Sun 19 Aug 2007
What I sound like in Cantonese
Posted by 馬先生 under Cantonese
I used to think that if I spoke quickly I would sound more fluent. As shocked as I was, I recorded my voice and couldn’t understand 1 word I said. As soon as I slowed down making clear sounds for each character I sounded much better, but still sounded like a “gwai lou”.
When I speak English, I tend to join words together so that 3 or so words are slurred into 1 word. I wasn’t even aware I did the same thing in Cantonese until I listened to myself.
When I’m speaking, it sounds awesome. From my own ears my Cantonese sounds like a native and I felt quite happy with my accent, intonations and fluency.
After listening to myself via the computer, I simply sounded like an Australian English speaker talking gibberish. My accent was so foreign from Hong Kong people’s and I spoke at 5 or so different speeds in the 1 single sentence.
It amazes me that I can converse with people for hours and they manage to understand 99% of what I’m saying, though I can’t understand myself when I listen to it. I was going to upload myself speaking some Cantonese but now feel totally ashamed.
Completely depressed.
Hong Kong
August 19th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Honestly Milan, you sound *fine*. What else do you want me to say? XD
Not every native speaker has an extremely exaggerated Hong Kong accent, and native speakers pause and speak at different speeds all the time no matter what their native language.
Considering you speak so well that native speakers are happy to speak to you as if you were a native, I don’t think you have anything to be ashamed of.
August 21st, 2007 at 9:47 pm
I think that you should see this as a challenge (not a setback). Turn your apparent weakness into a strength. You have focussed on vocabulary acquisition and intensive listening skills. Now its time to concentrate on your pronounciation and accent so that it is at an equivalent level to your proficiency in the other language components (ie. listening, speaking, vocab, grammar, etc).
August 22nd, 2007 at 7:13 am
Hi Milan.
I’ve already made the same mistake.I once recorded myself reading a text aloud.It did sound good to me,not like a native speaker,but still good.However, when I listened to the recording I got totally depressed as well. Recording ourselves may be useful in the sense that we can evaluate our progress in the language,but the immediate effect is just a big frustration.
Maybe you should just keep on,without caring too much about the way you sound. I realize that at the beginning, a native accent seems like an insurmountable obstacle,but slowly by slowly your pronunciation and accent will gradually improve,and eventually you’ll be speaking almost like a native.Remember when you first started learning Cantonese.I am pretty sure that now you sound way better than at that time.And similarly,1 or 2 years later you will definitly sound much better than you do now.
PS: this new SBS story is pretty cool.Thanks for postting it!
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:48 am
Milan,
How many times do I have to tell you that you are too hard on yourself? hehe. Your Cantonese is great… Keep up the good work!
I hate listening to myself in English or in Cantonese… some people just do…
August 25th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Hey, you should still upload it. It may be an inspiration for someone who speaks far worse. They will be able to learn from your tiny mistakes. Maybe someone else (like me) doesn’t even realise they are making those same mistakes.
September 15th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
i can understand the whole clip, but i cannnt hear u last sentence 吃不到的葡萄是酸的
Maybe, u speak a bit faster. So i can’t hear each word clearly.