URL
Lesson Introduction
Today we take a trip to local swimming holes... Dear Amber takes a look at your options, and what you should expect. And, upon your arrival in Beijing, you may find yourself wondering what language the taxi driver is speaking to you in. This wasn't in your textbook! We give some pointers on deciphering the Beijing accent.
Comments 
To comment, please login.
Comments Policy
Allowed comments do not necessarily represent the views of ChinesePod.com. We also reserve the right to reject personal attacks, false/unsubstantiated allegations, spamming of any kind, and comments that include vulgar language or libelous statements.
Out of consideration for our Newbie and Elementary users, English translations should be provided with any Chinese (characters or pinyin) written in Newbie and Elementary lesson discussion posts. New lesson idea? Please let us know on our contact page.
architpol says
November 28, 2008
Is the difference between 哪儿nǎer and 那里 nàli also a result of the Northern accent, or are these forms used in both North and South China.
andrew_c says
November 28, 2008
My 河北 friend was heating up his lunch in the microwave and I asked what he was having, to which he replied 豆腐干儿.
That was the one and only time I had heard that one.
bnsobila says
am finding it hard learning chinese, please some one help me, pleaseNovember 28, 2008
user23050 says
November 29, 2008
I love the deep throated accent of the Beijing male.
But try and I may, I cannot begin to achieve it.
I feel able in the South but in Beijing, I feel feminine, in voice, yeah, yeah.
user23050 says
November 29, 2008
As the old Junker German 'army voice' to the general public.
yase says
November 29, 2008
Their deep throaty voices are the legacy of previous years' accumulation in the lungs and throats of coal dust and pollution. Now much better and very pleasant indeed to walk around and go sightseeing.
Went today to Jingshan gongyuan - if you climb up to the top you have a wonderful view looking south over the Gugong and can even see the new opera house (the so called Egg) looking very incongruous and in stark contrast to the ancient buildings.
yase says
November 29, 2008
One of my favourite 'r' words is 'fan guanr' - taxi drivers really know this one !
lavender86 says
November 29, 2008
I spent a semester studying abroad in Beijing, and I love the Beijing accent!
I'm not very good at imitating it, but as long as people aren't speaking too quickly, I think 北京话 is easier to understand than other accents (like the Taiwanese accent).
My favorite "儿" word is 有名儿- you3mingr2 (famous)!
andrew_c says
November 29, 2008
I remember John teaching 哥们儿 in a few lessons, with the 儿. I think that it was the SBTG: Math Lesson in particular.
christela says
November 29, 2008
I mainly had teachers who were from South China or Taiwan so it is easier for me to understand a southern accent than a northern accent. But lately I have been watching the Beijingese series 奋斗 to try and change that. Thanks a lot for the tips in today's podcast. It's very useful!!
dpay02 says
November 29, 2008
It's not just the "er". I find they also tend to drop the "zh" in fast speech. Also with the "ing" ending the word sounds a bit like they're adding a "y" to accentuate the sound.
Fuwuyuanr, lai yi pying shuir!
light487 says
November 29, 2008
After speaking with people from Wuhan, I know they also have their own accent/dialect and of course there is Shanghainese as well. I imagine that each area of China has its own accent/dialect but how many are so different that you wouldn't understand one from the other?
I'll be going to Shanghai, Wuhan, Chengdu, Xi'an and Beijing next year, so it will be interesting to hear how they are sound. The Hungry Traveler series is a good start I suppose and I know there has been topics on accents before but I'd really like to see more lessons focusing on a single accent/dialect in the future. May be at the Elementary or Intermediate level.. because afterall, this is ChinesePOD not MandarinPOD.
I really enjoyed the DA today, I liked both parts just as much as each other this time. I found it odd that you, Amber, had difficulty with the BeiJing accent because it has a definite North American/Canadian "twang" to it in someways.
excalibur says
November 29, 2008
Dear-r-r Amber-r-r-r,
I'm flying off the Beijing-r-r-r in 30 days so this lesson could be a life-saver.
Any more must-know er-r-r-r words for that first taxi ride?
bababardwan says
November 29, 2008
excalibur,
You'll be off to a good start when you introduce yourself as excalibur-r-r-r-r-r ...
chas33735 says
November 29, 2008
"Washing their cucumbers????" What's that about?
tvan says
November 29, 2008
chas33735, I'm not sure of the precise reference, but I've had people walk into the communal hotel shower and wash vegetables for the downstairs restaurant.
My youngest son learned a Northern accent and, since he's come back, I can't understand half of what he says.
shanghaichanges says
November 29, 2008
Can we have a list of the Beijing accent differences you discussed in the lesson?
baifameizhong says
November 30, 2008
I enjoyed this dear Amber,once again.
I do have to say though, that my experiences with public swimming pools are quite different to what we heard in this podcast....China is just a huge country.
When I went to a public (indoor) swimming pool in the north of China it was nearly the same as what I am used to here in Switzerland (no shower caps unless you really want one, no "health checks", orderly swimming lines and only a limited amount of people...). The only real difference was that we were allowed to take along some things to eat by our chairs. In Switzerland that is forbidden and you are forced to pay the exorbitant prices from the restaurant there...
Although my wife doesn't come from Beijing, there is definitely a lot of 儿 going on. I have to admit that I am quite of the 儿 because they are a lot easier to pronounce the the -n 's . My favourite 儿 word is the 笔记本儿 (bi3ji4benr3) which means laptop.
drzen says
November 30, 2008
I was in Changchun this summer (Jilin province, north-east part of China). I would regurlarly go with a couple of Canadians swimming in the outdoor swimming public pool. Apart from the head cap, no other restrictions. The water was kinda cold though, and "slightly" dirty. There was no spitoons. People would simply pop their heads out of the water and spit on the ground.
I thought it was kinda odd though to see mostly men swimming, if not almost exclusively men. One of my friends (female) was a lifeguard and swam pretty darn well, far better than the chinese men. Kinda funny to watch their reaction to that.
antony73 says
November 30, 2008
I first learned Mandarin from the Pimsleur tapes. Pimsleur uses the Beijing accent, and I've struggled real hard to shake it off since Pimsleur, simply because it's real fun to use (like 小孩). Ｉ found that I was more understood dropping the accent. I have a slight stutter and although Mandarin often makes talking much easier, probably because Mandarin is tonal, using an accent is helpful to me in getting fluency.
kesirui says
December 1, 2008
chas33735,
Cucumbers are a very popular snack in the shower and sauna rooms for some reason, probably because they have so much water in them and you tend to get dehydrated in the sauna or shower rooms, I've seen a lot of people take those with them and the chinese like to wash everything before they eat it so...
rjberki says
December 1, 2008
Oh,..... those cucumbers.
tvan says
December 1, 2008
rjberki, my thoughts exactly.
nial says
December 1, 2008
When I began learning Chinese, the team of teachers that taught my class consisted of many different accents. We had Chengdu, Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, Ha'erBin etc. Our curriculum taught the Beijing accent, but I was not fond of it. I found it a little jarring and kinda disliked it. So I picked the teacher whose accent I liked the most... turned out to be a teacher from Chengdu who also lived in Taiwan. So, whenever people talk to me they seem to think I have a Taiwanese accent. I don't have a problem pronouncing the beijing 儿, I just prefer not to.
An interesting aside. I remember when we learned 哪儿. I immediately asked how to get around that and the teacher replied "哪里". A few other students also used it and inevitably the "哪儿里" came out. At the time I thought that was incorrect... I've since heard it from a native speaker's mouth and I am still thrown by it.
(Keep in mind I've never been to Asia, let alone China or Beijing)
wurly says
December 1, 2008
My swimming experiences in Suzhou are exactly the same as detailed in this podcast. I'll never forget the first time when I guy stood about a metre in front of me and watched me undress - totally staring the whole time! Anyway, put that one down to cultural differences...
The worst part for me was dealing with all the diagonal swimming... in the end I just gave up and swam laps and didn't care who I hit along the way!
judyzhu123 says
December 1, 2008
I enjoyed the dear Amber.I glad to make friends for you
svik says
December 2, 2008
Always good to get some 油条儿 from a street vendor!
pearltowerpete says
December 2, 2008
*Comment deleted by moderator*
lamps5jam3 says
December 3, 2008
Your pool coverage didn't include the pool-issued slippers which you have to wear from the beginning of the locker room to the locker rather than shoes. But if you wear the slippers toward the pool (so as to not slip or maybe keep your feet off the germy floor) you always get yelled at. The more I learned about Chinese culture, I could understand what they were getting at (not tracking street dirt in, I guess), but never completely accepted that this system made sensef!
kesirui says
December 3, 2008
rjberki and tvan... you guys are bad.... LOL
fuadhalim says
December 4, 2008
hello,,,, nice to meet you.
ajarin aku bahasa mandari donk...
cinnamonfern says
December 4, 2008
This was a great podcast. I have a friend who's from Malaysia and the other day he was teasing another friend, who's from Beijing about, as he called it, the "wanr" accent. Now I know what he was talking about. He gets teased about his 'southern' accent all the time, so I suppose it's only fair. :D Sometimes I can't understand his Mandarin, even though later I realized that I knew the word. Maybe you could do another podcast on the southern/canton accent. :)
yang_yi says
December 6, 2008
In my experience, if you don't use the rrrrr with the taxi drivers in Beijing, they'll repeat it back to you with the rrrrr and laugh at your girly pronunciation (in a good natured way) - but maybe that's just a guy thing. When I do use it, they love it. I live right near 请华大学东北门 so now get to merrrrrrr all the time. But Amber is right - generally speaking, when you do it too much people think you're putting it on - kind of like if you moved to New York and started talking like Woody Allen.
risingsunliu says
December 6, 2008
“哪儿”和“哪里”是同一个意思，通常可以互换。
changbiyuan says
January 29, 2009
yang_yi, I had a friend who got frustrated at saying 公园 about five times to a driver who gave a blank stare for a while but eventually clued in and said 啊，公园儿！
One other word I remember being told there was an actual difference in meaning based on the "r" was 宝贝(儿) bǎo bèi (r). My teacher said without the "r" it refers to a precious item and with the "r" it means "baby" (in both the literal and term of endearment senses).
Interesting to hear about the variety of pool phenomena in China. Sounds like the only universal one is the cap rule. And they don't even seem to know why the rule is there—I had a friend who was bald who wasn't let into a pool for this.
I saw two outdoor pools while I was in China (one at my university in Hohhot) and both were devoid of water... I guess that speaks to their general popularity.
Hotels are a good place to find quiet pools but if you go without the gear (like caps) they'll charge about ten times the regular price for it.
bababardwan says
January 29, 2009
changbiyuan,
I laughed at the story about your bald mate.I'm guessing he probably had mixed emotions about being required to wear a cap.hehe
changbiyuan says
January 30, 2009
Quite so. And they wanted to charge about fifty kuai to buy one. I think the lines repeated that day were 他没有头发！ and 你们疯了！