how to I improve Chinese (or any languages) pronunciation?
Although i never asked them, I have a few friends of non Asian decent and are over the age of 25, have managed to more or less master Chinese pronunciation. Meaning the speak Chinese with no accent.
One guy speak Chinese with a north eastern accent, the other two with a Taiwanese accent.
I studied chinese for about 4 years now, one in the states and 3 in china. I guess my pronunciation isn't bad, and Chinese people understand everything I say with no problem. Still it would be cool to be one of those guys who can speak Chinese, or any language for that matter with no accent.
Heres what i do now
1. watch lots of Chinese TV and movies, and when ever i can remember, I mimic what the cast is saying...
2. from time to time, sing Chinese songs
3. and the one i rarely do, but perhaps should do the most is practice those standardization books, (Putong hua Deng Ji kao shi) Pretty much they are books with a CD, that are filled with things that are hard to say, compare sounds, and of co
sorry bottom got cut off...
read this 2
compare sounds, and of course have tongue twisters.
I think my major problem is I just don't practice this stuff frequently enough and no longer have a Chinese person or teacher to tell me when I say something wrong, but still it would be great to hear what you guys have to say!!!
thanks!!!!
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I’m a Chinese and what I do to avoid pronounciation problems is to feel how my tongue goes when pronouncing certain English words with ‘th’ which is a big problems for Chinese. Since you cannot see how your tongue goes, you feel it.
For eg, when pronouncing ‘Xiao’, you keep your mouth wide open, lower your tongue and close your mouth after your ‘ao’. That should give you a rolling of ‘Xiiiiiao’ just like the accent of native Chinese speakers.
Remember the feeling in your mouth cavity when pronouncing any characters then you will get the correct sounds everytime. Perhapes your friends have mastered this tacnic.
The books with CD wouldn’t really solve your pronounciation problem. Firsly, they do speak with a ‘China’ accent or the ‘Peking’ accent. It will be even harder for you to master another accent. Secondly, they speak very fast. If you try to follow, you might get lose. It is more important to get the feel of your month cavity first.
As a practice, try this tongue twister.
摘柿子
sì gè xiǎo hái ér zhāi shì zi
四 个 小 孩 儿 摘 柿 子。
lǎo dà zhāi lè sì gè shí
老 大 摘 了 四 个 十，
lǎo èr zhāi lè shí gè sì
老 二 摘 了 十 个 四。
lǎo sān zhāi lè sì shí gè
老 三 摘 了 四 十 个，
láo sì zhāi lè shí sì yòu sì shí
老 四 摘 了 十 四 又 四 十。
四sounds like "Siiii" (Snake) while 柿 with a ‘h’; your mouth should have a ‘O’ shape. For 十, your diaphragm should rise up or your stomach.
Hope these help
you should buy dictionary and read it time by time until you memorize. furthermore if your phone can use software dictionary, it more cool.
try to speak eventhough you talk by yourself
maybe you can feel free to email me!
I hope you’re an native english speaker!
are you angry all time