Listening to lessons at 80% speed

To each their own, but I wouldn't do this. If anything, you'll find that Chinese people speak faster than the dialogues, not slower. I would rather listen to something at full speed repeatedly (while looking at a printed copy of what's being said) than listen to the slowed down version -- after all, if you can understand something fast then you can understand it slow, but not vice versa.

I'm from Georgia, and most of us can't understand a yankee because they talk too fast. Learning Spanish was tough because it's just a fast speaking culture. I'm not sure of another language that speaks as slow as Southern US or Aussie, but maybe that's more up our alley. :)

Hi AeFlow and JohnB, I think it's a neat option. I agree with JohnB that listening to natural-speeds are most valuable, but then again one can't eat prime-rib every day. Sometimes slowly digesting a potato is good too. And I do think it may be a gap-bridger tool, I may try this with some of the advanced, with the text in front of me, slowed down, and 'analysis'. Later, I'd listen again at natural speed. Sometime ago, someone explained how to record with a build in WindowsXP utility, can someone point me there. I feel like recording myself these days.

johnb, When having a conversation with Chinese people, they will rarely hand you a transcript beforehand of what they're about to say. So if listening to audio at reduced speed is "cheating", then surely reading a printed copy while listening is even worse. Like many people (I suspect), my reading ability is better than my listening comprehension. So if you're reading while listening, it's not listening comprehension at all -- the reason you understand it because you're reading it. I find I don't have much patience for listening to material I can't follow, so listening at reduced speed is sometimes an alternative to not listening to it at all. If something is too fast to follow, listening to it repeatedly rarely helps, for me anyway. In all cases, I look at transcripts only afterward.

i agree with ya aeflow... as learners of language, we should accustom ourselves to the natural pace of the language. if you don't understand at first, it's ok... just like when i watch TV in china... why do they speak so fast???? especially on a talk show or something where 5 people are trying to throw in points and jokes at the same time... but i realized that i have to get used to it. Since my reading is much better than listening as well, one thing I found myself doing is cheating by looking at the subtitles...but remember... when you have a REAL conversation with chinese people, there are no subtitles!!! ;)

aeflow, the point of reading the transcript while you're listening is so that you can understand what you're listening to, and pick the new words and phrases out of the full-speed dialogue. Yes, it's cheating for the dialogue, but you're training your ears so that when you don't have the transcript you'll still be able to pick out the words and phrases. If you listen to the dialogue slowed down, you aren't training your ears to understand things at speed. I think this is a pretty substantial difference.

"If you listen to the dialogue slowed down, you aren't training your ears to understand things at speed." I don't think you're making much sense John. One of the nice things about being human is that you can master things at slower speeds and naturally speed up as you improve. There's nothing wrong with driving around a parking lot before you hit the expressway.

Well johnb, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. When having a conversation with someone, you can always request that they speak a little slower. In fact many people will instinctively do so when they see you reacting with lack of comprehension, or just out of habit when talking to foreigners. On the other hand, asking someone to start writing to you in mid-conversation is more problematic. So listening to slightly-slowed-down speech is actually useful in real-life situations, perhaps even an everyday occurrence in daily life. Reading a transcript simultaneously while listening, on the other hand, is usually an artificial circumstance that occurs mostly in learning situations, although watching a TV program with both Chinese dialog and subtitles might be one example.

OK, fair enough. I know when I've been beaten. :)

@ Lantian to record audio with the XP audiorecording program 1. press the windowslogo-button on your keybord/ click on the startbutton at the bottom of the left side of the desktop. 2. choose utilitis at the all programms tag 3. start the audiorecorder from the entertainment media list. 4. get ready to record and click the recordbutton (it has a red dot in the middle) ;-)

I do think something like this would be very valuable for those facing the elementary/ intermediate gap - it could provide a way of bridging it with the banter. On an iPod you can do this with audiobooks, but as far as I can see there's no way to convince your iPod that a ChinesePod file is an audiobook. (Which is really annoying, actually - why can't I have the same playback options with any file?! Oh well.)

johnb, There's no right and wrong for an issue like this, which is why learning is always "on your terms". Different things work for different people. For instance, various people have wildly praised the "Reading and Writing Chinese" book by William McNaughton, and although I've never seen the point of a "stamp-collection album" of Chinese characters, it obviously works for a lot of people. I've started using spaced repetition software (Mnemosyne specifically) based in part on your account of how it worked for you. So, some of the things you say do make sense :)

大家好的人们 WMP preserves the pitch and the tempo。 This can help your brain pick up language patterns。。。 On the other hand， you miss some detail on tone。

I think everyone here has a point. Certainly, the end goal is to understand natural language at natural speeds. That said, one needs to have comprehensible input. If input isn't comprehensible, one might as well listen to the dialogues of actual chipmunks. If slowing down a dialogue aids in comprehension, at least on the first time through, so much the better. It's merely another tool, like transcripts, having a person repeat what they've just said more slowly, hand gestures, pictures, context, etc.

I think it should be used as a kind of joker: first time listening to the normal speed and it is to fast, listen again. Second time listening and you didn´t get it, slow it down. That should work out for everyone I guess. But if the tones get changed and you hear mickey mouse you should know that that´s not helping you (if you don´t only look out for a little fun ) :-)

I agree with Laodai. If you like to listen at 80% speed, go ahead. It's an aid to comprehension and it will certainly not hurt. (In fact I'd recommend it.) I'm not obsessed by any need to listen to natural speed - it's not always essential. The key lies (again) in your synapses: linking the sound to a meaning, and storing it for future retrieval (in the form of your interlanguage). It doesn't matter if that sound-to-meaning connection gets there by means of slow enunciation or by something faster - the point is that you acquire it (at the comprehension level). Later when you encounter it again you will be able to identify it (to literally) make the connection. Further practice, then, will allsow you to both recognize it and produce it. This is the constructivist view and one I would essentially subscribe to. (Why am I using so many parentheses in this post?)

Parenthetically, I'd like to add (with some provisos, qualifiers (and obfuscations) and assorted other miscellanea (albeit, not essential ones) that I totally agree with Ken (who just came back from holiday (vacation, in Murka) and might be missing a comma, a semicolon (or worse, a colon) from his stint in the unreality of Vacation-land) : welcome back to the land of syntax; the isle of usage; and the gaol (jail) of prescriptive punctuation)!

As in any form of learning, practice slowly and correctly and the speed will develop itself. Learner drivers have speed restrictions for example. I can say wo shenjingbing very quickly now.

我神经病!

I mostly use audacity for working with audio (helium effect and speedchangeing is realy fun)