Read This Text Aloud

[Demonic_Duck]

Spun off from http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/48598-do-different-nationalities-have-different-accents/

 

The easiest way to answer it is to get people from all around the world to speak the same sentence in Chinese and post it on this thread!

 

Here's the text:

 

世界上最遥远的距离

不是生与死的距离，

而是我就站在你面前

你却不知道我爱你。

 

(Taken from 《世界上最遥远的距离》 by 张小娴).

 

Feel free to critique the attempts of others before you, and don't forget to mention your mother tongue, enclosed in [spoiler]

tags so people can guess first (also include any other salient facts, e.g. that the main language you used for a long period whilst growing up wasn't your mother tongue, etc.) After we've got some decent samples, we can start trying to see if we can pick out any trends amongst speakers from certain linguistic backgrounds.

 

My attempt: http://www.govoluble.com/entry/1497

 

My mother tongue is British English (born and raised in southeast England).

[Demonic_Duck]

List of recordings
 
Demonic_Duck: http://www.govoluble.com/entry/1497
rezaf: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/48602-read-this-text-aloud/?p=370216
Orpheus: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/48602-read-this-text-aloud/?p=370234
Mr. John: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/48602-read-this-text-aloud/?p=370235
skylee: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/48602-read-this-text-aloud/?p=370243
imron: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/48602-read-this-text-aloud/?p=370248
arreke: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XOTU3MDQ4NjYw.html
LiMo: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/48602-read-this-text-aloud/?p=370274
Yueni: http://www.govoluble.com/entry/1536

 

Linguistic backgrounds of posters:

Demonic_Duck: British English
rezaf: Iranian, mother tongue Persian?
Orpheus: native speaker of Bahasa Indonesia and Min Nan (Teochew)
Mr. John: Australian English, born in NZ
skylee: Cantonese
imron: Australian English
arreke: Russian, spent most time learning Chinese in Guangzhou
LiMo: unknown
Yueni: native Singapore English, but most commonly American English

[Demonic_Duck]

Pinyin version (so there's no excuse for not participating if you don't know all the characters ):

 

Shìjiè shàng zuì yáoyuǎn de jùlí

Bù shì shēng yǔ sǐ de jùlí,

Ér shì wǒ jiù zhàn zài nǐ miànqián

Nǐ què bù zhīdào wǒ ài nǐ.

[rezaf]

I don't think there are many Iranians here so I might be the only one in my category.

rezaf.mp3

[Orpheus]

I'm a native speaker of Bahasa Indonesia but my mother tongue is 潮州话, as that's the language my mother first taught me and also the language we use at home.

Orpheus.wma

[Mr John]

I was born in New Zealand, but have lived most of my life in Australia, so I'd say my accent is Australian. Here is my attempt:taichale.mp3

[tooironic]

What if we don't sound like a foreigner when we speak Chinese? Should we put on an accent?

[skylee]

I am a

Cantonese

speaker.

skylee.mp3

[rezaf]

 

 

What if we don't sound like a foreigner when we speak Chinese? Should we put on an accent?

I think the point is to gather the data first then we can analyze it. Since most people on this forum are from English speaking countries it might give us an idea how different accents of English can affect Chinese pronunciation.

[889]

You've biased your study. These should be heard anonymously, without any place of origin or other identifying details disclosed to the listeners. Tell me first it's an Italian speaking Chinese and of course I'll listen closely for Italian speech marks.

Also, remember that listeners often don't detect an accent in others with the same accent. So an American might think another American speaks awfully good Chinese while other Westerners might detect a strong American accent there. Point is, the listener's nationality or accent is as important as the speaker's.

[imron]

Here's mine - Australian.

 

read-this-text-aloud.mp3

 

You've biased your study.

I think it's more just a bit of fun than any in depth study, but all the same...

 

These should be heard anonymously, without any place of origin or other identifying details disclosed to the listeners.

Just make sure to upload yours without telling anyone your background and see if anyone can guess

 

[arreke]

 

 

You've biased your study. These should be heard anonymously, without any place of origin or other identifying details disclosed to the listeners. Tell me first it's an Italian speaking Chinese and of course I'll listen closely for Italian speech marks.

 

All right, my attempt, what accent do you hear?

 

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XOTU3MDQ4NjYw.html

 

[889]

Google services aren't available in China.

[imron]

Google services aren't available in China.

 

And yet arreke, who is based in Beijing (according to the Location field) has clearly made use of them....

 

In general though, I agree, much better (and more future proof) if people upload recordings directly (see more reply options -> Attach Files)

[889]

Actually, arreke's sample raises another issue: just how many accents do most of us recognise outside a dozen or so? He could be a native Turkish speaker, say, and how many among us would know a Turkish accent?

That said, his pronunciation of 是 etc. suggests that either he's spent a lot of time among southern Chinese or that his native tongue does not have the sh sound.

(And he and we can only connect to Youtube with a VPN, a VPN that still works in China to be precise.)

[arreke]

He could be a native Turkish speaker

That said, his pronunciation of 是 etc. suggests that either he's spent a lot of time among southern Chinese or that his native tongue does not have the sh sound.

Perfect guess, I am impressed ))

I've learned Chinese in 广州

[LiMo]

LiMo.mp3

 

 

Thoughts?

 

I suppose I'll post my background later if that's what we're doing now.

 

 

[yueni]

http://www.govoluble.com/entry/1536

 

 

Erm... Click for mother tongue accent info:

 

My mother tongue is English, but Singapore English. After my family moved to the US, I picked up the accent of the Pacific Northwest which is similar to the neutral west coast accent with some Canadian influences. I now speak primarily American-accented English, unless I am speaking with a Singaporean, or am in Singapore. Yay for code-switching.

[imron]

And he and we can only connect to Youtube with a VPN, a VPN that still works in China to be precise.

An ssh tunnel also works well.  My point was getting around the restrictions is not particularly difficult.

[Demonic_Duck]

What if we don't sound like a foreigner when we speak Chinese? Should we put on an accent?

 

The idea is to get your accent as you would naturally speak. The rest of us can decide if you do or don't sound like a foreigner.

 

You've biased your study. These should be heard anonymously, without any place of origin or other identifying details disclosed to the listeners. Tell me first it's an Italian speaking Chinese and of course I'll listen closely for Italian speech marks.

 

As imron mentioned, it's not really a formal study, but that's a fair point nevertheless. I'd recommend following yueni's example above and enclosing your linguistic background in [spoiler]

tags so that people can guess first. Of course, that doesn't anonymise the data, but I assume most posters here are unaware of most other posters' backgrounds.

 

Also, remember that listeners often don't detect an accent in others with the same accent. So an American might think another American speaks awfully good Chinese while other Westerners might detect a strong American accent there. Point is, the listener's nationality or accent is as important as the speaker's.

Equally, though, it might be true that many other Americans wouldn't pick up on it, but perhaps an Indonesian, Japanese or Brazilian person might pick up on ways in which the American's accent was non-standard in distinctly American ways. But once again, it's not a formal study, just for fun really.

 

Another thing that might bias our informal study is the fact I provided pinyin with correct tones, but I'm trusting those who can read the characters to consult the character version, rather than relying on the pinyin.