小猫小姐 Posted July 26, 2011 at 10:19 PM Report Posted July 26, 2011 at 10:19 PM Sorry if this is in wrong section... I have a Chinese flashcard app on my phone. For the word "電影" the voice on the app says "電有," for "事情" she says "事久", etc... Basically she pronounce ㄧㄥ as ㄧㄡ！ What kind of accent is this? Quote
小猫小姐 Posted July 26, 2011 at 10:41 PM Author Report Posted July 26, 2011 at 10:41 PM "Chinese Dictionary+Flashcards" by Molatra https://market.android.com/details?id=com.molatra.trainchinese&feature=search_result Quote
DespikableMi Posted July 26, 2011 at 10:55 PM Report Posted July 26, 2011 at 10:55 PM are you sure this is not another dialect? lol... just a thought Quote
roddy Posted July 26, 2011 at 10:55 PM Report Posted July 26, 2011 at 10:55 PM Flicks though address book, fires off an email . . . Quote
小猫小姐 Posted July 26, 2011 at 11:14 PM Author Report Posted July 26, 2011 at 11:14 PM Yay roddy!！ @Despik, the app is for Mandarin... maybe the speaker speaks a different dialect and it's affecting her Mando pronunciation..?? Quote
pintore Posted July 27, 2011 at 05:49 AM Report Posted July 27, 2011 at 05:49 AM One short comment regarding the audio (to clarify, this is written by one of the producers of the trainchinese applications and website) The speaker for the dictionary and flashcards applications (trainchinese by Molatra) is from Beijing and has an official Putonghua Certificate. That certifies that she speaks accent-free mandarin (a requirement which between others is necessary if she would like to work at a radio or TV station). I am not sure where the problem may be, just checked myself those two words 電影" and "事情" and could not find a problem with the audio nor the tones (but this does not exclude that there might be other words with issues - we have now more than 40,000 recordings and nobody is perfect ;) By the way the words and texts pronounced are purposely spoken in normal speed and we do not emphasize the different tones (as to generate a real live experience). You may check directly to compare them on the website at http://www.trainchinese.com, there you can search the vocabulary and then select the words to hear the audio. That audio is exactly the same as the one provided on the trainchinese Dictionary and Flashcards applications on Android or iPhone. Quote
creamyhorror Posted July 27, 2011 at 09:38 AM Report Posted July 27, 2011 at 09:38 AM That speaker uses the "eung"/"iung" pronunciation of pinyin ing, so 電影 might sound a bit like 電有. Same with 事情 - she pronounces pinyin qing as "qi-eng"/"qiung". But I think it's very common on the mainland (might even be standard, I don't know)...a Chinese prof of mine from Shanghai spoke like that. edit: Another example: the audio for 旅行 uses the pronunciation "xiung", while for 猩猩 only the 2nd 猩 has a strong "iung" sound. For 型号, the "iung" isn't used. And for 悻悻, both xings don't use the "iung" sound. (For reference: the normal pinyin ing sounds like "ying", as opposed to "yeung"/"yiung". Example: pinyin xing = "s'ying" and not "sing".) Quite an interesting variation, really. Can someone shed light on it? Quote
Tiana Posted July 27, 2011 at 09:57 AM Report Posted July 27, 2011 at 09:57 AM I tried it, and the pronunciations of both 電影 and 事情 sound pretty standard to me (kind of northern accent). What I doubted in the first place was in fact the citation by the OP: "電影" the voice on the app says "電有," for "事情" she says "事久" 有 and 久 just don't rhyme, and therefore can't be a representation of (the rhyming) 影 and 情 by any native speaker. Sure, the learner has misheard. Quote
roddy Posted July 27, 2011 at 10:09 AM Report Posted July 27, 2011 at 10:09 AM Compare nciku's 电影 - listen to both the male and female voices. Quote
Phil Posted July 27, 2011 at 02:17 PM Report Posted July 27, 2011 at 02:17 PM I hear that difference very clearly. It will be interesting to see if others do. Incidentally, I have just performed a search on "Teachchinese" for "電影" and I agree with the originator of this thread that the second element sounds strange when compared to the Pinyin transliteration. ** Phil (also using 19" CRT monitors that date from the last century !). Quote
imron Posted July 27, 2011 at 10:48 PM Report Posted July 27, 2011 at 10:48 PM Don't suppose there's an mp3 of just those sounds that doesn't require me downloading an app to listen to it? Quote
creamyhorror Posted July 28, 2011 at 01:39 AM Report Posted July 28, 2011 at 01:39 AM Don't suppose there's an mp3 of just those sounds that doesn't require me downloading an app to listen to it? The sounds are on pintore's website: You may check directly to compare them on the website at http://www.trainchinese.com, there you can search the vocabulary and then select the words to hear the audio. That audio is exactly the same as the one provided on the trainchinese Dictionary and Flashcards applications on Android or iPhone. Compare nciku's 电影 - listen to both the male and female voices. Yep, the difference is clear. Does anyone know whether it's a regional variation in pronunciation? North vs South, or otherwise? Quote
fish Posted July 28, 2011 at 01:55 AM Report Posted July 28, 2011 at 01:55 AM maybe it is because the difference of north accent and south accent if north chinese accent, the pronounce of every phrase will be ended by "er"(儿） eg, flowers 花 hua ->花儿 hua'er Quote
imron Posted July 28, 2011 at 03:15 AM Report Posted July 28, 2011 at 03:15 AM The sounds are on pintore's website: hehe, ok, maybe I should have rephrased that as without downloading an app, or registering on a website. Oh well, mailinator FTW. Quote
creamyhorror Posted July 28, 2011 at 06:05 AM Report Posted July 28, 2011 at 06:05 AM hehe, ok, maybe I should have rephrased that as without downloading an app, or registering on a website. Oh well, mailinator FTW. You don't need to register - you can just search for words in the dictionary lookup box. Else I wouldn't have bothered checking those words either Quote
imron Posted July 28, 2011 at 06:29 AM Report Posted July 28, 2011 at 06:29 AM Strange, I don't see a dictionary lookup box on their site... Oh wait, now I see it - problem was the wide monitor I have, all the website content sits in the middle of the page, and the search box is then up by itself on the far left of the screen completely removed from the rest of the content. Quote
Tiana Posted July 28, 2011 at 08:02 AM Report Posted July 28, 2011 at 08:02 AM Oh wait, now I see it - problem was the wide monitor I have, all the website content sits in the middle of the page, and the search box is then up by itself on the far left of the screen completely removed from the rest of the content. This is probably the reason why I'm still using the monitor I bought before year 2000 (=last century ;)) Quote
AlexL Posted July 29, 2011 at 12:00 AM Report Posted July 29, 2011 at 12:00 AM 有 and 久 just don't rhyme, and therefore can't be a representation of (the rhyming) 影 and 情 by any native speaker. Sure, the learner has misheard. Wait, 有 and 久 don't rhyme? I thought that the pinyin "iu" was a 'contraction' for "iou", which is the same as "you". iu is not "yu", which cannot be a final... Quote
yonglin Posted July 29, 2011 at 02:00 AM Report Posted July 29, 2011 at 02:00 AM I couldn't find the search box on that website either... only with imron's instructions! I think the OP's confusion might be because the speaker pronounces the 影 in 电影 and the 情 in 事情 with a neutral tone rather than in the tones which are given in the dictionary's pinyin. In this way, the ng-ending of the syllable becomes somewhat subtle. As a beginner, I would find this very confusing (staring at the pinyin and trying to hear the third tone in 影 for example...) Quote
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