The proper rhythm for speaking Chinese
jckeith
February 26, 2009, 06:55 AM posted in General Discussion大家好。
This is a question that's been bugging me for a while. I've been studying Chinese for a few months now, and I'm now able to speak more quickly and still retain the proper pronunciation and tones.
However, I'm still at an Elementary level, so when I do speak at a faster pace, my sentences become a bit choppy. Some words will be clustered together and spoken more quickly than others. If I want to maintain the proper rhythm, devoting the same amount of time to each character and spacing them equally, I have to speak painfully slowly.
My fellow poddies, which method do you think is better? Personally, I feel that I should speak as quickly as I am able to while retaining the proper pronunciation and tones. I think that the rhythm will eventually even out as I practice more and listen to native speakers more. I should note that when I do speak at a more rapid pace, I'm still trying to emulate the natural rhythm of native speakers, it's just very difficult at my current level of progression.
Furthermore, if a non-native English speaker was speaking to me, and his pronunciation was acceptable but his rhythm was off (I think English is very tricky in this regard), I would think nothing of it. But if a non-native English speaker was speaking to me and dragging out sentences from here to eternity, I would find it quite odd indeed.
Any insights you guys might have would be greatly appreciated.
谢谢
heruilin
March 02, 2009, 03:56 PMMy advice is the same as with learning to play an instrument:
"Slow is smooth and smooth is fast。"
何睿林
jckeith
February 26, 2009, 07:31 AMThanks for the responses so far! You guys are prompt and helpful. I'll admit that I was feeling a bit discouraged today (language learning is a series of highs and lows, eh?), but I think you guys have set me straight. Feel free to contribute further though ;)
hekaiwen
February 26, 2009, 07:37 AMI just about closed down my web browser and start to sleep, but no--I saw something--It was your comment. I hold strong to my first comment because I have talked to numorous people from Chinese Asia. What do they say...I think you know what I'm going to say...learn the culture & respect language through admitting you're not perfect.
Even out your effort with culture awareness. Give language a break (for now), and you will see the light. Sorry to preach. Now for bedtime.
sebire
February 26, 2009, 10:08 AMjckeith,
I still can't speak with any degree of fluency, and if I read aloud I am totally rubbish - read three characters here, forget the pronunciation, remember pronunciation, say another three characters, get the tones wrong, correct tones, repeat...
I end up reading the same sentence a few times aloud to try to remember how it's meant to sound like once you can read it out properly. I guess it's like trying to teach a kid to read out loud.
If I was talking to a native, I just try to get it out there at a vaguely natural pace. If I'm reading aloud, I'll keep repeating until it's right. Until tomorrow, when I've forgotten :)
lilywhytelegs
February 26, 2009, 02:54 PMjckeith,
Speaking aloud is still troublesome for me. For whatever reason, it always comes out sounding different than what I intend. Anyway, my approach has been to keep it nice and slow...and keep trying. Hopefully, with more practice, a happy medium can be reached. Good luck!
hekaiwen
February 26, 2009, 07:01 AMchoppy now + good pronunciation VS. smooth now + horrible pronunciation when you go in your first board meeting and drop the wrong tones and offend someone.
Stay on the right track, don't immitate anyone. Just learn. Line upon line, yue lai yue hao....
jckeith
February 26, 2009, 04:52 PMThanks all! You've been very helpful.
urbandweller
February 26, 2009, 05:07 PMjc keith
I am struggling with the exact same issue right now! I am trying so hard to speed up and speak at a normal pace but things get choppy!! This is typical of any of my new sentences.
i honestly dont think there is any magic fomula for fixing this....I think it just comes down to basic practice practice practice!! everyday practice!! I notice that certain sentences that i learned 2 years ago now are smooth as butter! It just takes time for your brain to get it all programmed!
good luck and keep on practicing!
jckeith
February 26, 2009, 08:05 PMThanks urbandweller! It's like you read my mind.
lechuan
February 26, 2009, 09:00 PMI've had quite a few friends who took a couple different approaches to this, and the results after a few years.
1) Go fast now at the expense of some tones.
They achieved fluency faster, but still make a lot of tone mistakes and some are hard to understand.
2) Go slow until you have mastered those tones.
Their pacing sounded a total learner for the first few years, but now that they reinforced the correct sounds, they were able to speed it up *later* in their language learning (I call this "go slow to go fast").
As a side note, there is a whole chapter devoted to the rhythm of chinese in this (rather expensive) grammar book, which I found to be very enlightening:
http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Comprehensive-Grammar-Routledge-Grammars/dp/0415150329/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235681803&sr=8-4
jckeith
February 26, 2009, 09:54 PMlechuan,
That book sounds interesting; I may check it out. I have another grammar book geared to lower-level learners like myself, but I haven't devoted much time to it yet. Now I'm curious as to whether my book discusses this topic at all. Thanks!
RJ
February 26, 2009, 03:21 PMThese all sound pretty normal to me. This is the nature of learning Chinese. Welcome aboard.
John sums it up:
pearltowerpete
February 26, 2009, 07:00 AMHi jckeith
Of course, everyone's goal is fast and accurate Chinese. Many Chinese learners notice that you can "fudge" the tones a bit if you speak quickly enough. Whereas, if you speak syllable by syllable, each one has to be correct.
For the time being, you'll probably be best off mastering the pinyin phonemes (for instance, "gong” is pronounced differently in Chinese than in English, regardless of tone). Take the tones very seriously, but don't sacrifice speed for tones.And take every opportunity you can to practice and listen to native speakers.
That's just my personal opinion. I hope other learners (and teachers!) will share their perspectives.