OK, this is all very interesting about different regional accents, but which one should I try to learn? I'm incredibly intrigued by the language and really want to learn it, but the fact is I have limited time to devote to it. While I'm trying to learn basic vocabulary, grammer and speech patterns, I don't feel I can spend the additional time to learn how all those aspects depend on accent. I just spent three weeks getting intensive study in Beijing. My tutor was from farther north than Beijing, so I did not learn the accent with the heavy R's. But I did work very hard to try to immitate her sounds exactly. Now I listen to ChinesePod, and words are being pronounced differently; in ways that my Beijing tutor would have corrected me for. So should I forget what I learned in Beijing and start over? Would Jenny "correct" my pronunciation if I said my words the way my Beijing tutor taught me?
Well now that I've gotten my frustration out, I guess I have to answer my own question: it's all part of learning a new language, right? If I'm willing to brave it without having known anything about regional accents, then I suppose adding that additional layer of complexity shouldn't make the task *that* much harder, right?
One specific question: I may end up learning a mix of the different accents, saying one word with one accent and another word with a different accent. Would that make it more difficult for a native speaker to understand me? Would I do better trying to stick to one accent? Thank you
Posted on: Regional Accents Part I
September 7, 2008 at 1:21 AMOK, this is all very interesting about different regional accents, but which one should I try to learn? I'm incredibly intrigued by the language and really want to learn it, but the fact is I have limited time to devote to it. While I'm trying to learn basic vocabulary, grammer and speech patterns, I don't feel I can spend the additional time to learn how all those aspects depend on accent. I just spent three weeks getting intensive study in Beijing. My tutor was from farther north than Beijing, so I did not learn the accent with the heavy R's. But I did work very hard to try to immitate her sounds exactly. Now I listen to ChinesePod, and words are being pronounced differently; in ways that my Beijing tutor would have corrected me for. So should I forget what I learned in Beijing and start over? Would Jenny "correct" my pronunciation if I said my words the way my Beijing tutor taught me?
Well now that I've gotten my frustration out, I guess I have to answer my own question: it's all part of learning a new language, right? If I'm willing to brave it without having known anything about regional accents, then I suppose adding that additional layer of complexity shouldn't make the task *that* much harder, right?
One specific question: I may end up learning a mix of the different accents, saying one word with one accent and another word with a different accent. Would that make it more difficult for a native speaker to understand me? Would I do better trying to stick to one accent? Thank you