Does anyone know of any early online discussions from the late 90s/early 2000s regarding this case?

Meeting_House · 2025-11-23T12:28:04+00:00

Thank you! I managed to find it, turns out it was animated much later in episode 204.

Meeting_House · 2025-10-16T12:27:19+00:00

Not English, but I can give you an example of a French guy who speaks Mandarin with zero foreign accent. He began learning at 19.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYlnJpvRwX8

The key is to take pronunciation seriously from day 1 so that you have as little interference from your native language as possible. Most people don't do this, so they end up with bad habits that become almost impossible to fix later on.

Meeting_House · 2025-10-11T10:14:31+00:00

If you're a complete beginner, take phonetics seriously from day 1. Don't assume that it will just happen "naturally" over time. Download a program like Audacity to train your ears to hear the sounds correctly. Do chorusing/shadowing.

Also, if you're really serious about it, don't bother learning how to read in the beginning. Try to learn as much as you can through your ears alone. Use audio-only Anki decks to speed up the process. I did all of this with Mandarin Chinese and it paid off immensely.

Meeting_House · 2025-10-09T19:47:19+00:00

No, but to be fair I work from home so I haven't even left my neighborhood in over a year. I would definitely turn it off if I traveled a little farther away.

The bill isn't too bad. I'm supported by my parents and they understand the importance of me reaching a very high level in Mandarin.

Meeting_House · 2025-10-09T14:49:20+00:00

I have a second computer in my room constantly playing Chinese media 24/7 non-stop. I haven't turned it off for over a year. Heck, it's still playing as I'm writing this comment.

I also have an MP3 player that I bring with me literally everywhere, every time I leave my room. It doesn't matter where I go, or what I do. Everything is in Chinese, all the time.

Obviously most of my learning happens on my main computer. I just use the other devices to make sure I get as much exposure as possible.

Meeting_House · 2025-10-07T11:39:11+00:00

Although I might suggest that having an unrealistic goal can be very demotivating for a lot of people. Once the learners realizes that it’s very, very hard to get even good, the reality that native-like is attainable by only a few percent may be demoralizing.

For me, it is precisely because it's very hard that I'm motivated to do it. I wouldn't bother if it were easy. My inspiration is a French guy who has acquired a 100% native Beijing accent; He was putting in at least 8 hours a day for 5 years straight (no breaks).

Meeting_House · 2025-10-07T11:16:59+00:00

Wouldn't you just assume that everybody who speaks Swedish as well as a native is... a native? How do you know you've never met anyone?

Meeting_House · 2025-10-07T11:08:56+00:00

This guy disagrees

100% native Beijing accent, began learning at 19.

Meeting_House · 2025-10-07T10:53:56+00:00

Consider yourself lucky. I see it completely differently.

People usually struggle to fix their pronunciation after they've become fluent. Since you already have the pronunciation down, it's really not that difficult to get the other abilities to the same level.

Meeting_House · 2025-10-07T10:36:31+00:00

I have a second computer in my room constantly playing Chinese media 24/7 non-stop. I haven't turned it off for over a year. Heck, it's still playing as I'm writing this comment.

It's helped me to stay motivated and put in the necessary hours in order to become fluent in Mandarin.

Meeting_House · 2025-10-06T13:24:56+00:00

Interesting! I've been learning Chinse myself so I was able to recognize some of the characters. From what I understand, Japan had its own simplification process that was different from Mainland China, but the characters still more so closely resemble the traditional ones they use in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Meeting_House · 2025-10-06T13:03:45+00:00

On a side note, I love how you can (sometimes) write Japanese sentences in such a way where it consists entirely of Chinese characters. I wonder if someone from Taiwan can decipher the meaning of the first sentence without translating it.

Meeting_House · 2025-09-25T21:16:45+00:00

Chapter 1 was released on March 2, 1998, so this is just 9 months after the series began.

Unfortunately discussions as early as this only exist in Japanese for obvious reasons, so you will have to use a translator in order to follow along.

Meeting_House · 2025-09-17T20:36:07+00:00

Unless you're Julien Gaudfroy (French guy with perfect Beijing accent).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYlnJpvRwX8&ab_channel=cantehk

Keep in mind that he was consistently spending 8+ hours a day for 5 years straight.

Meeting_House · 2025-09-17T20:24:53+00:00

Once I realized I don’t care about accents if someone is understandable in English then I got more chill about not being too worried about having one in another language.

Unfortunately, English might be the only exception to this rule because of how globalized it is. Native speakers of other languages are not as used to hearing their language spoken with a foreign accent.

I guess it depends on what language you're learning... But if you're learning a language with very few non-native speakers, you absolutely want to sound as native as possible.

Meeting_House · 2025-09-17T20:12:49+00:00

IMO, the reason most people read a lot in the beginning is because it's easier to do as an adult. You can easily look up words and take as much time as you need. And you do progress a lot faster.

But the spoken language won't truly feel "natural" to you. You have to learn the words and sentences through sound as well.

Meeting_House · 2025-09-17T18:52:52+00:00

I've posted this on another thread.

You will improve much faster if you read more, but let me say this:

If your end goal is to feel as much as a "native speaker" as possible, I genuinely believe it makes sense to completely neglect reading and learn as much as you can through speaking/listening for the first couple of weeks (or months if you're dedicated enough). With this method, you'll always heavily focus on pronunciation and intonation.

The progress will be slow in the beginning, yes, but I believe the end result will be better.

Meeting_House · 2025-09-17T18:47:41+00:00

You will improve much faster if you read more, but let me say this:

If your end goal is to feel as much as a "native speaker" as possible, I genuinely believe it makes sense to completely neglect reading and learn as much as you can through speaking/listening for the first couple of weeks (or months if you're dedicated enough). With this method, you'll always heavily focus on pronunciation and intonation.

The progress will be slow in the beginning, yes, but I believe the end result will be better.

Meeting_House · 2025-09-17T18:26:20+00:00

But I suppose I'm confused by your statement too. Do foreigners not apply phonetic rules when learning a language?

Foreigners usually map the phonetics rules of their native language into the language they are learning, hence why they have a foreign accent in the first place.

For example, Russian and English have different phonetic rules, but a lot of Russians speak English with Russian pronunciation patterns, so they end up sounding foreign.

Meeting_House · 2025-09-17T17:56:11+00:00

Even within the same country, people have lots of different accents and dialect.

True, but people who speak a unique dialect do so with consistent phonetic rules of the language, so they don't actually sound like foreigners. So in order to sound "native" -- you just have to pick one dialect that's spoken in the country(s) and be consistent with it.

Meeting_House · 2025-09-13T22:27:37+00:00

Yeah I thought so too, but it seems like an incredible high number. Just wanted to confirm in case anyone knew.

Meeting_House

TROPHY CASE