suMMit 202 Report post Posted May 13, 2020 What do you think of this guys pron? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2TsiE3R4iI&list=WL&index=11&t=30s I think it's excellent. It does't sound totally over the top "Beijing Newscaster Chinese", you can still tell he‘s a 老外 but it sounds natural and doesn't hurt or strain the ears. He's also got a pretty good youtube channel mostly I guess geared towards elementary. I like listening to learners who have excellent pronunciation, I feel like I gain something from shadowing them as well as natives. This guy also usually features various cohosts that are absolute hotties😻 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tomsima 1,257 Report post Posted May 13, 2020 Sounds fairly unnatural to me, in the sense that he's prepared what he wants to say, and so does sound a bit stilted. Not taking anything away from the guy, speaks well, but he's definitely within the attainable advanced level. I personally would advise against shadowing his pronunciation, but go ahead if that's what works for you Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flickserve 1,080 Report post Posted May 13, 2020 Personally I wouldn’t shadow from him. For instance, if he’s two steps away from sounding native, if I were to copy him, perhaps there’s going to be more variation in my pronunciation especially for some of the tones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan Finster 292 Report post Posted May 13, 2020 4 hours ago, suMMit said: This guy also usually features various cohosts that are absolute hotties😻 If I were you, I would enjoy the eye candy, but not shadow him or any other non-natives (e.g. Luke from Mandarin Blueprint). I like Ben's grammar explanations. He has some good videos on Youtube. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
suMMit 202 Report post Posted May 13, 2020 Yeah I agree with you guys. Saying I shadow him was a bit of an overstatement. But sometimes seeing a laowai pronouncing a particular word or phrase that I find difficult somehow helps me. But I'd be pretty happy if I reached that overall level. 51 minutes ago, Jan Finster said: Luke from Mandarin Blueprint His pron is some of the best laowai pron I've heard. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan Finster 292 Report post Posted May 13, 2020 7 minutes ago, suMMit said: His pron is some of the best laowai pron I've heard. I would not argue that his pronunication is great, but it is still likely not native. For instance, I know hardly any non-native English speaker, who speaks English with a native intonation, word stress and sentence stress, etc. (No matter how "fluent" they are, no matter, if they do not have an accent, no matter how big their vocabulary is). I assume there are subtle nuances that us learners cannot even pick up on at the learning stage we are at. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lu 3,171 Report post Posted May 13, 2020 His Chinese is good, but something in his intonation, or the way that he speaks at the back of his mouth, makes him sound a bit like an old man in the park playing chess. Not that that is bad, but he is young. And I agree about not shadowing him. His intonation is clear and 100% understandable, but still laowai. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
realmayo 1,827 Report post Posted May 13, 2020 Interesting Lu that you mention how he speaks from the back of his mouth. I like how he avoids the over-earnest speaking from the throat style that lots of native English speakers, myself included, tend towards when speaking Chinese. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
feihong 572 Report post Posted May 13, 2020 He’s perfectly understandable but something about his tones doesn’t sound very natural. It feels like there maybe isn’t as much of a drop in pitch on the fourth tone. Basically, he speaks well but with a noticeable accent. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
