Chinese people have their own distinctive accent. Somehow, I think it is quite similar to Vietnamese's accent. We tend to not emphasize important words by stressing on them in our sentences. Maybe because Vietnam and China are so close to each other. However, despite of having similar English accents, it is still hard to understand what a Chinese/Vietnamese people says in English.
For quite a long time, I have realized stressing and expressing tones in English is very important for making the listener understands what you say. English is like a series of songs that people remember in their head. Sometime, they do not have to clearly hear the words in order to get the meaning because the rhythms of each sentence, each semantic structure in English is mostly unique. Through the years of growing up in an English environment, people learned those rhythms by heart.
As a Vietnamese, I also understand how hard it is to learn them. I have not use that kind of sounding before in my entire life until now. However, I am trying to practice them everyday by hearing what US citizens (I avoid the word American because America is a continent) say and try to mimic them when I can. Some people advised me to practice in front of a mirror but I firmly go against that. Practicing in front of a mirror means that you will not have a proper English sentence to mimic and most likely, you will master a wrong accent. Therefore, I try to talk to people as much as I can for the sake of improving my accent. My inner desire is that everyone understand me well and not giving me a hard time of explaining everything all over again.
I still like British accent more than US citizen's accents though. They sound quite exquisite and noble, which suit my personality.
Sounds like you have a plan! Another strategy you can use to work on intonation and stress is imitating a native speaker's talk. For example, you can go to http://www.ted.com/, pick a speech you like, and identify a 1-minute excerpt that you would like to mimic. Each video contains an interactive transcript, from which you can choose an excerpt. Practice the following: listen-pause-repeat after the speaker multiple times. At this point, pronounce the bits of phrases much slower than the speaker. Try to articulate distinctly, in an exaggerated manner. When you feel pretty confident, move on to the most exciting/challenging step: Play the 1-minute excerpt and try to pronounce the phrases synchronously with the speaker. Don’t get upset if you can’t match the pace. Do that multiple times—you might not get perfect, but you will definitely get better!
ReplyDeleteI will be interested to hear about your progress. You can use the blog to track and reflect on your achievements.
I will get better. Thank you for the suggestion. I will try that also. But still, I think I need to talk more with real people so they can give me feedback. This is hard for such an introvert antisocial nerd like me.
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