(no subject)

[benlehman]

So, today, I signed up for the Chinese Students Association at the little table they have on the main drag of the Berkeley campus. One of the girls at the table asked me, "So, why are you interested in the club,"

"Oh, I'm interested in Chinese culture and language."

{Can you speak Chinese?}

{I can speak a little bit.}

{Oh! He has a mainland accent!} This was followed by a good deal of talk about my accent, before finally deciding that it is a northern accent.

Dude. I have an accent.

Comments

[conspiratrix.livejournal.com]

I first misread this as the "Cheese Students Association". I pictured a table full of little cubes of cheese, perhaps right next to the "Wine Students Association", and then thought, "only at Berkeley."

[evilmagnus]

Pretty much all westerners who learn Mandarin end up with a northern accent. Dunno why that is. I think it's 'cuz they end up learning BBC Mandarin, which is very nasal and Beijing-y.

I'm authentic!

[psychotropek.livejournal.com]

Hey, in Taiwan I was told I had a very Nanjing accent. I think it's what happened when I heard Taiwanese all my life but was supposed to "jiang xiang beijingren". Wow. I learned the correct grammar structure for that but have forgotten it already.

[fructivore.livejournal.com]

... before finally deciding that it is a northern accent.

Dude. I have an accent.

Either that or none of them are from northern China and so arrived at that conclusion by process of elimination. <grin>

Whilst everone *outside of Beijing* says that standard Mandarin is a Beijing accent, people who live inside the city know tht the Beijing accent has nothing to do with standarad Mandarin, ...

Reminds me of how everyone says that the "standard" American TV English accent is from Ohio. If you ever spend time around people with actual Ohio accents you know that isn't true.

It's more west coast, but then not even that. So far as I can tell, it's an honest-to-Betsy hybrid.

But this thread is about Chinese, not English.

Grats on your creds!