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Learning Chinese - an encouraging video

 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
62 messages over 8 pages: 13 4 5 6 7 8 Next >>
Captain Haddock
Diglot
Senior Member
Japan
kanjicabinet.tumblr.
Joined 6527 days ago

2282 posts - 2814 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek

 
 Message 9 of 62
11 September 2007 at 1:57am | IP Logged 
One of the Japanese-learning blogs, possibly Nihongo Jouzu, once had an article about a Chinese woman the blogger knew, who, over the course of 8 years in Japan, learned Japanese with a flawless native accent. People don't know she's Chinese until she tells them.

He discussed her learning technique as well, which involved a lot of shadowing and memorization.
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kinoko
Tetraglot
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Japan
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Speaks: Italian*, English, Japanese, Spanish
Studies: German

 
 Message 10 of 62
11 September 2007 at 2:38am | IP Logged 
As skeptical as I am of course I am not excluding such an achievement to be possible. On the contrary I have great interest and curiosity to know how those people managed to reach a native level of fluency to the point of being thought natives (their studying methods, their background, how long it took to get there and such details).
What I notice it's that most of the times those who get there are bilingual kids, or people who received formal education in that country since early age and not complete novices who start from scratch with their own means.
But I love to hear the stories of the few who actually succeded. Any info from the guy in the video?
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Keith
Diglot
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JapanRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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 Message 11 of 62
11 September 2007 at 3:19am | IP Logged 
How old is the guy? He looks about 28.
He probably has been studying Chinese for over 10 years.
I think, if you give yourself enough time and exposure, and if you remain aware of your speaking, you can acquire that kind of skill.

But is Chinese really all that different from English or German?
Certainly not as much as Japanese and Korean are.

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krtek
Groupie
United States
Joined 6869 days ago

46 posts - 50 votes
Speaks: Mandarin*
Studies: English, Italian, Cantonese

 
 Message 12 of 62
11 September 2007 at 7:48am | IP Logged 
Some info he wrote about himself on a CD review website:
http://www.sa-cd.net/showuser/2816

An incomplete biography of him(in Chinese):
http://newsradio.cri.cn/8383/2006/04/11/1568@579259.htm
According to this site, he started playing piano and cello when he was 5, entered "Conservatoire de Paris" in 1995 to study cello, got several titles in musical competitions between 1992 to 1997, started working as Chinese interpretor and tutor in France in 2001...
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maxb
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Sweden
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 Message 13 of 62
11 September 2007 at 8:31am | IP Logged 
kinoko wrote:

But being a professional musician and devoting all his time to music, going to China after receiving his formal education somewhere else and learning to speak like a native from zero only because he has a refined acustic sense (if that is the case), sorry guys but I don't believe in magic when it comes to language learning. There must be another reason why he can speak Chinese like a native.


Why must there? I can myself speak chinese pretty accurately with rather few tone mistakes. It is just a matter of a lot of listening to and imitating native speakers.

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Hencke
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Spain
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 Message 14 of 62
12 September 2007 at 7:22pm | IP Logged 
I just showed this video to a friend who is interested in, and knowledgeable about languages in general.

As he doesn´t know Chinese he couldn't comment on Julien's accent but he made an interesting observation: he thought Julien's body language appeared different from the two Chinese people on the program. He gesticulated less than they did, and in a different way, perhaps more European.

This of course in no way reflects on or detracts from Julien's accomplishment - mastering the language to such an awesome level is a major feat in any case. But I'd be curious to know if the rest of you, especially native Chinese speakers, agree with this or not. Is there anything obviously non-Chinese about his body language?

Edited by Hencke on 12 September 2007 at 7:24pm

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krtek
Groupie
United States
Joined 6869 days ago

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Speaks: Mandarin*
Studies: English, Italian, Cantonese

 
 Message 15 of 62
13 September 2007 at 1:16am | IP Logged 
Hencke wrote:
I just showed this video to a friend who is interested in, and knowledgeable about languages in general.

As he doesn´t know Chinese he couldn't comment on Julien's accent but he made an interesting observation: he thought Julien's body language appeared different from the two Chinese people on the program. He gesticulated less than they did, and in a different way, perhaps more European.

This of course in no way reflects on or detracts from Julien's accomplishment - mastering the language to such an awesome level is a major feat in any case. But I'd be curious to know if the rest of you, especially native Chinese speakers, agree with this or not. Is there anything obviously non-Chinese about his body language?


The amount of gestures of the male host(窦文涛) is more than average, which is even criticized by some people as "too much". Yes, I agree Julien's body language is kind of more European.

The great thing about his spoken language is that every subtle feature including rhythm, emphasis, selection of word/phrase, pause, even stutter is lively native style. This can only be learned by talking to natives. I don't think you can find it in languages learning tapes, which only teaches standard, sometimes "dull" language.
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krtek
Groupie
United States
Joined 6869 days ago

46 posts - 50 votes
Speaks: Mandarin*
Studies: English, Italian, Cantonese

 
 Message 16 of 62
13 September 2007 at 1:30am | IP Logged 
BTW, he learned Xiangsheng(相声, a traditional performing art, somewhat like western stand-up comedy). Here are two clips of his performance with arguably the most famous Xiangsheng actor, Ma Ji(马季):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGxa_7gPO2U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlKQwKLJwU4

Edited by krtek on 13 September 2007 at 1:54am



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