正文
The only accent that is more difficult to understand than a Chinese accent is the Indian accent.
Boy Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:01 am GMT
Lol@cow. I have the same sentiments. I have heard many chinese speakers speaking English on TV and I could not understand them a bit except the chinese ambassador to the UNO. He is the only chinese person that I understood without problems. I also could not understand Japanese people. I have talked with a bunch of them on skype. They say that they have been learning the language for 10 years or so, and you know the kind of fluency they demonstrate, I\'d get it after a two month of study of the language. No offence to them but that\'s what my first impression is. I come from indian sub-continent so my accent is impossible to understand that is what I got the impression after talking to a few Americans. I talked to a couple of canadians and my conversation with them went smoothly and they did not say sentences like :pardon me, what did you say?, I cant understand you, which were a norm with the Americans. So, cow, you are 100% right there. Our accents can be a pain in the ass after chinese.
For me understanding an indian accent is not difficult no matter how bad it is in form, I get it because indians/pakistanis share the same language when it comes to spoken. My ears are tuned to indian accents so to speak.
I do not mind if people dont understand me. Learning English has enabled me to gain a great deal of info passively so I am satisfied myself.
I\'m black and I speak English with a Chinese accent! How can I change this?
Here\'s my story: my father worked as a diplomat in China so my family moved to Shanghai from Senegal when I was 7 and I went to an international school up until I was 16 years old. I learned to speak both Mandarin and English, but I never developed a standard English accent. Thus, since I moved to the States a few months ago, I have been harassed and teased for my Ching Chong accent and to make things worse, I am not Chinese (I\'m black according to American standards). As a result, I feel like a freak show and haven\'t been able to adjust to life here. Why do people judge me so much on my accent? I want to change my accent really badly but it just won\'t go away! Any tips? Advice?
Why is chinese accent ugly?
I\'m chinese n my parents too. Raised in asia. Tonight I recorded a thing for my radio class and I just noticed that I carry some accent my two other group-mate don\'t have. British accent is beautiful, australian accent is cute, french people speak english is sexy, but why chinese accent is so ridiculous? Is it a possible way to get rid of it, or it will stick with me forever?
Hello, Funky
Listen, I am a German immigrant to the USA. I have lived here now for over 26 years. Your accent, no matter how hard you try, will never completely go away. You should embrace it as part of your heritage. It is possible to impove your speech, over a period of time. But you will never loose it. Don’t be bothered by others teasing you. After all, most that tease are really just jelous that you can speak two languages and they can’t. Chin up kiddo, you are unique… stand out for what you are and never be afraid to be yourself!!!
Let me share my thoughts on the subject, being someone who is working on getting rid of a cute German accent. I\'m at a point where native speakers will still realize that I\'m a foreigner but aren\'t able to guess where I\'m from originally. The most naive natives assume that I\'m from another state; however, there\'s a certain probability that they\'re simply trying to be nice, as most Americans are. :)
This is my first post so I hope nobody will rip me to shreds if I unwittingly violate any forum rules or stray from the general consensus.
I found American Accent Training by Ann Cook very helpful. It\'s available for less than 30 dollars (on Amazon.com, for example). The thing that impressed me most about the book/CD bundle is that it will help you erase entire classes of pronunciation errors.
One example: I used to pronounce the words not, got, lot and so forth with the o that I saw written, forcing my German pronunciation on the English words. The simple fact that Ann Cook pointed out that in American English the o becomes ou or ah, depending on the word, made me aware of my mistake and wiped out a multitude of potential errors.
She also analyzes the typical mistakes made based on the country of origin. For example, the French deviate from standard pronunciation in a different way than people from Arabic countries or Japan do.
Listening to my own recordings doesn\'t help me unless I know what I\'m listening for. My pronunciation sounded just fine to me although it was way off, which I only realized after becoming aware of the finer points. Listen to yourself is good advice but you have to lay the groundwork first.
Whenever you see a new word, find out how to pronounce it, either by learning how to read the pronunciation key, or finding a dictionary software/website with audio output. You wouldn\'t believe (well, maybe you would) how often I\'ve been totally off when I assumed a word should be pronounced a certain way. Be aware that British and American pronunciation differ.
Listen to podcasts of radio talk shows where people call in, watch English movies. In doing that, you will learn of the acceptable variations of intonation and pronunciation.
If you can afford it, find a vocal coach who is a native American (or Brit, depending on what accent you\'re aiming at). The coach will be able to fully analyze your unorthodox way of pronouncing certain words or entire sentences and show you ways to change that. I guess there are similarities between learning how to sing and learning proper pronunciation and intonation.
Boy Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:01 am GMT
Lol@cow. I have the same sentiments. I have heard many chinese speakers speaking English on TV and I could not understand them a bit except the chinese ambassador to the UNO. He is the only chinese person that I understood without problems. I also could not understand Japanese people. I have talked with a bunch of them on skype. They say that they have been learning the language for 10 years or so, and you know the kind of fluency they demonstrate, I\'d get it after a two month of study of the language. No offence to them but that\'s what my first impression is. I come from indian sub-continent so my accent is impossible to understand that is what I got the impression after talking to a few Americans. I talked to a couple of canadians and my conversation with them went smoothly and they did not say sentences like :pardon me, what did you say?, I cant understand you, which were a norm with the Americans. So, cow, you are 100% right there. Our accents can be a pain in the ass after chinese.
For me understanding an indian accent is not difficult no matter how bad it is in form, I get it because indians/pakistanis share the same language when it comes to spoken. My ears are tuned to indian accents so to speak.
I do not mind if people dont understand me. Learning English has enabled me to gain a great deal of info passively so I am satisfied myself.
I\'m black and I speak English with a Chinese accent! How can I change this?
Here\'s my story: my father worked as a diplomat in China so my family moved to Shanghai from Senegal when I was 7 and I went to an international school up until I was 16 years old. I learned to speak both Mandarin and English, but I never developed a standard English accent. Thus, since I moved to the States a few months ago, I have been harassed and teased for my Ching Chong accent and to make things worse, I am not Chinese (I\'m black according to American standards). As a result, I feel like a freak show and haven\'t been able to adjust to life here. Why do people judge me so much on my accent? I want to change my accent really badly but it just won\'t go away! Any tips? Advice?
Why is chinese accent ugly?
I\'m chinese n my parents too. Raised in asia. Tonight I recorded a thing for my radio class and I just noticed that I carry some accent my two other group-mate don\'t have. British accent is beautiful, australian accent is cute, french people speak english is sexy, but why chinese accent is so ridiculous? Is it a possible way to get rid of it, or it will stick with me forever?
Hello, Funky
Listen, I am a German immigrant to the USA. I have lived here now for over 26 years. Your accent, no matter how hard you try, will never completely go away. You should embrace it as part of your heritage. It is possible to impove your speech, over a period of time. But you will never loose it. Don’t be bothered by others teasing you. After all, most that tease are really just jelous that you can speak two languages and they can’t. Chin up kiddo, you are unique… stand out for what you are and never be afraid to be yourself!!!
Let me share my thoughts on the subject, being someone who is working on getting rid of a cute German accent. I\'m at a point where native speakers will still realize that I\'m a foreigner but aren\'t able to guess where I\'m from originally. The most naive natives assume that I\'m from another state; however, there\'s a certain probability that they\'re simply trying to be nice, as most Americans are. :)
This is my first post so I hope nobody will rip me to shreds if I unwittingly violate any forum rules or stray from the general consensus.
I found American Accent Training by Ann Cook very helpful. It\'s available for less than 30 dollars (on Amazon.com, for example). The thing that impressed me most about the book/CD bundle is that it will help you erase entire classes of pronunciation errors.
One example: I used to pronounce the words not, got, lot and so forth with the o that I saw written, forcing my German pronunciation on the English words. The simple fact that Ann Cook pointed out that in American English the o becomes ou or ah, depending on the word, made me aware of my mistake and wiped out a multitude of potential errors.
She also analyzes the typical mistakes made based on the country of origin. For example, the French deviate from standard pronunciation in a different way than people from Arabic countries or Japan do.
Listening to my own recordings doesn\'t help me unless I know what I\'m listening for. My pronunciation sounded just fine to me although it was way off, which I only realized after becoming aware of the finer points. Listen to yourself is good advice but you have to lay the groundwork first.
Whenever you see a new word, find out how to pronounce it, either by learning how to read the pronunciation key, or finding a dictionary software/website with audio output. You wouldn\'t believe (well, maybe you would) how often I\'ve been totally off when I assumed a word should be pronounced a certain way. Be aware that British and American pronunciation differ.
Listen to podcasts of radio talk shows where people call in, watch English movies. In doing that, you will learn of the acceptable variations of intonation and pronunciation.
If you can afford it, find a vocal coach who is a native American (or Brit, depending on what accent you\'re aiming at). The coach will be able to fully analyze your unorthodox way of pronouncing certain words or entire sentences and show you ways to change that. I guess there are similarities between learning how to sing and learning proper pronunciation and intonation.
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