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Is mimicing the best way to learn good pronounciation?
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Chinese Learner –
Hi,
I have a dilemna, I am Eurasian so I can speak Cantonese nearly fluently with a very slight
English accent (as well as English and French both of which I do speak fluently and fairly
accentless; the French with a very, very slight English accent). I have picked up ‘survival’
putonhua fairly quickly in the last 3 months – I can understand more than I can say – now I can
manage really basic things to get around Beijing and I am starting to have longer and longer
conversations.
However I just can’t seem to get rid of my Cantonese accent – this really bugs me though I knowe
it shouldn’t! It’s pride I know!!!! I am quite pleased that I can speak three languages with very
slight accents but I hate the fact that I am orally mangling Putonghua. I sometimes feel sorry for
the Beijingers who have to listen to me destroy their language!
What can I do to get as close to a standard accent as possible – I know that to obtain a perfect
non-foreign accent will be impossible but getting close would be great.
Is the only method to constantly mimic teachers like an unthinking robot…over and over again
until you get sentences right?
Thanks for any thoughts!
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heifeng –
congrats on your quest to improve your putonghua..
I think that mimicking can be a good way, but may not be the absolute ‘best way’….at least not
at the beginning.
I think that the processes would be a lot more efficient if you perhaps took a ‘jiuyin’ class with
an experienced teacher to improve your pronounciation and fix some fundamental pronunciation
problems. You probably need to figure out the mechanics of where you should put what for your zh
chi shi, z, c, s, x, j…etc. Then after you are better aware of why you are saying something
incorrectly you will be able to fix your pronunciation more and more on your own. Ideally the
class shouldn’t be mindless because (even if you take it with other students) you should be
thinking about why what you are saying is incorrect, as well as other students and training your
own listening skills…etc.
There are many posts on this forum about reading along with recordings and such too that you may
want to reference, which is basically mimicking the reader. However if you plan to mimic an actual
local, make sure they actually speak relatively standard mandarin before you completely ‘trust’
his/her pronunciation hehe…
However, since it sounds like you haven’t had great experience with teachers, there are also books
for the putonghua shuiping ceshi for hk residents and macao region students that you may want to
reference too, but I don’t know how much better listening to the PCS CD’s are and imitating them
in comparison to taking a class with a teacher.
Hope this helps…
imron –
Another good trick is to record your own voice. This can make you aware (sometimes quite acutely)
of exactly where your problems are.
roddy –
Learning some phonetics will help – how sounds are produced, where the bits of your mouth should
be for each sound, etc – that’ll help you figure out what sounds you are making, and what you need
to do to change that to the sounds you should be making.
But to be honest, you probably still need lots of time with someone who can tell you when you are
wrong, and ideally why.
renzhe –
A class or two with a good teacher will probably help you a lot. Go over pinyin, the tones, the
proper pronunciation of things like zh, ch, sh, and other sounds that aren’t used in Cantonese.
If you have a Cantonese accent like you say, then it’s probably exactly these things giving you
trouble.
Lu –
Agreeing with others, taking a class on the specifics on Beijing pronounciation should help a lot.
It’s quite possible that since no one ever told you how exactly those sounds are made, you
approach them not from a Mandarin perspective but from a Cantonese (or European) one, and so you
need to learn the Mandarin perspective or you’ll likely never get it right.
It’s not too hard, so good luck and I’m sure you’ll improve soon!
Chinese Learner –
Hi ,
Thanks for all the replies! I have had private teachers and now I am in a class. I am actually not
too bad with pronouncing my initials now after 3 months of bugging teh hell out of my teachers
etc. and after much practice – speaking a few languages did actually help alot. Though many
teachers gave me completely different ways to make an ‘r’.
My problem is remembering tones and also the ‘melody/rhythm’ how I speak. When in class – I can
repeat what the teacher says more or less. As soon as I am having a conversation with someone ‘on
my own’, I hear my tones flattening out and the ‘rhythm’ of my speech becoming a ‘guangdong ren’s’
This is why I am asking if copying the ‘rhythm’ of Putonghua sentences is the best way to go.
The rhythm of my sentences is completely wrong and I can never seem to make my fourth tone
distinct enough. Most people inform me my speech is flat (‘ping’) – I’m just so used to the rhythm
and sound of Cantonese – I’m quite a fast talker so it’s a reflex. I keep trying to remind myself
to speak slowly but I always forget.
I find this quite funny as I can immediately tell when a beifang ren is speaking Cantonese so I am
intrigued as to how my nanfang accent sounds to a beifang ren.
I think I will record my voice.
Lu –
I was taught the r- as: in between the French j- as in Jean or je and the American r- as in right.
I hope that helps, and doesn’t add yet another explanation 
Seems Cantonese speakers have trouble with the 4th tone, they say the 1st instead. I had a
classmate who did that too. But now you know it you can pay extra attention to it, that should
help.
renzhe –
Strange. I thought that the tones and “melody” of Cantonese would be much more of a challenge than
Mandarin.
But yeah, in terms of “melody” and “rhythm”, I find that mimicking and lots of practice is the
best way to do it. The things I pronounce the best are the things I’ve heard the most and said the
most, not the things where I can remember the tone number.
AxelManbow –
My Chinese is poor. Yet pronunciation… do it like a local. Non standard yet so much more
natural. My Chinese sucks big time yet withought looking at me no taxi driver thinks I’m
non-Chinese. With a very standard accent that wouldn’t be the case.
Get a bunch of local friends and 讲话。
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