Hiiro Yui Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4719 days ago 111 posts - 126 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese
| Message 337 of 407 10 May 2012 at 6:48am | IP Logged |
I looked back at the video where I spoke English and I can understand how it sounds like there's an s sound after some of my t's. That resemblance is unintentional; I think of it as an h sound that tells the listener that that was a t, not a d. The difference between my pronunciation of "to" and "tsoo" is clear to my ears (the s sound is stronger and longer). I should inform you that one of my front teeth isn't exactly in line with the others and a small whistle sound is often created. The sound quality of my camera's microphone may also be to blame. If I curl the tip of my tongue up in order to make a t sound, that s-like sound is diminished, but I swear it would be unnatural to make all of one's t sounds like that. It's like adding an extra motion to create (what I perceive to be) the same sound. Okay, I suppose it's possible I've been mis-hearing everyone around me (because I am indeed tone-deaf).
At about 6:00 in that video, when I said "it wasn't illegal" and "for them to fail to do the self-check" you can hear unintentional s sounds after the t's. Then I said "So, Asahi shimbun admits...". This is what I think an intentional ts sounds like.
I think Obama does the same thing. Listen to how he says "time" in this video at 0:20.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nIFExKIhLA&feature=relmfu
I think that no matter where in your mouth you pronounce a t sound, when you release it there will be a momentary friction sound. The more slowly you release it, the more obvious it becomes.
In this video, I tried to pronounce sh and t sounds better. When I try to make Japanese t's, that friction sometimes sounds like a light th sound to me (or am I doing it wrong?).
http://youtu.be/oRoKTSTMtKo
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Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5383 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian
| Message 338 of 407 11 May 2012 at 3:41am | IP Logged |
I uploaded the TV programme to my Youtube channel:
Word Play
(I would have liked to upload an HD version but the file I was provided is only in
720x480 format.)
Edited by Arekkusu on 11 May 2012 at 3:42am
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Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5383 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian
| Message 339 of 407 11 May 2012 at 5:15pm | IP Logged |
Interesting discussion about the show -- and about the idea that talent for languages may or may not exist -- here.
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tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4667 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian
| Message 340 of 407 11 May 2012 at 6:07pm | IP Logged |
I definitely think that a talent for languages exists. It seems to me that the denial of talent's existence has become increasingly popular (not just with respect to language).
I have also noticed that people will readily acknowledge that there is variation on the "low" end of the talent spectrum -- speaking or language processing disorders of varying severity, all the way down to some people never learning to speak at all -- but are much less likely to acknowledge comparable variation on the high end. As if everyone "tops out" at "no pathology" or slightly above.
Edited by tastyonions on 11 May 2012 at 6:23pm
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Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5383 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian
| Message 341 of 407 20 May 2012 at 7:20am | IP Logged |
A quick update -- I haven't posted in a week... Really busy with work, so little time
for languages.
-I continue to watch a video in Spanish and one in German on Yabla every morning.
-I sometimes review Japanese sentences on Anki.
-I've been reading an old Japanese vocabulary book I bought in Japan
(にほんごことばじてん) which holds about 1000 basic
words, but which also happens to contain pitch markings - highly recommended if you're
a beginner or want to review while learning pitch.
-I continue to meet with a language partner once a week; my main partner now has a job
working long hours and I haven't been able to see her for the last 2 weeks :( Very
disappointing, but such is life.
And, for a change, I'm starting private Mandarin lessons this week! I studied some
Mandarin before, but that was 20 years ago. Normally, I'd study on my own, but since I
don't really have time to study, this tutor will come and teach me at home while my
wife is having her Japanese class (and I never do anything during that time anyway).
My first video about Japanese pitch accent should be available soon -- the script is
ready, just haven't gotten around to recording it. I had native speakers check it for
accuracy and they confirmed my pronunciation of the words and sentences I present. I
wish I had all the proper equipment to do it well though. My Youtube channel is
kanadanoarekkusu.
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druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4870 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian
| Message 342 of 407 20 May 2012 at 3:04pm | IP Logged |
Great TV segment. Thanks for sharing! I hope that Geschwind-Galaburda hypothesis is true (minus the part about having to be male), because that would bode well for my language learning. :D I loved seeing the enthusiasm of all the polyglots when they/you were talking about studying languages.
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Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5383 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian
| Message 343 of 407 21 May 2012 at 2:42pm | IP Logged |
My very first video is now available on Youtube. It's the first in a series of videos I plan to make on Japanese
Pitch Accent.
What is Japanese Pitch Accent?
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Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5568 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish
| Message 344 of 407 21 May 2012 at 3:57pm | IP Logged |
Gracias por compartir ese video Arekkusu, muy interesante y no puedo creer cuántas lenguas que habla ese chico
de Nueva York, qué impresionante y sólo de dieciséis años. Le hace uno pensar que sí hay algo más de sólo trabajo
duro.
Que todo te vaya bien.
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