How to learn non-standard accents

[jbradfor]

WestTexas' thread over here finally prompted me to ask this question, something I've been wondering about for a while.

Do people have any suggestions / learning material for learning non-standard (i.e. how people actually speak) accents?

Obviously "enough exposure" is one way. But many (most?) of us here limited time to get such exposure. Watching Chinese TV / movies will certainly help, especially ones in which the characters have non-standard accents, but that's a very slow way.

[Silent]

Why would you like to learn a non-standard accent? In general the standard accent is best and most widely understood. I see no reason to deliberately learn a different accent.

[renzhe]

Why would you like to learn a non-standard accent?

I'm sure jbradfor meant learning to understand an accent, not to speak it.

Other than exposure, I don't have any ideas. For exposure, watch 武林外传. Pretty much every accent under the heavens

[jbradfor]

Yes, understanding, not speaking. Thanks for making that clear.

Even a slight accent, beyond the standard 普通话 or a Taiwan accent (to which I got accustomed due to living there), really throws me off.

A TV program with a lot of accents is probably better than picking one at random. Maybe I'll do that one next.

[imron]

锵锵三人行 is good for that.

[roddy]

If you can read linguistic stuff in Chinese then you may be able to find some useful stuff. Just picking whatever I can find on Amazon.cn, This might bring up pronunciation and vocab stuff, for example.

Or find some local radios online - the presenters should be fairly standard, but not the people phoning in, or being interviewed on the news.

[WestTexas]

Why would you like to learn a non-standard accent?

Personally I definitely find nonstandard accents interesting. I'm not going to spend many years trying to exactly mimic the way people from village X speak, but I think knowing a few good phrases or words in the local accent adds flavor to your speech and gets a good reaction from locals. Also, how are you going to eavesdrop on the local Chinese people if you can't understand any of the nonstandard stuff? I feel nonstandard accents can be very colorful and in a way they seem more authentic as well. No one is going to understand every local accent in China but I would at least like to be able to understand the people where I live better. So to me, it's definitely worthwhile and interesting to at least practice listening to less standard stuff.

[Silent]

I judged a bit too quick by assuming speaking instead of only understanding. Yes regional differences may be very interesting. Specially when combined with historic explanations. It may also be attractive when the accent comes across natural and often off putting when not natural. I see however very little in learning to speak a local dialect. A few words that are used with care may be a handy way to get attention and to open some doors. If a foreigner who clearly learned the language as a 2nd language and is able to speak reasonably standard approaches me with a heavy local dialect I would have a hard time taking him/her serious.