|
 |
different gender and native voices | ||
Tags: Gender | Voice Recordings | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Polyglot2005 Senior Member United States Joined 7199 days ago 184 posts - 185 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 11 10 December 2006 at 5:15pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I assume there would be some amount of difficulty and complication in learning a language where your target audio (tapes, CDs or person) is a native but not of your gender. Just curious as to peoples thoughts on this. I've read certain things stating that you should not learn from another gender for the social implications/repercussions ( i.e. natives would find it amusing and not take you seriously).
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7026 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 11 10 December 2006 at 5:37pm | IP Logged | ||
Interesting. Do you have a reference for this? I wouldn't have thought that the gender you're listening to makes that much of a difference. In my case, hearing a woman speak won't affect my own voice or intonation. I've watched French in Action but I would never say that my French is like Mireille's. Edited by patuco on 10 December 2006 at 5:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Polyglot2005 Senior Member United States Joined 7199 days ago 184 posts - 185 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 11 10 December 2006 at 5:45pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Patuco, I will try to dig up the reference for where I read that statement. I think the statement was referring to a male learning strictly from a native female voice. I will go dig up that quote.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| johntothea Senior Member United States Joined 6639 days ago 193 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Russian, Norwegian, Polish, French | Message 4 of 11 10 December 2006 at 6:10pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Well in my opinion, if you should listen to speakers of both genders, but more of people of your own gender. Especially in french, when it seems men and women sound very different from each other. I'm sure it would be very amusing for a native speaker to listen to people speaking like the opposite gender too =]
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Timbaland Newbie United States Joined 6578 days ago 36 posts - 41 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 11 10 December 2006 at 8:34pm | IP Logged | ||
|
In my experience, I've actually preferred the speaker to be female - particularly when listening to an audio program that requires lots of repetition. The higher frequencies and more varied intonation make it easier to pick up the prosody, as well as to catch crucial things like prefixes or suffixes. You aren't going to sound like a woman simply because you learn from one any more than you'll grow muscles if you hang out with weightlifters. Above all, I find it most important to receive a lot of input. Whether it comes from males or females isn't as important.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Katie Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6729 days ago 495 posts - 599 votes Speaks: English*, Hungarian Studies: French, German | Message 6 of 11 10 December 2006 at 11:09pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I think the only difference really would be mannerisms...?? I like to hear both males and females speaking a language I am learning. It is much easier that way - sometimes I misunderstand what one says, but can clearly hear it when the other says it (just the way the people recorded talk I guess).
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6779 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 7 of 11 11 December 2006 at 1:34am | IP Logged | ||
|
In general, I find Japanese women much easier to understand than men. It might have something to do with vocal pitch, as well as the fact that (Japanese) men often slur or talk extremely fast. Edited by Captain Haddock on 11 December 2006 at 1:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6593 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 8 of 11 11 December 2006 at 4:55am | IP Logged | ||
|
I think this depends on the target language. Interestingly enough, I've heard (though I have no idea, myself) that especially in Japanese, men and women speak differently, using different intonation patterns, or something (can't remember exactly). That would probably mean that learning exclusively from women if you're a guy might make you sound feminine. I would expect this to be stronger in more gender segregated cultures than in others.
1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
