Job Discussion Forums

[canadian-girl]

I'm moving to Taiwan at the end of the month, and I've started to learn some basic Mandarin to help me along. I do plan to take lessons once I get to Taiwan but in the meantime, i have a month to learn what i can. Any suggestions on tapes or audio lessons i can get? I speak Japanese, and many other languages but i'm having a bit of trouble with pronunciation with Manadrin. I have no frame of reference on how the heck I'm supposed to say some words...Any advice?

[Taylor]

Dear CG,

Well, there is no one "perfect" way to pronounce Mandarin. If you say something in the standard Bei-jing dialect, many people in Taiwan will laugh at you. (In Taipei, might not be quite as much of an issue.) It is just sort of a mismatch...like using the Queen's English in Arkansas.

There is also no perfect way to Romanize Chinese words. If your book shows "thank you" as xie-xie, then it is using the system promoted in Mainland China. If it says, hsieh-hsieh....then it is using the system most widely used in Taiwan.

In my opinion, Chinese spoken in China has more of a guttural sound, produced lower in the throat. In Taiwan, the sounds depend more on movements of your lips and tongue.

Hope others will add a few comments!

Taylor

[Aristotle]

Try this one. It comes highly recommended.

http://www.opendoorbooks.com/pimsleur/about_Dr_Pimsleur.htm
Good luck,
A.

[TaoyuanSteve]

Where do you live in Canada? If you live in a major center, you could very easily get a conversation partner there. I come from Vancouver's lower mainland area. There are a lot of Taiwanese immigrants there. In fact, I was an adult instructor/ kids tutor for that particular community for several years before coming here (helped me decide to come here). I really should have tapped in to that resource. Also, although I'm not sure about your area, school districts often offer extremely cheap language courses through adult continuing ed (again I should have taken advantage-- it would have been even cheaper for me as I was a school district employee as well). Pimsleur Mandarin CDs are ok with one caveat, however. Taylor mentioned accents. The Pimsleur mandarin cds (I have them) are, for the most part, useful but remember that they are using the Beijing accent. People here will likely find it a bit quaint. I recently had a new teacher observing my class who had taken Chinese lessons in his home country. I told my students this, so they asked him, " Ni3 hui4 shuo1 zhong1 wen2 ma?" He answered, "yi4 dianr3." The students broke out laughing. Nothing wrong with his pronunciation. The addition of the "r" on the end of yi4 dian3 right away told the kids he was speaking "Beijing hua." Basically he was speaking in a Beijing accent which differs from the Taiwanese accent. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it may provoke laughter once in a while. Also, some words and useage are a bit different. You may want to watch out for that in your lessons.

[markholmes]

A problem also arises when you are learning mandarin in Taiwan (mandarin meaning standard Chinese). You may understand your teacher perfectly in the classroom (with her standard pronounciation) then you step outside and you can't understand a bloody word.

This is a bit off topic but I have tried to have conversations with Chinese in Thailand, but most don't understand mandarin, only Teochew, Hakka or Hokkien.

[TaoyuanSteve]

It gets easier re:understanding the Taiwanese. Once you gain a foothold in the language, the "Taiwan guo yu" accent becomes more intelligible. One good way to practice is to get in a cab. That guy will talk your ear off, guaranteed. And, because he likely comes from rural Taiwan and likely usually uses Taiwanese, he'll speak with the strongest accent you're likely to hear.

[canadian-girl]

thanks everyone. i'll be in taiwan in 3 weeks! so i dont have much time. I'm practicing out of my books and i guess i'll loearn more upon arrival! I'm really looking forward to it. I live in a big city in Edmonton, so I'll check out my other resources here.

[Big John Stud]

Hay canadian-girl I thought you were going to Nagoya, Japan! Maybe you made a better decision going to Taiwan instead! When did you change your mind! I think you will like it here better than Japan!
Good luck to you!

[canadian-girl]

Big John Stud - yes, u are correct. I had a contract in Hekinan Japan, but I have not heard back from them since I asked for teacher references(4 weeks ago!). So I figured something might not quite be right. I'm glad I didn't fly there before I did my checks. The school I have the contract with in Taiwan has been great! They put me in contact with one of their teachers who has been great, and I'm looking forward to meeting her. Every question I have had about Taiwan or the school, the school has been quick to help, and!....they gave me 5 reference emails of teachers that have or are working for them. So, I'm off to Taiwan now! Japan will hopefully be in my future travels and teaching!

[Fortigurn]