How To Have a "Taiwan Guoyu" Accent to Your Taiwan Mandarin

Language Learning Chinese
1

This thread is for coming up with different words that you frequently hear in Mandarin using a “Taiwan guoyu” accent. If we accumulate enough examples here, it would help any of us interested in having fun and imitating the Taiwan guoyu accent.

Definitions
[ul]Taiwan Mandarin- Mandarin learned in Taiwan
“Taiwan Guoyu” - Mandarin spoken by someone with an accent that derive from Taiyu, or Taiwanese (probably the speaker’s first and primary language/dialect). Example: Former President Chen Shui Bian, who had a very thick Taiwan guoyu accent when speaking Mandarin. [/ul]

I did a thread search and could not find any thread specifically on training people to imitate a Taiwan Guoyu accent.

Here are some posts I am splitting off from another thread to get this discussion going in its own thread:

[quote=“tsukinodeynatsu”][quote=“Teddoman”]
Can anyone here do a good Chen Shui Bian style Taiwan guoyu accent? I have been dying to figure out how to do one of those so I can entertain friends. If anyone has some tips on what makes a good thick Taiwan guoyu accent, do share :slight_smile:[/quote]

I occasionally come out with it on a few words, but I try not to XD

My linguistics are shocking, but to my ears I think a Taiwan guoyu accent needs to be kind of:

f = the ‘hw’ sound at the beginning of 婚
m = somewhere between an ‘m’ and a ‘b’

Umm umm umm… what else? The vowel sound in ‘shi’ ((pinyin) or similar) closer to an ‘ee’ sound. R’s said as L’s (cutting a fine line with D too, I think).

Drop the h’s after any consonent. SH = S ZH = Z CH = C etc. J’s are said somewhere inbetween J and (English) Z.

These should get you merrily on your way :bow:

And in order to write this, I had to actually go and find out what CSB sounded like when he spoke (to check which accent you meant). It took me around five minutes to find a clip that wasn’t in Taiwanese, and now I can’t get over how Taike he sounds in Mandarin O.o; (His Taiwanese sounds very cultured, though.)[/quote]

[quote=“shengou”]A couple more things for Taiwan Guoyu.

uo - change to ou
ian - change to en
the u sound in 女 - change to more of an i sound (this one is harder to explain)

So zuo bian de nv hai would be closer to zou ben de ni hai. Then throw in a couple hou’s and voila, your Guoyu changes to Taiwan Gouyi.

Also, you need to have a choppy cadence. [/quote]

[quote=“shengou”]I thought of a couple others. chi fan would be cu huan. But I don’t know what the rule is for that. I’ve only ever noticed the “ir” sound in chi changing. I can’t remember if they do it for other “ir” sounds like “shi” or “zhi”. Maybe they do. So maybe zhi dao changes to zu dao. Also, the w sound in wo is very slight. It’s close to just being an o.

Xie xie changes to seh seh.[/quote]

[quote=“Sam Vimes”]Along those lines, my spouse tells me that she and her co-workers were playing a form of charades one evening, and the husband of one of the other girls was supposed to convey the name of a country through gestures. For the first syllable, he kept on pointing outside at the road, and it gradually dawned on them that he meant the syllable “Lu”. But what country begins with “Lu”? :s

Why, “Lu-Ben”, of course!
:unamused: . . . which is the Taiwan Guoyu way of saying Japan (i.e., Ri-Ben).[/quote]

2

IMHO, unless you do not give a rat’s behind regarding anything that has to do with CHINA, I say don’t do “Taiwan-ized 國語”. It’s like learning Texan English (howdy).

Lotsa folks outside the 'wan are practically learning mainland Chinese (so-called 普通話) along with simplified characters (although I personally believe traditional characters are much better since you can sorta figure out the simplified characters after having yourself immersed in traditional characters).

To each his/her own, I guess.

3

Thanks PBC, but this thread is NOT about mainland Mandarin vs Taiwan Mandarin.

This thread is specifically about the accent used by some local Taiwanese to speak Mandarin. It is not standard Mandarin according to Taiwanese standards. It is often spoken by people from the south where Taiyu or Taiwanese is more prevalent. In Mandarin, they call it “taiwan guoyu” which specifically refers to having the southern Taiyu influenced accent.

The standard Mandarin accent that is common in Taipei is NOT what is known as “taiwan guoyu”

To use an analogy:
Mainland standard putonghua = midwestern English
Taiwan standard Mandarin = Tennessee English
“Taiwan guoyu” Mandarin = Rural Mississippi English

4

[quote=“Teddoman”]Thanks PBC, but this thread is NOT about mainland Mandarin vs Taiwan Mandarin.

This thread is specifically about the accent used by some local Taiwanese to speak Mandarin. It is not standard Mandarin according to Taiwanese standards. It is often spoken by people from the south where Taiyu or Taiwanese is more prevalent. In Mandarin, they call it “taiwan guoyu” which specifically refers to having the southern Taiyu influenced accent.

The standard Mandarin accent that is common in Taipei is NOT what is known as “taiwan guoyu”

To use an analogy:
Mainland standard putonghua = midwestern English
Taiwan standard Mandarin = Tennessee English
“Taiwan guoyu” Mandarin = Rural Mississippi English[/quote]

Ok, lesson #1: I am John = wo(3) shi(4) John. (standard Mandarin)
(Taiwan Guoyu) = o(3) su(4) John.

That’ll be 600NT :discodance:

5

If you speak taiwanese like i do, its a natural.

IF not, watch some of Chen shui bians speeches?

Or Lee teng hui’s

Or listen to your local Ah pei speaking mando

6

[quote=“tommy525”]If you speak taiwanese like I do, its a natural.

IF not, watch some of Chen shui bians speeches?

Or Lee teng hui’s

Or listen to your local Ah pei speaking mando[/quote]

The man was exaggerating for the crowds. In normal usage, it was not like that.

7

[quote=“PigBloodCake”]
Ok, lesson #1: I am John = wo(3) shi(4) John. (standard Mandarin)
(Taiwan Guoyu) = o(3) su(4) John.

That’ll be 600NT :discodance:[/quote]
Um, can I get a discount? I think teaching English has completely warped your perception of Mandarin rates, much less rates for learning bad Mandarin :slight_smile:

Well I guess that’s the rub, 'cause I failed miserably when I tried to learn Taiwanese briefly.

[quote=“tommy525”]IF not, watch some of Chen shui bians speeches?

Or Lee teng hui’s

Or listen to your local Ah pei speaking mando[/quote]
I’ve done this many times. I can hear the difference. But hearing is different from knowing what changes to make to my Mandarin to replicate it.

What can I say, I’m not a linguist who can dissect sounds on my own. I’m a mere mortal and need someone to break it down for me.

8

Taiwan Guoyu Lesson 2:

Vocabulary

fa1 sen1: peanut
hua1 sen1: happen

Dialogue

A: O-men go-ja dei hua-zan su zongyao dei
B: Su, a!

A: Our country’s development is important.
B: Yes.

:bow:

9

[quote=“Teddoman”][quote=“PigBloodCake”]
Ok, lesson #1: I am John = wo(3) shi(4) John. (standard Mandarin)
(Taiwan Guoyu) = o(3) su(4) John.

That’ll be 600NT :discodance:[/quote]
Um, can I get a discount? I think teaching English has completely warped your perception of Mandarin rates, much less rates for learning bad Mandarin :slight_smile:
[/quote]

You’re absolutely right. What was I thinking? :loco:

That’ll be 105NT (a few bucks above minimum wage) :cry:

10

[quote=“PigBloodCake”][quote=“Teddoman”][quote=“PigBloodCake”]
Ok, lesson #1: I am John = wo(3) shi(4) John. (standard Mandarin)
(Taiwan Guoyu) = o(3) su(4) John.

That’ll be 600NT :discodance:[/quote]
Um, can I get a discount? I think teaching English has completely warped your perception of Mandarin rates, much less rates for learning bad Mandarin :slight_smile:
[/quote]

You’re absolutely right. What was I thinking? :loco:

That’ll be 105NT (a few bucks above minimum wage) :cry:[/quote]
I think it was more the fact that it took you about 30 seconds to put together lesson #1, so on an hourly basis, that was like NT$200,000/hour. :no-no:

Chris- total genius stuff there. As soon as I read it, it totally felt authentic.

O hui cang hui cang ___ huan :bravo:
(ps What happens to the xi in xi3 huan1?)

11

haha … the farmer who owns the field next to me talks like that. I can barely understand a word he’s saying, and I certainly wouldn’t want to replicate it. I’ll probably always have a weird foreigner accent, and that’s fine with me.

12

A heavy taiwanese accented mando is like hillbilly english. All in all, its better to learn to speak “taipei mando” then taike mando.

13

What can I say, some of us aspire to be Ma Ying Jiu types, and some of us aspire to be

Though it’s more of a regionalism, age thing and a perception of class/education than an actual reflection of class/education.

After all, former prez and lawyer Chen speaks Taiwan goyee, and there are many more like him in Taiwan

14

well if you do it well enough you will be able to get on some tv shows. The taiwanese will think you are a hoot. Cuz even themselves they dont want to speak “hillbilly” mando (among the younger set that is).

15

Can anyone clear up how the ‘e’ sound such as for example in zhenni 珍妮 should be pronounced? I’ve had people correct me one way then other people correct me back again! Some say it should be like the schwa /ə/ and then others correct me and say it should be /e/. I think this may be a Taiwanese Mandarin/mainland Mandarin thing. PAVC pronounces it /e/ but it uses mainland pronunciation for other sounds for sure. Don’t know about this one.

16

Jen-nee.

I’m surprised to hear that you are being corrected on this, I wonder if it is something else. What do you think the tones are?

17

Jen-nee.

I’m surprised to hear that you are being corrected on this, I wonder if it is something else. What do you think the tones are?[/quote]

Thanks Feiren, but is it /e/ as in egg or /ə/ as in the?

It’s definitely the sound of the ‘e’. I’ve also been corrected on ben (stupid). I’ve pronounced it /e/ as in egg and corrected to /ə/. Another example is wenti (problem).

18

Jen-nee.

I’m surprised to hear that you are being corrected on this, I wonder if it is something else. What do you think the tones are?[/quote]

Thanks Feiren, but is it /e/ as in egg or /ə/ as in the?

It’s definitely the sound of the ‘e’. I’ve also been corrected on ben (stupid). I’ve pronounced it /e/ as in egg and corrected to /ə/. Another example is wenti (problem).[/quote]

It should be more like the /e/ as in egg. The /e/ in Jen is the same as the e in the English ‘Jenny’. But by itself. ‘e’ is like the /ə/ as in the. For example, e4 ‘hungry, starving’ is quite different from the ‘e’ in Zhen, Wen, or Ben.

I notice that all of these problem words end in ‘n’. The Mandarin ‘n’ ends earlier than the English n. The tongue stays on the palate and is not released.

Mandarin speakers with Taiwanese-inflected Mandarin pronounce these differently. But these speakers very rarely correct others since (a) they know their Mandarin is ‘non-standard’ and (b) they are either (1) proud of their non-standard pronunciation or (2) don’t care.

19

[quote=“Feiren”]
It should be more like the /e/ as in egg. The /e/ in Jen is the same as the e in the English ‘Jenny’. But by itself. ‘e’ is like the /ə/ as in the. For example, e4 ‘hungry, starving’ is quite different from the ‘e’ in Zhen, Wen, or Ben.

I notice that all of these problem words end in ‘n’. The Mandarin ‘n’ ends earlier than the English n. The tongue stays on the palate and is not released.

Mandarin speakers with Taiwanese-inflected Mandarin pronounce these differently. But these speakers very rarely correct others since (a) they know their Mandarin is ‘non-standard’ and (b) they are either (1) proud of their non-standard pronunciation or (2) don’t care.[/quote]

Unless your pronunciation of egg and Jen is different from mine, zhen doesn’t sound anything like Jen to me. That en sound sounds more like the un in under to me.

I found a website with all the sounds.
newconceptmandarin.com/learn … inyin.aspx

Go to the mandarin pronunciation table and you can click on all of the sounds. Go to z and find zhen.
I’ve clicked that about 50 times now, haha.

20

I don’t know about Teddoman, but the only reason why I do this is for joking around. I don’t go around all day speaking Taiwan guoyu. When I want to eat something, I might say to my girlfriend, “Ni yao cu suh-mo?”