Pronunciation, voice in my head and real voice differ a lot

[Crispycrisp]

Hey,

 

i just started learning Mandarin (about a week ago) using NPCR, MMCG and ChinesePod/ChineseClass and i'm struggling with  pronunciation - the words/sentences sound correct in my head and i can read just fine, but when i try to actually speak out loud my mouth doesn't move the way i want it to. 

My tongue is way too slow and keeps tripping up when trying to pronounce ji,qi,xi after zh,ch,sh (like in '熟悉') - polysyllabic words are >killing< me (like '马来西亚', jesus)! Also, when trying to speak fast my 3rd tone "i" sounds like 2nd tone "i" (like in '请念课文。' qing3 sounds like qing2). Compared to native speakers my voice doesn't have any "rhythm" (sounds more like staccato).

 

Do you know how to fix this? I'm doing the NPCR pronunciation drills and imitate/shadow every audio lesson every day (neighbours probably think i've gone insane, talking to myself in crippled Chinese). 

 

How long did it take you to get comfortable with the sounds/tones?

 

Cheers!

[Flickserve]

It is a new skill and needs practice, as does any skill be it sports, music etc.

Patient practice

[Shelley]

Hello and welcome

 

I have to agree with Flickserve it takes time, it has only been a week. There are people who have been learning for much longer who still have this kind of problem.

 

It will require practice then some more practice and practice some more

 

Do not despair at this early stage.

 

Do you record yourself? Sometimes this can help because you can hear what you actually sound like and it might not be as far off as you imagine.

 

I used to have a bit of software that allowed you listen to a native speaker and see a voice print of them and then you speak and then you can compare your voice print.

I am afraid I can't remember what it is called. A search on the net may bring up something.

 

So don't worry just keep practicing and above all enjoy.

[anonymoose]

Also, when trying to speak fast my 3rd tone "i" sounds like 2nd tone "i" (like in '请念课文。' qing3 sounds like qing2). Compared to native speakers my voice doesn't have any "rhythm" (sounds more like staccato).

 

This is a common problem for beginners. I guess you are concentrating so hard on enunciating syllables one by one, that you can't put them together yet.

 

Well, you've only been studying for a week, so don't fret just yet. It may take months for you to master it.

 

Once you can properly pronounce the syllables individually, you should start drilling in pairs, such as "kewen" for 课文 rather than "ke" and then "wen". This is also good practice for tone combination.

 

Then try putting disyllabic words together to get longer groups, such as "qingniankewen" for 请念课文 rather than "qingnian" and then "kewen".

 

It takes time, but with preseverence, you will get there eventually.

[hedwards]

The secret to getting the tones right is a fair amount of practice individually and a fair amount of practice with sentences as a whole. That and at some point you have to have the faith that you're doing it correctly. These days I have that, so I'll trust that I got most of the sentence right and just focus on the tones at one point in the sentence if I need to. Trying to pay attention to all of the tones all of the time means not having attention to pay to other things including what the speaker is saying.

 

In some ways it's probably better to think of the 3rd tone as being a low tone as your voice will naturlaly make that sort of shape due to the time it takes to lower and raise the pitch of your voice. But, that really only works when you're saying the rest off the sentence.

[xyz123abc]

You have been studying for one week and you already know words that I dont

 

To practice my tones, I repeat words a thousand times like you do against a native speaker recording. After some days, they do sound like the native speaker for a while, until I forget how that particular word sounds in that particular sentence, even though I might now how individual characters sound!

 

TL:DR proper practice

[Crispycrisp]

 

 

Do you record yourself? Sometimes this can help because you can hear what you actually sound like and it might not be as far off as you imagine.

 

No i don't but that's a good idea (will probably die from embarassment though, my voice sounds awful).

 

 

 

I guess you are concentrating so hard on enunciating syllables one by one, that you can't put them together yet.

 

Yeah if i don't concentrate on each syllable my pronunciation slips and sounds kinda like English (which is weird because i'm German). However this has gotten a lot easier with more practice, so i'm already seeing some results, yay! 

 

 

 

After some days, they do sound like the native speaker for a while, until I forget how that particular word sounds in that particular sentence, even though I might now how individual characters sound!

 

Oh my god i'm having exactly the same problem!

 

 

 

You have been studying for one week and you already know words that I dont

 

Heh, nah i just copied the textbook   Also I know a lot of Japanese kanji already so that's kinda like cheating. 

 

 

 

The secret to getting the tones right is a fair amount of practice individually and a fair amount of practice with sentences as a whole.

 

Alright, guess i just need lots of practice.

 

 

Thank you all! 

[Shelley]

Don't worry about what you sound like on the recording.

 

Remember no one ever hears themselves as others do. This because a lot of the sound we hear comes through bones to the ear and doesn't sound the same.

 

When you listen to yourself on a recording you are only really hearing what everybody else hears and so if any one hears your recording as far as they are concerned that is just you.

 

Hope it goes well

[hedwards]

@Shelley, for people who really have guts, try taking those recordings and running them through Praat to see what you're tones really look like. It's difficult to argue that you're making the tone correctly, when the tone graph is way off and going the wrong direction.

[Wilbert]

I'm a chinese majored in English. My mother is a teacher in primary school. I think my advise might help you.

When you speak chinese, you may like devide sentence into several parts, like a clause or word.

That's not what we do.

Actully, grammer was introduced in chinese in 20th century.

The concept of Character and sentence plays the main part.

 

When you practice chinese, I suggest you to focus on Character pronunciation & Sentence pronunciation

Read each character for minutes, then you will be fluent with this character and characters with similar pronuciation.

About Sentence pronunciation, I suggest you to take short sentences first. The best is to chose ancient poems, for the rhythm would help you to understand how to speak in a chinese rhythm.

Read some chinese poems, Poems from Tang dynasty is the best, then Classic_of_Poetry. They are easy to read and good to understand.

[Wilbert]

Fogot 1 point

When you speak chinese, practice like a explosion in your mouth.

When we are students, we were told to read loudly--this tradition had lasted for thousands of years.

Practice each charater loud, clear, stable, then try to slow down, control your breath and airflow.

After being able to manage the rhythm, you will talk like a chinese.

[Flickserve]

Double post

[Flickserve]

@Wilbert

Do you have a link to recommend on the Chinese poem?

I only have an elementary level of written Chinese. So perhaps a link to one poem in Chinese writing and a link to how it's recited would be helpful to get me started.