How do various non-native Chinese speaker's accents sound when they're speaking Chinese?

Question

For example, when French (particularly) or Italian speakers attempt to speak English, in popular English-speaking culture this is regarded as a 'sexy' or 'romantic' accent. In contrast, some say that German speakers or speakers of Asian languages sound a bit unpleasant and harsh when speaking English.

In Chinese popular culture, how are foreign accents regarded?
Tibetans(西藏人), Uyghur (维吾尔), Mongolian (蒙古人), English/American, French, Japanese, Vietnamese (越南人).

Do they sound "awful", cute, annoying, stupid, sexy or just different?

In popular Chinese culture, which foreigners have the most highly regarded accent? Or do all foreign accents just sound bad?

Answer 1

I'm in Hong Kong. My native dialect is Cantonese which sounds a bit unpleasant (as you said) with flat tones (monotone - flat intonation.

My job gives me chances to work with expats like Japanese / Americans / British / French / Italian, etc, most of the time we communicate in Japanese or English. Some of them learned Cantonese and while they speak Cantonese to me, they sound real funny or odd. Some men sound like gay when they speak Cantonese with their English or Italian or French intonation but they are straight guys (I appreciate how much effort they put on learning this difficult dialect and please don't be offended if you are a foreign Cantonese speaker) .. OK! ... hmmm.. imagine ... men speak like singing birds! They sound very men in English but when they speak Cantonese, they forget to lower their key / flatten the tones and they speak Cantonese like singing birds! (My male French teacher sounds very sexy when he speaks French but he sounds super funny when he "sings" Cantonese)

In general, the ladies manage it better than guys as may be they (some are Japanese housewives) could spend more time to get along with local friends or they have more time to practise (when shopping or taking their kids to attend play groups / activities,etc).

I was a part time Cantonese teacher in Tokyo, my female students sounded funny or cute and the guys usually sounded harsh.. and even stupid sometimes!

My sister-in-law is Vietnamese and her Cantonese is funny in different way! Our Filipina maid's Cantonese is cute and she brings us laughter too!

Cantonese has 9 accents (same sound with slightly different accents for different words with different meanings) like:

I / me (ngo) , hungry (ngo), goose (ngo), lying down (ngo) ...

Before, I trained my students with this tricky Cantonese sentense :

I'm hungry and I want to have some roast goose

ngo (I or me) toe (tummy) ngo (hungry) ah, ngo (I/ me) sheung (think / want to) sik (eat) siu (roast) ngo (goose)

None of my student got it prefect, they said :

I am tummy me and I want to have some roast me! or

Goose is tummy goose and goose wants to have some little (siu) goose ... or

Hungry is tummy me and hungry wants to have some roast goose!

Most Native Mandarin / Shanghainese speakers also sound a bit funny when their speak Cantonese, some of them avoid it because they hate people laugh at them. I have friends from Singapore who speak flurent Mandarin are very reluntant to speak Cantonese as well.

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In fact, I do think people here speak English with Cantonese tones is awful..., for eg. Martin Yan, Jacky Chan, my ears hurt when I watch their English TV program or Movies.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

I come from a somewhat Chinese home (although we're more Americanized than your average Chinese home), and from my point of view Chinese just sounds like really loud and angry Korean or Japanese. When my mom talks to her friends, I can't tell if they're arguing or laughing it up. But when I speak Japanese with some of my friends, I'm told that most of the time it sounds crude and unrefined. So, I guess it depends on the person as well.

Answer 4

As a Chinese, of course talking with a person fluent in Chinese & without an accent is preferrable. But the Mandarin spoken by most Chinese minorities is fairly easy to understand. I will admit, unless they have really perfected their Mandarin, other Asian people are hard to understand. The Europeans/Americans are hardest to understand, with a language completely different sounding from Mandarin.
Generally, it's not that bad, but someone with a really bad accent can get really annoying, as with any other language.

Answer 5

When I first started learning Mandarin, my accent was really really bad, and I was told this a number of times! As I progressed with learning it, my accent has gotten better. Sometimes some of my friends will laugh at me b/c my accent is in between a Beijing accent and a Taiwan accent. I received a really good compliment last May, where my friend told me (that with a few exceptions) Talking to me was just like talking to another Chinese person.
In my experience, all foreigners have bad accents when they first start learning Chinese. Out of all the ones that I know, Thais have the best accent when they start. The one Vietnamese girl I know learning mandarin has a really harsh accent. Americans and English are not all that harsh, but annoying when they try to start, especially if they are from Texas. (nothing wrong with Texans, but it is just annoying when they speak Chinese - Try thinking of someone with a Texan drawl in Chinese!)
Fortunaly, with work, accents can be learnt and changed.

Answer 6

I live in the US. I am Taiwanese. Whenever I hear someone attempt to speak Mandarin, I think it is funny, also great that they take the time to learn the language. I met a American a few years ago that could speak perfect Mandarin. Seeing that was amazing because it is so rare. I am not sure how it is back in China or Taiwan when they hear a foreigner speak.

Answer 7

they generally sound a bit stupid and quite funny.

I usually listen to how British people speak. I don't know about other foreigners.

It all depends on how long they have been speaking and how willing to want to speak correctly. The more the practice, the more local accent they will be like.

Answer 8

If you want to find out Mandarin but you have no clue in which to start off then a program for Mandarin is the ideal online course for the newcomers due to the fact it genuinely starts with the basis.

Answer 9

Honestly, it sounds like someone telling a joke with a serious looks~ foreingers can't manage the tones and that make things also hard for Chinese people. i couldn't understand what they say most of the time...(sorry)

Answer 10

dunno about the rest of them, but when I try (I live in Taiwan) mostly they think it's funny and cute.