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leosmith -

I’ve been using online tutorials to learn pronunciations/tones. Unfortunately, there are some
discrepancies. Here are some questions.

1. I’ve heard it’s best to learn the Beijing accent. What do you think?
2. Is ‘c’ pronounced more like ‘ts’ or ‘h’? Different sites have different
pronunciations.
3. Should I use this dictionary http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php
to resolve any accent questions?

Thanks,
Leo



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Gulao -

1. You shouldn't learn the thicker Beijing accent, IMO. It can get to be just as unclear as any
other accent. Ultimately, you should look up the "standard" pronunciations and make sure that each
letter sounds like that. For instance, don't try to pronounce 学生 as 学儿生. You'll still
get a bit of rhoticity at the end of xue, that way, but it will definitely sound more standard.

2. C is pronounded ts. Stop reading whatever source tells you that it is pronounced h.

3. That dictionary seems fine to me.










leosmith -

Thanks Gulao,

1. Actually, I'm just beginning, so I don't know any characters yet. According to the dictionary,
学生(student) = xue2sheng5. For the mispronounced word, which of these do you mean: 学儿生 =
xue2er2sheng5 or xue2er5sheng5?

2. The "c sounds like h" thing came from a syllable table. Do you, or anyone else, know of a site
with a complete syllable table, including tones, that has good pronunciation? I've been using 3
different tables, all connected to
http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/online.htm
One has correct pronunciation (I think), but is all in the first tone. The other two are complete,
but have incorrect pronunciation (I suspect it's a messed up recording). I just want to try to
read the pinyin, and click to hear the answer. These tables are great for that, but I need them to
have correct pronunciation.

3. I love that dictionary, but I notice it locks up when I check a lot of pronunciations. Do you
know of another one that has pronunciation on it? Is there a really popular chinese dictionary
site? There's sort of a master dictionary for Japanese
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/c...wwwjdic.cgi?1C
so I wonder about Chinese.










imron -

This is probably what you're looking for.










leosmith -

Thanks imron. Not bad, but I hope to find something a little faster like one of these:
http://www. /showthread.php?t=12997










Gulao -



Quote:

Actually, I'm just beginning, so I don't know any characters yet. According to the dictionary,
学生(student) = xue2sheng5. For the mispronounced word, which of these do you mean: 学儿生 =
xue2er2sheng5 or xue2er5sheng5?

The second one tends to be romanised as, xuer2sheng5. The 儿 is used in text to indicate
rhoticity, or the r-colored finals, in the Beijing dialect. This romanisation is also used in
yi1dianr3 (一点儿), ger1 (哥儿), wanr2 (玩儿), etc.










Craig -

Living in Beijing and studying in Beijing i still find it easier to understand, and now talk in, a
southern accent. When i started i stuck very dilligently the beijing pronunciation but the longer
i studied the easier it got to stop retroflexing r's.

I'd say start with learning the "standard" way to pronounce words and as you study more and are
exposed to more materials (videos, music, people) from other parts of china one you will find
easier than others to replicate. That is the one you will most likely end up speaking more like.










Yang Rui -

IMHO, it's best to learn standard Putonghua and not try to adopt any kind of regional accent.
There's nothing more cringeworthy than hearing a foreigner attempting to talk in an over-the-top
Beijing accent.

Putonghua has rules about which words take a retroflex "r" and which don't. In Beijing, the "r"
sound is added to words that technically should not have an"r" ending in Putonghua. In the south
of China, the "r" sound is left off words that should have an "r" ending. Neither is standard
Putonghua.

Unfortunately, the noble goal of trying to learn standard Putonghua is undermined by the fact that
almost no one speaks it in daily life (although as it is based on the Beijing dialect, i think
more people in the north of China speak standard Putonghua). So if you learn by talking to Chinese
people, you will undoubtedly pick up their non-standard habits, and may end up with a slight
regional accent.

Ultimately, the aim is to be understood by as many people as possible, and i think aiming for
standard Putonghua is the best way to achieve this. Which i suppose is a roundabout way of
agreeing with Gulao that you should not learn a heavy Beijing accent.










leosmith -



Quote:

IMHO, it's best to learn standard Putonghua and not try to adopt any kind of regional accent.

Ok, I'm convinced. So how do I make sure my learning materials are "standard" Putonghua?










roddy -

All learning materials - ie textbooks, associated recordings, etc are going to be standard
Putonghua, almost by definition. If you are using stuff like movies, TV shows, etc for study
purposes you might want to check what kind of accents they feature, but you'll have to take those
one by one.












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