Several teachers/tutors, the same or different accents?

[Silent]

After some self study I consider getting some formal study and confronted with several options including different accented options. Wonder what you think about tutors with different accents.

[hedwards]

I think this really depends upon the level of the student and the way the student approaches the subject. Eventually students will need to be able to handle most common variants of Mandrin if they wish to master it. However, early on it can be rather difficult to focus on correct pronunciation and develop the ear for the natural variation in the language.

[MPhillips]

...

[abcdefg]

I don't think accent matters. Would not select a tutor on the basis of accent. Other criteria are more important.

[MPhillips]

...

[shuoshuo]

It depends on what you're trying to learn: if you want to practice your listening skills, you should be exposed to a variety of tutors with varying accents.  If you want to learn how to say things correctly, proper tones and all, you should get someone who can speak with the standard tones.

[oceancalligraphy]

I think in the beginning it's best to stick with one accent. I would stick to teachers who have the same regional accent. In the beginning it's better to become familiar with the inherent tones of the words and be able to pronounce them correctly.

 

Later on when the basic tones are more stable, then listening to different accents will help enhance listening skills.

[Silent]

I'm a bit surprised by the results. 60% says "Different accents is an advantage, through broader exposure it will be easier to understand real life people." I do agree, but expected a different consensus. And as some already said, it depends on the situation.

 

I've not yet made up my mind, but to me this supports my gut feeling that I should enroll in the higher level course at the language school and add some tutoring to fill the gaps in my basic skills

[imron]

I think it depends a lot on your level. Once you've got pronunciation basics down and a reasonable grasp of other aspects of the language, then I think getting exposure to other accents is useful, and it's something you'll need to do anyway if you want to have good Chinese.

[hedwards]

Yep, a person can start using multiple different accents for material immediately, but I tend to suspect that it slows the process if done too early. Obviously, eventually one wants to be able to handle a wide range of accents, but early on that's not necessarily efficient.

 

People that are learning from the locals as they travel will be in that sort of position automatically.

 

Overall, I tend to suspect that it's the amount of time and energy that a student spends using the language that's a far greater impact than anything else.

[Lu]

I would caution against a teacher with a regional accent, from anywhere. No Tai-oan Go-yi and also no heavy erhua on everything. Find teachers with a standard accent, and then it doesn't matter where they're from. Taiwanese teachers usually have much more standard accent than other Taiwanese.

However. Guoyu and Putonghua have slightly different standards here and there: some words are pronounced differently in standard Chinese. 'Hair' is fà in China but fǎ in Taiwan; France is Fàguó in Taiwan but Fǎguó in China. And this can be confusing (for some words I still haven't untangled my own accent). For that reason, I'd recommend picking one side and learning that well until you feel reasonably confident in your pronunciation.

[Silent]

 

I've not yet made up my mind, but to me this supports my gut feeling that I should enroll in the higher level course at the language school and add some tutoring to fill the gaps in my basic skills

In the mean while I've had contact with the director of the language school and had a short free trial lesson with the tutor. The director pushed me towards the beginner course because the basics are very important. Which is fair enough, but then also told we would go very slow... I really liked the trial lesson of the tutor as it was very personalized and she seemed sense fairly well what I need. The lesson was however out of balance with a focus on speaking, but I guess this has to do with the lesson being a bit short and my weaknesses I had communicated before.

 

I also had another look at the costs that are not really that different if I take into consideration that I pay the tutor for the lessons I will actually get while in the language school I will miss some lessons due to travel. Adding the added value of being the only pupil with the tutor so I get all the attention (and can't hide:)) and lessons can be very personalized I've decided to skip language school and go for the tutor route for the time being. Starting first week of august.