大山

[randall_flagg]

When I was in China this summer, people kept complimenting me on my Chinese, I'm sure all of you know what I am talking about. Even if you only say 你好 they just freak out. Anyway, they kept bringing up a Candadian guy called "大 山" and always asked me if I had heard of him (after a few weeks on the road, I could say yes, I have! :=). Apparently he is some sort of celebraty in China and speaks Chinese without any accent whatsoever. Now, I would REALLY like to hear his Chinese. If anyone knows how I could listen to his excellent Chinese without travelling all the way to China I would truly appreciate it. Thanks.

Randall

[pfff]

Even better, there's downloadable video here, so you see his beautiful smiling face as you admire his Chinese.

[pfff]

oh god..

http://www.dashan.com.cn/jiemu/audio.htm

Xiangsheng mp3s , Dashan reads kids stories mp3, and other random clowning about.

Enough to keep you going for months. Which im sure is what you want.

--is 交响乐 《彼德与狼》 Dashan singing 'Peter and the Wolf'? I'm too afraid to listen.

[xiaoxiajenny]

www.dashan.com.cn

[Daan]

Yep, I have his VCDs. He is the host of "Communicate in Chinese", a show televised by CCTV. There are also textbooks, and word has it that his command of Chinese is better than most native speakers. I bought them in a Xinhua bookstore in China, but they are undoubtedly also available at amazon.com.

[randall_flagg]

So THAT's who this guy is! Of course I've seen his face all over the telly and in bookstores, just never thought that HE was the Big Mountain. Thanks! I'm downloading the mp3 files as we speak (at less than 1k per second, that's going to take a while!).

I appreciate all your input.

Randall

[Yuchi]

and word has it that his command of Chinese is better than most native speakers

That's a scary thought

[Daan]

I don't know whether it is true, that's just what I've heard

[gato]

Command of Mandarin probably rather than command of Chinese....

I don't think there will be another Dashan, that is, a foreigner who becomes a celebrity simply by being speak Chinese like a native. That was a considered a curiosity back in the 1990s. I'm not sure that's so bankable any more.

[Mark Baker]

I'm not sure that's so bankable any more.

For the most part, yes, but if someone who fit the description of "sexy blue-eyed blonde" of either gender, with some personality to go along with the screen-worthiness showed up, it would be.

And although it's not quite the same, I do think he looks like a younger Dan Akroyd in this pic:

[gato]

You mean Brad Pitt? She doesn't have to be blonde. Jessica Alba would do.

[nipponman]

amazing that an english-speaking foriegner could learn to master chinese to a natural level. I have always believed that there is a limit on how close you can get, i.e you get closer and closer but can't ever get there. But this is apparently not true.

[Ferno]

I'm sure he still has problems with various illogical stuff in the language that only native people would know, and his pronounciation will never be perfect since he did not learn the language as a child.

Which "type" of Mandarin did he learn? Doesn't even "standard" mandarin vary from place to place?

[Mugi]

Impressive, without a doubt. But he still sounds like a laowai. Not that that really matters.

[gougou]

I also noticed that I can tell without looking whether it is him speaking, or a native speaker. But I wonder whether that would be due to his pronounciation or rather the timbre of his voice?

[Mugi]

Good point.

[nipponman]

So, can you guys distinguish him from a native speaker or no? Does he sound natural? I am actually quite interested in this guy. I heard about him 2 years ago, but I didn't pay any attention then. Its kinda funny to think someone can become famous just by learning a language...is chinese that hard:mrgreen:

[Mugi]

Personally, I can tell within a few words/seconds that he is a non-native speaker, but I'm not sure what's tipping me off. And it certainly isn't every word - it's more like one utterance every few seconds sticks out as not sounding quite right.

While I'm sure some Chinese have an arrogant belief that their language is too difficult for foreigners to ever master, and hence are impressed by 大山's ability, I think it's more a case of the rarity/novelty of seeing a white guy speak Mandarin so well that is behind his success. He obviously enjoys what he does and has the right kind of personality to pull it off. I know several guys who have at least as good a command of Mandarin as he does, but they haven't got either the inclination or the right personality to do what he does.

[xiaocai]

He does speak better than some Chinese, like my parents, but still sounds like a foreigner to me.

I agree with Mugi that he's famous for the rarity since Chinese is still a relatively "small" language. Though there are more than 1 billion native speakers, but only few people choose it as their second language when compared to those European languages and Japanese and almost only learn it for personal interests. He started learning Chinese in stage performance and got chances to appear on TV programs including the most famous one in China:mrgreen:, so this could be another reason for his prominence in the country.

Chinese is not hard, you can see dozens of good examples in this forum.

[carlo]

I've known a couple of foreign-looking people whose native language is Mandarin. Sometimes I used to wonder, so why are not *they* on TV? Then again, performing sketches on CCTV is not everyone's idea of a good time.

How many adult learners of English can speak native-like English? Only a tiny few, but the point is that nobody cares. What you say is more important than how you say it. There are many more non-native speakers of English that are obviously non-native when you hear them speak, but could pass a linguistic 'Turing test' in writing -- what does that say about their thought processes? In recent linguistic literature (especially studies of bilingualism), the dividing line between native and non-native appears to be less clear than previously thought.

If I were Da Shan, anyway, I'd give an arm to know exactly where and how I sounds non-native. It may also be an interesting exercise in applied linguistics, you could write a paper or two.