Chinese Accent 4/ 中国人的英语口音：专家看口音
 
Wang Fei:   大家好，欢迎收听BBC Learning English 为您制作的 Question and Answer of the Week. 我是王飞。
 
Alice:  And I'm Alice Castle. Today we continue our series about Chinese learners' accents when speaking English. Wang Fei, how is your pronunciation practice going?
 
Wang Fei:    Honestly speaking, I feel a bit frustrated.
 
Alice:  Why?     
 
Wang Fei:  My language trainer told me that she couldn't help me change my accent. 
 
Alice:  Oh, Wang Fei, do you really want to lose your Chinese accent completely and sound like a British person?
 
Wang Fei:   Yes. Not only me but many Chinese learners of English have this dream to sound like a British person. But many English language experts I've interviewed say it's almost impossible for us to lose our Chinese accents. Is that true Alice?
 
Alice:  Hmm… It's probably true. So, what did they say then? Shall we listen to them first?
 
Wang Fei:   好的。我们首先听一听英国威斯敏斯特大学英语教学中心主任Ken Paterson 的采访。
 
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Wang Fei:If your students ask you that "I really want to lose my Chinese accent." Do you think it is possible or…? 
 
Ken:No, in the end probably not. But it does it matter? I think intelligibility is the main thing. An accent is only a problem if it stops somebody communicating effectively with another person. I think in that respect Chinese students don't have any more of a problem than students from other countries. I don't think Chinese students should have an ambition to get rid of their accents. I think accent is part of yourself.
 
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Alice:  I think Ken made a very important point here. He thinks an accent is only a problem when it stops somebody communicating effectively with another person.  
 
Wang Fei:   只有口音妨碍了交流的时候，它才会成为一个问题。
 
Alice:  He thinks intelligibility is more important than accent.  
 
Wang Fei:  Intelligibility 理解性，让你说的话容易被人理解远比口音重要。
 
Alice:  And Ken doesn't encourage his Chinese students to lose their accents because he thinks accent is part of yourself.
 
Wang Fei:   Part of yourself 你自己的一部分。口音是你自己的一部分。
 
Alice:  Wang Fei, you speak fluently and you can express yourself really clearly in English. I don't think it's necessary for you to get rid of your Chinese accent completely and speak like a British gentleman. I really like your accent. 
 
Wang Fei:  Alice 建议说我根本就没有必要把口音改得像英国人一样。她其实很喜欢我的口音。这是真的吗？
 
Alice:  You probably don't believe it yet. Let's hear from Liz Qiu. She is an English tutor working at Imperial College London.
 
Wang Fei:  下面的采访来自Liz Qiu, 她是伦敦帝国理工大学的学术英语教师。
 
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You could work for maybe I don't know how many years solidly on trying to make your accent perfect. Is it worth it? I mean what is perfect in the end? If you sound like me then you go to America, they'll think you've got an accent anyway. So, why not have a Chinese accent? You're from China. You should sound Chinese. The important thing is that your accent is easy to understand. My advice is: be proud of your Chinese accent, but make it a good one. One that is clear and as close to standard as possible.
 
Alice:  Liz said you might make your accent perfect after years of hard work, maybe sounding like a British person. 
 
Wang Fei:    Liz 认为或许经过很多年的刻苦努力，你可能会彻底丢掉自己的中国口音。比如：你说英语的时候，听起来很像一个英国人。
 
Alice:  But… if you go to other English speaking countries, you'll still have an accent, a British accent. 
 
Wang Fei:   英国英语，也是一种口音。 Alice, when you're in the United States, what do American people think of your BBC accent?
 
Alice:  Well, some of them think my accent is very funny. You know, American people sometimes make fun of British people's accents and British people 
 
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sometimes make fun of American accents as well. This sounds strange but there is no problem in communicating with either accent.   
 
Wang Fei:    OK, so there's no point in being able to speak with a perfect British accent or American accent then.
 
Alice:  Yes. So, Liz said "be proud of your Chinese accent." You're Chinese, you should sound Chinese. 
 
Wang Fei:   英国人觉得中国人说英语的时候听起来要像中国人才好。这确实很有意思。
 
Alice:    OK. Wang Fei, if you still have doubts about your Chinese accent, let's listen to Dr. John O'Regan. He is a lecturer from the Institute of Education, at the University of London.
 
Wang Fei:   下面的采访来自  John O'Regan 博士，他是伦敦大学教育学院的讲师。
 
 
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I have a lot of students to say "Oh! My accent is too strong. I have to lose my accent. How and what do I do?" I say, "No. No. Your accent is one thing that is very nice about you and that's what makes you interesting as an individual and as a speaker of English". So my advice to students is you need to make yourself comprehensible but you don't have to sound like a British person or an American person or an Australian person. As long as you make yourself understood, that is the most important thing." And keeping your accent in your speech is one of the most valuable things about you as a human being and as a speaker of English.
 
Alice:  Dr. O'Regan said "Your accent is one thing that's very nice about you and your accent makes you interesting."
                
Wang Fei:  Your accent is something nice about you. 你的口音让你可爱。Alice, I never realised that my Chinese accent could be something nice about me! 
 
Alice:  That's because when you're learning a language, you seldom think of this from a native speakers' perspective. If I speak Chinese, what accent do you expect me to have, a Chinese accent? I doubt it. An American accent or a British accent?
 
Wang Fei:  A British accent of course! It would be strange if you spoke Chinese with a Beijing accent or Dongbei accent. 
 
Alice:  That's it! So Dr. John O'Regan's advice is to take your accent as one of the most valuable things about the way you speak English. 
 
Wang Fei:  口音是你的英语表达中很宝贵的东西。
 
Alice:  Don't feel ashamed of your accent. As long as you can make yourself understood, that's the most important thing.
 
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Wang Fei:  Make yourself understood. 把你的意思表达清楚，让别人明白你的意思是最重要的。Alice this is absolutely true. Since I've been in London, I've realised that most of the Chinese learners like me need to enlarge our vocabulary and improve the accuracy of our spoken English instead of putting so much effort into losing our accents. 
 
Alice:  Yes. I hope our listeners will also realise this. 
 
Wang Fei:   好的，听众朋友，我们四集的关于中国人的英语口音的节目到这里就全部结束了。我希望我们的节目对您的英语学习有所帮助，也希望能够得到你们的回馈。
 
Alice:  We look forward to hearing from you! Bye for now.
 
Wang Fei:    Bye bye.