Participation
in Pronunciation challenge, December 2020
36 minutes 0.6h
Recorded a video. I had to listen to it, and noted where I made pronunciation mistakes (somehow always easier to hear when listening over instead of in the moment.
This morning, I shadowed some of the sentences in the first episode of 圆桌派. (didn't note the time, which is seemly my theme for the challenge this time. Still I remain happy with what I've been able to do this month.
30 minutes 0.5h
A 60-minute chat with my friend who just finished her quarantining on her return to China. The focus wasn't really pronunciation, but I suppose I was clear enough in communicating my ideas to her. We mainly talked about my lockdown and quarantining experiences in recent times.
43 minutes 0.72h
A long conversation with my language partner. She corrected any major pronunciation issues incl. 兵人 for 病人 (捂脸)
21 minutes 0.35h
I spent time reading the BBC 中文 article on Biden's cabinet aloud. Gained some politic specific vocabulary (which the general meaning can be gleaned from the context, but me being me, and this being a pronunciation challenge, I had to find out for sure) incl:
内阁nei4ge2
国务卿guo2wu4qing
27 minutes 0.45h
Today I worked from a book called 初中语文:基础知识. The first chapter goes through words that students may read incorrectly. I reviewed the words that I had already put into Anki. Then added 20 more words, of course, noting and working on pronunciation. [I did other work in this but it is linked to meaning, and vocabulary building and so didn't add this to the time.]
I have also been singing Chinese versions of songs from Frozen II because I love them and a listening session of songs that I intend to learn in the future. [Also not added to the time, because the time wasn't structured for pronunciation practice specifically.]
I personally really like "Into the Unknown" 《寻找真相》and "Show Yourself" 《显出真的你》.
59 minutes 0.98h
Finished off the last part of the fable. I was happy with the flow of my most recent recording. I think I will send it to a friend to see what they think. I also went over parts of the story as a kind of review. Everything just flows out of my mouth more naturally. (The number of times I have said this over the last three days, I almost know it by heart haha). I'm going to record the whole thing in the last week of the challenge too, I think.
I have other fables to go through but I'm thinking of giving myself a break with tongue twisters and/or songs. (If that can be considered a break).
15 minutes 0.25h
A read over of the last part of the fable. I was working on smoothing over 生死存亡...again.
54 minutes 0.9h
More listening, mimicking, practising, recording the next part of the Frog and the Battling Bulls fable. Anything I couldn't get the intonation right for I started humming it so that I could remember the tune and then fit the words back in when I felt happy with them. Listening back to my first take recording makes me cringe, but I can already hear a huge difference.
I found phrases like 寻找藏身之所 interesting to pronounce.
15 minutes 0.25h
I worked on the recording some more because I couldn't leave it alone 555
27 minutes 0.45h
Listen to recording over and over, with shadowing. Breaking it up chunk by chunk if necessary. Recorded the first part of the fable and already happy to see improvement from earlier on today. I was able to speak with more emotion and I can see why some parts of the text were stressed over other parts. It's quite fun because the narrator is quite animated and outgoing; I find it fun to emulate that because I tend to be slightly more reserved. Looking forward to tomorrow.
15 minutes 0.25h
Working on shadowing the audio. Trying to smooth over any stumbling blocks I come across along the way, to sound as close to the audio as possible. I think the biggest one 生死存亡 today.
15 minutes 0.25h
Going through 《青蛙与公牛之战》. A friend recommended that I record it at first look and then again after practice to see my progress if any. I'm glad to have kept this session shorter so I can a few more later on today. For now, I have worked on the meaning of the text (while reading aloud). I have found an audio. So fun times ahead for the next session.
63 minutes 1.05h
I only meant to spend half the time on this but I found it quite fun. However, my jaw is tired so I will definitely endeavour to cut my practice time into smaller chunks going forward. I was working on reading 《伊索与无赖》from Aesop's Fables. I found two audios for it and picked the one I preferred. I listened and shadowed until I was eventually able to record my own version.
It is quite interesting spending time on intonation and stress (to speak with feeling, I guess). I'm looking forward to the progress I will make in the coming weeks.
Challenge time progress: | |
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Goal progress: |
Score | 7.0 |
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Rank | 14th |
Hours reported | 7.0 |
Goal | 10h |
Are there good songs in Frozen II? I feel like my life would be improved by that!