Becoming Serious about my Pronunciation

[Vegemighty]

I used the two character tone drills from Sinosplice for this. I've only studied casually in the past, so I'm pretty sure my tones are wrong in some ways, especially the 2nd tone. But I'll let you judge me.

 

https://soundcloud.com/vegemighty2/puywasjmdeeu

 

谢谢你矫正。我欢迎你的评论。

 

[Demonic_Duck]

It seems you have the most trouble with your second tones, which sometimes seem more like third and sometimes more like first. They should start off middling/fairly high and then rise. Also, I your first tones sound unnaturally high to me (although I guess exaggerating a bit to start with may be a good thing).

 

Another thing - try to differentiate more between -in and -ing endings. -ing endings should sound more nasalised. Also, make your "h" a little harsher. Other than that though, your pronunciation on the whole seems pretty good.

 

May post my own recording later. My pronunciation isn't perfect, but I think it's my strong point when it comes to Chinese.

[imron]

I agree that your first tones are too high.

They should be at the same level your fourth tone starts at, and the same level that your second tone ends at.

 

Also, sometimes you seem to be reading some second tones as first tones, see e.g. 麻烦

[Demonic_Duck]

Here's my attempt at the same words:

 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s199YnJO60zc

 

Presented here both as a model of a laowai with decent pronunciation, and an invitation to criticism from those with better pronunciation than me

[Guest realmayo]

My pronunciation is getting worse and worse these days so I'm in no position to criticise but I'm curious: quite a few of your second tones sound like mine, and I think mine end up being more falling-rising than just rising -- not confused with the third tone as such, but somehow needing a little dip before gathering the effort to rise (but, like you, this is never the case in a two-character word which starts with a second tone and ends with a fourth tone). Hopefully others will come in and say there's nothing wrong with your second tones, in which case mine are probably okay too and it's more a problem with my listening than speaking!

[Demonic_Duck]

@realmayo: who are you responding to?

[Guest realmayo]

Ah, sorry, you! 

[Demonic_Duck]

You may well be right. I've never noticed it myself before, but it's difficult to be objective about one's own pronunciation.

[Guest realmayo]

I hope I'm wrong Maybe I'm just paranoid about that tone, trying to get it to just a quick upward swipe rather than first-gather-then-swipe.

[Webber King]

黑 is pronounced as 'hei', not 'ei'

 酸 is pronounced as 'suan', not 'cuan'

 

I agree with you that you need to improve your 2nd tone, If you want, I can speak out these words and record it for you

 

But, what accent do you prefer? Southern or northern?

With northern accent, the pronunciation of 'in' & 'ing', 'en' & 'eng' are different.

With southern accent, the pronunciation of 'in' & 'ing' is same, and 'eng' becomes 'ong'.

 

It's both OK for me, though I'm from Shanghai, I can copy northern people's pronunciation. But I've noticed that your pronunciation is closer to southern accent.

[Demonic_Duck]

Not wishing to be overly prescriptivist, but I think from a purely pragmatic point of view, and if we ignore what part of China you're actually living in, learning a Northern accent is better in the sense that it allows for greater differentiation between different syllables. This will help people (at least Northerners whose ears are attuned to the differences) in understanding you, especially when other aspects of your pronunciation, not to mention grammar, word choice etc., may not be perfect. It's also seen as more standard and is the prestige dialect (not that these things should necessarily influence your decision).

[Vegemighty]

Good comments folks. I took them into consideration and applied them. So what do you think, better or worse?

https://soundcloud.com/vegemighty2/2-1

[Demonic_Duck]

It does sound better on the whole.

 

Comments:

• Note that each line is supposed to represent a single tone or tone pattern, so the contour of the pitch of your voice should remain the same for all words on the same line.
• All of the single character words are fine, although I'm still not hearing much differentiation between -ing and -in endings. Also, your first tones are still significantly higher than the rest. They should be about the same pitch as the start of a fourth tone or the end of a second tone.
• Your 方便 sounds like 1-5 instead of 1-4.
• Good self-correction on 流行.
• Your 难听 and 难说 sound like 3-1 instead of 2-1.
• 不错 should be 2-4 because of tone sandhi.
• 合适 sounded like 1-5 rather than 2-4.
• 紧张 sounds like... not quite sure, maybe 2-5, but definitely not 3-1 as it should be.
• 狡猾 sounds like 4-2 rather than 3-2.
• 好懂 and 保守 both sound like 1-3 instead of 3-3.
• 暖和 should be nuǎnhuo not nuánhe (和 is a "多音字" - a character with multiple readings).
• 性感 sounds like 1-3 instead of 4-3.
• Your 快乐 sounds like 快了 (i.e. 4-5 instead of 4-4).

 

Good luck! 加油啊！

[skylee]

暖和 should be nuǎnhuo not nuánhe (和 is a "多音字" - a character with multiple readings).

 

 

I think it is great to be sure and confident.  I am positive that "huo" is right in this case, but I am not sure if "he" is wrong. And indeed I can find a dictionary that says it is acceptable, though of course this is an old dictionary and many things have changed or become obsolete. 

[skylee]

Re my #14, the discussion of this older thread is also relevant -> Pronunciation of 暖和

 

Words with similar issue include 角色, 說服, 供給 etc.

[Vegemighty]

Yea I learned it as nuanhe. It can be both depending on the accent, like caramel or carmel. 2 out of 5 recordings on Ting use Nuanhuo, the other 3 use nuanhe.

[Demonic_Duck]

Hmm, go figure. I guess it's one of those things where "dictionary correct" differs from "the way it's actually said" (I wish more learners' dictionaries included this kind of thing as a variant pronunciation. Other examples would be 暂时, or 混血). Still, I don't think I've ever heard it as nuǎnhe in Beijing, despite the fact that I meet people from all over the country.

[imron]

Most (all?) of the time I heard this (in Beijing and hebei) it was nuǎnhuo, so for me at least, and the people I interact with, nuǎnhuo is the dominant pronunciation.

[muyongshi]

I've known a fair amount who (wrongly) pronounce it as nuan2 huo. Possibly a Sichuan thing.