like this in Harbin?

Thanks in advance,

pancake

[roddy]

Unless you think there's an actual problem with the way your mouth works, I don't think finding a speech therapist is the answer, you just need a better teacher. Try a few private schools, make it clear that you want a trial lesson focusing on the issue and stick with whichever teacher is best.

If you want to go to a bit more effort, find a trainer for the 普通话水平测试, which Chinese people take to prove their own level of standardness - ie for broadcasting jobs.

[pancake]

Ah, "speech therapist" was probably not what I meant, was thinking of the Swedish word "talpedagog" which seems to have no direct equivalent in English.

Thanks for the 普通话水平测试 suggestion. I'm going to try that route, but they will probably just laugh at me; my Chinese really is nothing to brag about.

I managed to find the following address of a 普通话 training and testing institute in Harbin:

黑龙江普通话培训测试中心,电话:0451-82607760

地址: 南岗区中宣街20-8号

公交线路: 乘7、72、112路到中宣街站下车

Going to work up some courage and head over there maybe tomorrow.

[889]

"Preferably someone who is ridiculously strict, and who can tell me exactly what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it."

I had a wonderful and extraordinary teacher just like that who'd originally trained as a Chinese actress. So I too would suggest you look for people who teach at acting and broadcast schools and such. This is a field in which age and experience count.

[dumdumdum]

if no problem pronouncing 'zhi' and 'chi', then 'ri' is no problem. just roll tongue back a little when pronouncing 'zhi' or 'chi', and you get the 'ri'.

drag 'zhi~~' then roll tongue back, and you get it.

[889]

By the way, in English I'd call this sort of teacher not a "speech therapist" but a "speech coach" or a "voice coach." Or maybe a Henry Higgins.

[valikor]

Roddy is right.

This semester I had three teachers.

One said that my pronunciation was good.

One said that I needed to work on the flow of my sentences, to practice identifying the natural pauses, etc.

One said that about 40% of the sounds that came out of my mouth were wrong for some reason or another, and was very helpful in patiently telling me how I should open my mouth, where my tongue should be, etc., for every sound.

Now that I think about it, I'll need to give that teacher #3 a call.

[roddy]

"Preferably someone who is ridiculously strict, and who can tell me exactly what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it."

I still have night terrors about my pronunciation fixing sessions. I think the highest praise I ever got out of the (actually extremely lovely) woman was something along the lines of 'you are starting to approach a standard I might perhaps be able to consider accepting.'

Ideally you want a middle-aged lady who's been doing this for years, is very sparing with praise, brooks no nonsense, and is a great big softie underneath it all.

[Meng Lelan]

Ideally you want a middle-aged lady who's been doing this for years, is very sparing with praise, brooks no nonsense, and is a great big softie underneath it all.

Where do you find her?

[roddy]

Mine did 普通话测试 training at an education college in Dalian, though I found her via a private school there. Anywhere they train elementary school teachers, broadcasters, etc.

If the teachers you already have can do it, great, but so many of them have that 'good enough for a foreigner' attitude. I had one university Chinese teacher tell me once that I wouldn't be able to get my pronunciation spot on due to 退化 of the relevant vocal organs. I tried to explain that it was laziness that was the real issue, but she couldn't understand me.

[Meng Lelan]

I tried to explain that it was laziness that was the real issue, but she couldn't understand me.

Why could she not understand?

[skylee]

Because he couldn't explain with the right pronunciations?

[renzhe]

Why could she not understand?

Because he was too lazy to explain?

Anyway, if your teachers are too accepting, you simply need to look for people who are less accepting. Even a tandem partner who has great pronunciation and is really picky. Some people simply have that "no no no, wrong wrong wrong" attitude and will go on about minute details, and you need to find one of those.

A trained professional is of course preferable, but even a regular student who is annoyingly picky will get you very far.

[Glenn]

Am I the only one who thought he was making a joke about his pronunciation being so bad she couldn't make out what he was saying? Because that's how I read it, and I laughed for about five minutes straight.

[Meng Lelan]

I didn't see anything funny about it at all.

[roddy]

Pancake, did you get anywhere with this?

[Meng Lelan]

And while we're waiting for some response from pancake ---- Any Chinese speech therapists looking for, uh, online speech therapy assignments?

[pancake]

Pancake, did you get anywhere with this?

I went to the address I posted earlier in this thread. Unfortunately, they were not equipped to help this 外国人 with a less-than-perfect command of Chinese. They are primarily a testing centre, and can only help those who only need to standardise their putonghua a little bit.

Any Chinese speech therapists looking for, uh, online speech therapy assignments?

Is that a double entendre or do I just have a dirty mind?

[roddy]

The people who actually give the tests are likely also trainers, if you can persuade someone to put you in touch. I had a quick look and there's a 黑龙江教育学院 in town as well.