Tones and pronunciation becoming more difficult?

[wushucrab20]

Has anyone ever noticed this happening over time? I once thought that I was really stable in terms of hitting all the right tones and my pronunciation being very clear. But lately, especially over the past 6 months I have noticed that Pronuciation has started to become more difficult than before and I have to deliberately make corrections. Not only do tones come out wrong more often, but my pronunciation is not as clear or sometimes even wrong (for example I go to say 确保 and it comes out 确表）. I notice immediately, but just can't believe it is happening。

 

My fluency in general has always varied ever since I came back from china, but I've never had this problem before and it is quite discouraging. It makes me wonder if spending all my time practicing interpreting and not talking much with other people is the main cause. I used to spend hours every day reading out loud from text books and imitating shows or interviews, and I rarely have time to do any of that anymore. However I have on occasion and sat down for 30 minutes, reading Chinese very loudly, entirely focused on clarity and pronunciation accuracy and by the end of the session my pronunciation recovers quite well, but it rarely lasts beyond a few hours and never until the next day. At this point if I do that type of exercise it feels like I'm starting from scratch every day! Does anyone have any recommendations? Has anyone else been through a similar phase? It is a bit discouraging, and makes me even less willing to talk to native speakers because I start to feel self conscious about it. If I even stumble for a second in a conversation, or show slight hesitation Chinese native speakers reflexively revert to english, no matter how good my Chinese is which is also really frustrating. Its like I have to remain at the fluency level of a native speaker at all times in order for the majority of native speakers not to hesitate to speak to me in Chinese, and that is becomingly increasingly difficult.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Lumbering Ox]

Chinese seems to be one of those languages where you need to use the skillset and on a regular basis or you lose it. I suppose if you get to a very advanced level [near native] it isn't so much.

 

I have heard such with regard to reading. I'd be surprised if it didn't apply to something as foreign to a westerner as tones.

[陳德聰]

My first thought was that you are actually getting better at listening so you're noticing your mistakes more. However, this would probably only be possible if you're still interacting with the language often.

[dtcamero]

japanese is absolutely a tonal language. trying to say arigatou gozaimasu with correct 抑揚 takes several years. obviously it's different from chinese and the assignment of tonality is contextual rather than on a per-character basis, but I think maybe if you focus more on japanese tonality it will help strengthen the wall between the two languages in your head. i'm working on similar issues, goodluck.

[wushucrab20]

@dtcamero -  I suppose, although it really is quite different and doesn't affect the meaning of words in japanese nearly as often as Chinese if a tone mistake is made. It is good to know I'm not the only one who finds it difficult.

[muyongshi]

Honestly, I feel like most things with Chinese come in phases. It could simply just be a weird season you're going through. Just keep practicing when you can, keep speaking (not speaking to native speakers is definitely not your solution) and just see how things work out in several months or even a year. Take it in stride....

And if for some reason this decline is linked to alcohol consumption, well, that's a pretty simple fix

[歐博思]

Conversely, if an increase is linked to alcohol consumption...