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  • when a Chinese person speaks English they often have a Chinese accent, but what does this mean?

  • there is no one Chinese language, within China people speak a variety of different languages and dialects

  • but there are some general accent features that most Chinese people have when speaking English

  • in this video I'm going to show you some of those features

  • and I'm going to be using clips of actor Jackie Chan to show you what I mean

  • languages have restrictions on where consonants can be and how many consonants are allowed to be together in a word

  • Chinese languages usually don't like consonants at the ends of words or multiple consonants together

  • so when a Chinese person speaks English, they may unconsciously keep to these restrictions

  • for example

  • if an English word ends in two consonants the final consonant may be deleted to avoid multiple consonants being together

  • listen to how Jackie Chan says jump, stunt, and script. He deletes the final consonant

  • the same process happens in the middle of a word. In the word action we've got a /k/ and a /ʃ/ sound

  • Jackie Chan deletes the /k/, so action becomes action

  • listen to this next clip and also notice how he deletes the final consonant sound of audience and world

  • it can also happen at the beginning of a word

  • so Bruce Lee becomes simplified to Buce Lee.

  • if one word ends in a consonant and the next word begins with a consonant

  • Chinese speakers may insert a vowel to break up this consonant sequence

  • listen to Jackie Chan say

  • his stunt

  • bus station and this script

  • notice how he inserts a vowel sound

  • Chinese has a very different rhythm compared to English

  • a Chinese speaker tends to stress more syllables in a sentence compared to an English speaker

  • this may give the impression of a flat, staccato rhythm

  • listen to Jackie Chan

  • he's stressing most of the words in the sentence equally, whereas I would only stress the most important words, for example:

  • the first time I met Chris Tucker we tried to make Rush Hour 1

  • Dark Ls in English are Ls with no vowel sound after them

  • when a Chinese person says a Dark L, they may turn it into a vowel sound

  • listen to me say roll

  • and table

  • now listen to Jackie Chan

  • and when Jackie Chan says too old it sounds like to owe

  • because the final consonant is deleted and then the L turns into a vowel

  • when a word ends with an N sound, it may be deleted or turned into an NG /ŋ/ sound by a Chinese speaker

  • the vowel before may be nasalised

  • listen to me say question, when, champion

  • now listen to Jackie Chan

  • /w/ and /v/ are two sounds that a Chinese person may confuse when speaking in English

  • so with and walk may be pronounced with a /v/ sound instead

  • the terms voiced and voiceless

  • describe whether a sound is made with the vocal folds vibrating or not

  • if you make a long /v/ sound you can feel your vocal folds vibrating inside your larynx

  • if you make a long F sound, it's not vibrating

  • when a Chinese person speaks in English voiced sounds at the ends of words tend to become voiceless, so live

  • becomes lif

  • the voiced B in grab sounds more like a voiceless P sound

  • and the voiced D sound in said and Brad is turned into a glottal stop

  • a glottal stop is made when the vocal folds quickly close inside the larynx

  • it sounds like the vowel is stopped suddenly, so said and Brad turn into saiʔ Braʔ

  • there are a few accent features that are specific to certain languages and dialects within China, so not every Chinese speaker will have problems

  • there may be confusions between an N and an L sound

  • when Jackie Chan says another

  • the first time he uses an N and the second time, it sounds closer to an L

  • some speakers may mix up Ls and Rs

  • so when Jackie Chan says far away notice how the R sounds closer to an L sound

  • for some speakers, /ʃ/ sounds will turn into /s/ sounds

  • this means words like English and Schwarzenegger

  • will turn into Englis and Swarzenegger

  • these are just some of the features that create a Chinese accents in English

  • of course, there are others including vowel sounds but I don't have time to cover everything in one video

  • if you've enjoyed this video, then please like it and share it with your Chinese friends

  • if you're a non-native English speaker and you want to improve your English pronunciation

  • then take my online English pronunciation course

  • go to my website to find out more

when a Chinese person speaks English they often have a Chinese accent, but what does this mean?

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    Summer 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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