Understanding Chinese News
edward
November 27, 2007, 12:42 PM posted in General DiscussionHi guys, just wanted to find out if people have the same problems as me when it comes to understanding Chinese news broadcasts on the TV/Radio.
I've been learning Chinese for almost 2 years and I would say I can understand most conversational Chinese, as long as there isn't too much slang. I've recently started listening to Chinese news broadcasts from internet radio stations and I find it incredibly difficult to understand.
Of course when you listen to the news in a foreign language, you have to learn new vocabulary (e.g. political words, proper nouns, etc.), but in my experience listening to the news in German is in some ways easier than listening to a conversation between two German people because the pronunciation is standard and clear and no slang is used.
I'm interested to hear from very advanced learners on how long it takes to be able to understand the news, and why it is so much more difficult to learn than conversational Chinese.
Budzul
November 28, 2007, 01:27 AM'emphasize the second part of a two syllable word..' Isn't that normal? I have a text book that actually states that in Chinese it's usually the second syllable of disyllabic words that is stressed. On a similar note regards understanding certain types of language - my lecturer (from Beijing), uses some really strange singsong delivery when she gives a dictation. I find it really hard to understand and also it seems rather absurd to me that a dictation is given in some style of language that doesn't really reflect the language as it is normally spoken. I presume this is how dictations are given in China though?
johnb
November 28, 2007, 05:20 AMI find that the lack of language crutches makes newscasts very difficult to understand as well. The newscaster reads what the teleprompter says at full speed without any pauses or slowdowns that are common in normal speech. That, combined with the rather stilted language that is used in news reports, makes it a bit difficult to pick up. Of course, if you put enough effort into it, understanding the news isn't hard at all, but I would agree that it's harder than it appears to be from the outset, and because of the delivery is harder than listening to the news in other languages.
pulosm
November 27, 2007, 04:29 PMOh the news. There are two main obstacles to understanding the news in Chinese (in my opinion): (1) The vocabulary: Yes, there are political terms and such, but in newsreporting, there are also a bunch of formal words and expressions that are used (for a good example of this, see the Chinesepod lesson on "weather"). (2) Cadence: There is something odd about the way they stress the words in the news. Try to watch news with subtitles to get used to this. Also, try to listen to the news expecting this different stress. It's almost as if they emphasize the second part of a two-syllable word, whereas in normal speech, the first part is usually emphasized. I guess what I am saying is, they are probably saying words you know, but in a way you can't understand. What you might think is the beginning of the word, might be the end of the last word, so listening a new way will help. (This is also true because the cadence disrupts the natural sound of the tones, as well).