哈囉，大家好！ 哈啰，大家好！
I’m Grace from Grace Mandarin Chinese.
In today’s video,
we’re going to talk about 5 characteristics of the Beijing Mandarin accent.
As you know a lot of people who speak Mandarin,
so it’s natural to have different accents among native speakers,
just as there are many different accents in English,
so in order to achieve a higher level of proficiency
in Chinese comprehension,
adapting to different accents is crucial.
那話不多說，我們現在就來了解北京口音吧！
The characteristics I’m going to talk about
may also apply to other regions in northern China
since the dialects there are similar to some extent.
Alright the first characteristic of the Beijing Mandarin accent is
Sometimes “w” is pronounced similar to “v”
Before the sound “a” and “e”,
“w” is often pronounced similar to the “v” sound,
which uses your lower lips and upper teeth.
For example,
晚上 (evening; night) “wan3 shang” becomes “van3 shang”
外國 (foreign country) “wai4 guo2” becomes “vai4 guo2”
為什麼 (why) “wei4 shen2 me” → “vei4 shen2 me”
問題 (problem; question) “wen4 ti2” → “ven4 ti2”
The second characteristic is that there are many sound reductions
When speaking fast,
it is common to reduce certain sounds in speech,
almost every native Chinese speaker does it.
However, Beijingers 北京人 are particularly well known
for speaking fast and reducing sounds.
For example, when “zh” and “sh” are in the second character of a word
or in the middle of a phrase,
they’re often reduced and sound like a short “r” sound.
For instance,
Another thing is that some sounds might slur together in commonly used words.
For example,
這一個 (this one) becomes “zhei4 ge”, and in daily life,
people might also pronounce “這個 (this)” as “zhei4 ge”
那一個 (that one) becomes “nei4 ge”,
and 那個 (that) can also be pronounced like this.
Yeah, I know it sounds just like the English N-word,
but it has nothing to do with that.
These two words “zhei4 ge” and “nei4 ge”
can not only be used to refer to things,
meaning “this one” or “that one”,
they can also be used as filler words
when we're thinking about what to say next,
so you will hear them a lot in daily speech.
Another one, 哪一個 (which one) becomes “nei3 ge”.
不用 (to not need) becomes “甭”
There are some other kinds of reductions
in the Beijing accent,
and in other mandarin accents as well.
If you’re interested to learn more,
check out this video!
I’ll put the link in the description below.
Here are some other words in the Beijing accent
that might sound different from what you learned in class:
The next characteristic is
3. Using the neutral tone more extensively
The neutral tone in Mandarin is pronounced lightly and shortly.
In the Beijing dialect,
there is a greater tendency for the second character
within a word to be pronounced with a neutral tone
such that you’ll feel like the word stress is usually on the first syllable:
However, in Southern Chinese and Taiwanese accents,
many words with a neutral tone might be pronounced
using the original tone of the characters.
For example,
So in Southern Chinese accents,
as well as in the Taiwanese accent,
the second character of a word
isn’t pronounced with the neutral tone as often,
so it’s harder to tell where the word stress is at.
And that’s also why whenever people are talking about Chinese word stress,
there are always differing opinions.
Now let’s move on to the next one:
4. Erhua
In the Beijing accent,
they tend to use more of the “-r” suffix,
meaning that they often attach the “-r” sound
at the end of a word,
for example,
好玩 (fun) becomes 好玩ㄦ
聊天 (to chat) → 聊天ㄦ
沒事 (It's okay; It’s nothing) → 沒事ㄦ
Here are some common ones that you might have learned:
這裡 (here) would be 這ㄦ
In southern China or in Taiwan,
we use 這裡,
but in Northern China,
you might hear 這ㄦ more.
Another example,
那裡 (there) (Southern) vs. 那ㄦ (Northern)
哪裡 (where) (Southern) vs. 哪ㄦ (Northern)
一點 (a little) (Southern) vs. 一點ㄦ (Northern)
Usually this “-r” suffix is attached to nouns,
and is known as “the diminutive suffix”,
which means it’s added to a word to show affection or indicate smallness.
So usually when you're talking about something more serious
or referring to something honorable,
you wouldn't use this suffix.
For example, 花 (flower)、鳥 (bird)、小孩 (kid) can add this suffix
and become 花ㄦ、鳥ㄦ、小孩ㄦ,
but don’t add this suffix to something like
北京人 (Beijinger)、總統 (president)、大學 (university).
However this is just a general concept for this suffix,
but there are still many exceptions.
So if you’d like to learn the Beijing accent,
I recommend you just listen more,
and try to memorize the words that are often attached to this suffix.
OK, now let’s talk about the final characteristic of the Beijing accent.
It’s a special feature that is mostly found in women from Beijing.
Many women from Beijing
tend to pronounce “j q x” similar to “z c s”,
and it’s most obvious on the “x” sound,
so for example,
謝謝 (thanks) “xie4 xie” might be pronounced like “sie4 sie”,
you can hear the “s” sound here more, “sie4 sie”.
Another example
The first one is “x” and the second one is “s”.
If you’re curious about this phenomenon,
you can look up the term 女國音,
but just a reminder,
most of the information about this is written in Chinese.
Alright, that’s all for today!
If you enjoy this type of video where I analyze different accents,
please let me know in the comments
and feel free to recommend any specific accents
that you would like me to analyze.
And if you're from Beijing or currently living there,
I'd love to hear your insights on other characteristics of the Beijing accent
that I might not have mentioned in the video.
那如果你喜歡今天的影片， 那如果你喜欢今天的影片，
別忘記按讚、訂閱和分享哦！ 别忘记按赞、订阅和分享哦！
And also, if you’d like to learn some daily Mandarin expressions,
check out my Instagram @gracemandarin
那我們下次見囉！拜拜！ 那我们下次见啰！拜拜！ (I’ll see you next time! Bye!)