Audio file: please criticise my pronunciation

I am delighted we have this audio facility. Should there be a separate forum for audio? I know my tones are not perfect - my teacher seems to think the 2nd and 3rd tones are the worst. I am a bit apprehensive of showing people on this list my foreign accent, but I am sending this audio file in the hope someone can comment on which tones, which tone combination, and any other aspects need brushing up on? I have not lived in China for 12 years, and so my pronunciation has not improved, and is in fact rusty. I would like to speak like Dashan, but I need to be more realistic. Can you all understand every character? It is 79 seconds long, this recording. If you wish to comment, please do not be polite - be as brutal as you like, or as you can.

Second and third tone are hard for almost everyone who learns Chinese.......

Great, your pronunciation is very good, I understood everything except that one part about China's old culture. You just need to work on some of the tones.

打开世界地图，你可以看到中华人民共和国在亚洲东部，太平洋的西岸。她是一个有几千年历史的文明古国，面积跟欧洲差不多。在这么大的一个国家里，到处都有美丽的山水，迷人的景色。她深深地吸引着世界各国的旅游者。中国的山水不但很美，而且（重视？）很中国的古老文化的文化，紧紧结合在一起。在游览名胜古迹的时候，你可以听到很多神话传说和历史故事，还可以看到古代文学家留下的诗和文章，欣赏他们的书法艺术。在风景最美的地方，还常常有很多古代的园林，建筑和文物。旅游者就像走进了一座座文化艺术的宝库，不但欣赏了那里的景色，而也了解了中国古老的文化。

I will comment on your tones in my following posts.

You're being modest, fenlan. Your pronunciation is good.

I noticed only a few error. Everything else is near native.

地图 should be di4tu2, not di2tu2

山水 should be shan1shui4, not shan3shui4

风景 should be feng1jing3, not feng2jing3

文物 should wen4wu4, not wen4wu3

不但 should be bu4dan4, not bu4dan3

Thank you for both of your comments. Quest, the sentence *should* be 而且总是跟中国古老的文化紧紧结合在一起。Gato, I will review my pronunication of those words and work out where I went wrong!

而也了解了中国古老的文化 should be 而且…

开: not flat enough

地: 4th tone, you used the 3rd tone

山: 1st tone, you used the 2nd tone

景：3rd tone, you used the 2nd tone

各：4th tone, you used the 2nd tone

不但: 2 + 4, I heard 1+3

总是: zong3shi4, I heard zhong4shi4

跟: gen1, I heard hen3

紧紧: jin2jin3, I heard jin1jin1

你可以: I would say ni3ke2yi3, but ni2ke2yi3 is fine except it would sound more like 您可以 to me.

而也了解了中国古老的文化 should be 而且…

Could be a problem of the audio compression, I can't hear the "q" sound.

地图 should be di4tu2, not di2tu2

山水 should be shan1shui4, not shan3shui4

风景 should be feng1jing3, not feng2jing3

文物 should wen4wu4, not wen4wu3

不但 should be bu4dan4, not bu4dan3

gato, I am sorry but it's shan1shui3 not shan1shui4, wen2wu4 not wen4wu4, bu2dan4 not bu4dan4.

Quest, can I thank you again. I can't think of anywhere else where I could get such a detailed analysis! I have quite a lot to be thinking about and reviewing!

Sorry, typos.

fenlan your pronunciation is way better than mine. But you didn't sound very confident.

Please note that 山, 風, 欣 are first tone. Yours don't sound like first tone to me.

Skylee, I think you are right, I didn't sound very confident, and I wish I had read it quicker. But funnily enough, when I speak Chinese to Chinse people, it takes me about one hour to "warm up". It's not a language that I think you can just not speak for a month, and then suddenly launch into orally at the drop of a hat. When I visit China, I like to travel on the trains. I find my Chinese very awkward for the first little while, as my mouth is not so used to the sounds, and after being forced to talk to so many people in the hard sleeper carriage, by the time I get to my destination, I have remembered how to speak better Chinese again. I don't mean that my pronunciation improves, but that I would have warmed up, and would be speaking to tthe top of my ability instead of at the bottom of it when I first touch down in China. Becausee of the tones, Chinese feels "theatrical" to Westerners. You have to be "in the mood" to make the effort, and if you have a cold or something, it is much more difficult...

If you don't mind a comment from a fellow learner, I think you're brilliant. The rhythm is excellent. Quest did a nice job already, if I may I'll say this:

文物 (second-last sentence) does sound like 文武 to me

There are many pauses between verb and object (欣赏了 | 那里的景色), I think it would sound better (more flowing and 'confident') if you said it in one breath.

fenlan, the "warm-up" is normal IMHO. In my case, it usually takes me days before I can start speaking/understanding Japanese.

Last time I actually startled myself when I unexpectedly started to speak in Japanese.

That sounded good! Once you get the tones down, it will be great. It makes me want to try recording myself. Last time I tried that, I wasn't very successful. I couldn't stand hearing my voice.

I thought that was generally good. I understood just about all of it without looking at Quest's transcription. The most noticeable, consistent lapses I heard were reading 1st and 4th tones as sort of soft 2nd or 3rd tones. You might try to "harden up" your 1st and 4th tones.

If you're self studying and you want to practice hearing and repeating advanced level Chinese, you could have a look at the study guide for the Putonghua Shuiping Ceshi. The newest one is brown. On one of the parts of the test, the taker has to read short essay(s), all of which are excerpts from well known pieces of modern literature. I think most of them are about 500 characters long. On the exam, one would have to read one or two essays from the 60 that are in the book. The book comes with a CD with all 60 essays in MP3 format.

Jive Turkey, thanks for the recommendation of a specific book. I will look on Amazon... Is Putonghua Shuiping Ceshi the same as Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi? I don't think the test includes reading *aloud* in Chinese - am I right? Or maybe the Advanced one does?

I am very impressed with your pronunciation. It's not that rusty at all. But yes, those 2nd and 3rd tones can be tricky. Quest gave good pointers. Otherwise, keep up the good work !

It sounds good to me, even though I can only understand part of it. I thought I was moving well past beginner status.

That was amazing! Basically some first tone characters were changed to second tone characters and some zh and sh sounded a bit like z and s. Soon you will speak like Dashan!

打开世界地图，你可以看到中华人民共和国在亚洲东部，太平洋的西岸。她是一个有几千年历史的文明古国，面积跟欧洲差不多。在这么大的一个国家里，到处都有美丽的山水，迷人的景色。她深深地吸引着世界各国的旅游者。中国的山水不但很美，而且总是很中国的古老文化，紧紧结合在一起。在游览名胜古迹的时候，你可以听到很多神话传说和历史故事，还可以看到古代文学家留下的诗和文章，欣赏他们的书法艺术。在风景最美的地方，还常常有很多古代的园林，建筑和文物。旅游者就像走进了一座座文化艺术的宝库，不但欣赏了那里的景色，而且了解了中国古老的文化。

I just found out that we could attach sound files, I don't have confidence either, but I nevertheless made a file, hope it works and helps:

-Shìbó

Shibo, I won't ever speak like Dashan, and I was looking for negative comments, not positive comments. But maybe the comments have convinced me that if I did move to China for 5 years or so I could make a great deal of progress. I am going to listen to your audio file now. I would like to hear Roddy's pronunciation. I notice on the messages where he writes in Chinese, he gets things so much more idiomatic than I ever would, and I bet he speaks well and I'd like to hear it...

By the way, Chinese learners out there may recognise the "dakaishijieditu" passage! It is from chapter 1 of Practical Chinese Reader book 3!!!!