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Adûnâi

Adûnâi

Little Russian in-cel
Apr 25, 2020
1,202
To clarify - I understand that this is whining, but I have no friends, so the only other place I could post this would be the incel forum, but they are much more retarded and outright unable to form sentences.

My future gf is apparently Chinese, so I could use her help to get some free feedback on my pronunciation. The issue is that I absolutely despise the tonal system, both because my voice is super high-pitched already (170 Hz), and because it's just difficult and contradictory to hear (case in point - while I do catch the tones in painful isolation, the short stories by Mandarin Click and Shuoshuo sound outright contradictory, at x0.5).

So I've been really torn on this. It feels like a huge waste not to learn it. But I just can't? It's rather depressing.

...Not that I'm not a lazy <censored> as it, I literally do nothing at all. But if anything, I have covered over 1000 Japanese kanji, and I love Juche Korean songs. It's just I feel like Chinese is not for me, but I'm in the most unique position to pick some of it up?

Also, I'm not going to use it for any work. I've never had a job, and I doubt it would be related if I ever do.
 
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Dr Iron Arc

Dr Iron Arc

Into the Unknown
Feb 10, 2020
21,383
As someone of Chinese ancestry, the Mandarin language is fucked and I also tended to struggle with the tones but that's not why I never bothered to become fluent.

I got the gist of the tones by mimicking my mom when she's speaking Chinese on the telephone. Sometimes I put on a bit of a stereotypically fake accent just to sell it further although at the end of the day, my Chinese still has an American accent which I'm fine with.
 
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Adûnâi

Adûnâi

Little Russian in-cel
Apr 25, 2020
1,202
As someone of Chinese ancestry, the Mandarin language is fucked
Wow, and you too? It' either the Chinese are more intelligent, or more suicide-prone, -accepting and -genic^^

My pal on Discord has said that the birthrates there are falling not due to female rights but strictness regarding marriage, too.

But on the topic, I've listened to a few videos, and the tones just seem way too similar. 4 is low like 3, 4 is brief like 2, and so on. Let alone how I can't pronounce 2 as anything but a question mark, but Chinese still has intonations in a sentence overall.
 
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enduringwinter

enduringwinter

flower, water
Jun 20, 2024
360
I hate Mandarin tones too. Objectively bad sorry not sorry. Not sounding bad in Mandarin is nightmare mode it's like trying to look good while wearing a teapot on your head. Maybe you both can learn Cantonese or something.
 
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Username1359751

Enlightened
Mar 14, 2024
1,333
Er, how do you know that your future gf is Chinese??
I mean I'd like to think my future boyfriend is Irish, but there's nothing apparent to conclude that.
 
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