Not really Chinese

In fact, this isn't really about language learning, but it's got under my skin, and if I don't get an answer to it I'll never be able to learn using Rocket Chinese. :cry: Lin's English-speaking partner (and I hope it isn't too rude to say that his speech in Chinese really isn't up to scratch) claims to be English but to have lived in the USA for a long time. However, there is this very clear, if light, Antipodean twang to his English. If I can't trust my ears for English, what hope is there for other languages? (That's a joke, by the way, since I speak Scottish Gaelic and German fluently and several other European languages to some extent too.) Please put me out of my misery, and own up to smuggling an Australian on to the course! :lol:

I think he is British all right which make them a very nice pair. If he can do it I think I should be able to do it too. Lin Ping is of course perfect. She has a lovely voice.

Hi there, yes, I can confirm that Dave is British, born and bred. :)

Dave sounds British to my ears. I am Irish and we have to live near these people, so know them quite well :lol: Mind you, Dave does class himself as American, and by his own admission has live there a long time, so I guess it's only natural his accent will have changed ever so slightly. Incidentally, what's wrong with someone from Australia helping teach Chinese?

I have just purchased the latest version but was so disapointed in the intoducer. I was hoping for Dave to be the presenter instead we have some dreadful americanised drawl Lisa. I will not return but edit out her voice and replace with a native English speaker. Can we have a choice in future as to who we have as the presenter? Dave had a nice soft voice and was complementary to Lin. Also Tao is too garbled Listen to CCTV for clear speakers. Lady speakers are much better as they are usually more clear due to their higher pitch. Please dont change something that aint broke. Howard

Hi Howard, thanks for your feedback in regards to the course. I'll pass your ideas to the Product Development team to see what they think. Thanks again and all the best for your Chinese learning. :)

Is there any possibility of getting Lin and Dave back again? They make a perfect pair for teaching Chinese.

Dear Rocket, It looks like you have made a mistake in trying out a new team: PLEASE PLEASE re-issue with Dave and Lin. I really don't like the new format Howard

4 months and no reply by the rocket team..tsk tsk Have I touched a sensitive issue? Howard

Hi Howard, As I said earlier, thank you for your feedback. We do believe in making the best products that we can, but can't incorporate all the requests that we receive. We have good and feedback about all our language teams and it is too costly and time-consuming to re-record the entire course. We have chosen to focus ourselves in other areas. As always, thanks for the feedback. Lin Ping :)

Wow - so many views on who should and shouldn't present....... My personal opinion, for what is worth is stick with the latest format - Lisa, Tao and Lin. I've been learning Mandarin for coming up 3 years now and whilst I agree with one of the remarks that Tao is difficult to understand at times - this is what you get in the "real world". I am struggling on a daily basis with less than clear (to my ears) mandarin being spoken by native speakers. People don't always speak clearly - point in case if you listen to the new program on CCTV9 - I always have problems with the native speakers speaking. I am an Australian living in rural China, having lived here for coming up 3 years. Dave sounds VERY English to me - not a bad thing, but I want to learn from a native speaker or someone like Da Shan (Canadian)!

Hi Lin I've been studying for 2 years now on RC. Honestly why was Dave removed from tge first series of lessons? I can I get the all conversations track from lesson 8 emailed to me? I can't listen to it anymore without his inflection. I am now on level 3 and getting pretty good at speaking. I get a lot of compliments from native Chinese speakers. But sometimes i like listening to Level 1 module 8 ACT. If you can email that one I'd appreciate it. I never downloaded it before the speaker changed about a month ago. Thanks Barry

Hi Barry, 

Thank you for your feedback. Over the last few months, we have replaced Dave's voice with a native speaker in the Play It section of the audio lessons and in parts of the full audio track. 

I understand it might take a while to get used to the new voice, however a native speaker's pronunciation would be more useful for your Chinese in the long term! 

Best of luck with your Chinese!

I don't agree! You need one half of a play to be a fluent non-native speaker so you can understand the difficulties you can have with pronunciation. We don't need to speak like a native to communicate. Native speakers have no idea of the problems non native speakers have. If I can't say "th" like a English native or "hua -er" like a Beijinger then I get despondent but if I hear a non native say them AND be understood then that boosts the confidence level.

There is a lot of nonsense talked about language learning
Language is for communication NOT examination.

OMG you still have that awful Lisa! she can't even pronounce English clearly

GET RID!

Hi Howard, 

While we appreciate that it can be helpful sometimes to hear a non-native speaker's pronunciation, if the goal is near-native pronunciation then it would be best to focus on a native speaker. The more the ear is trained to native speech, the more likely it is that the tongue starts to mimic the right sounds! 

Of course everyone has different language learning goals and we wish you all the best with yours :)

Again do not agree! How many dialects do I have to listen to in a native speaker?
Beijing Hua is the "norm" but I live near Shenzen totally different; how will this help me?
Again I reiterate that a non native speaker understands the difficulties language learners have! If you insist on hearing a native speaker then I suggest you listen/watch to CCTV not your limited role plays.
To underline your argument is flawed try listening to Lisa; a native "English" speaker, I have a great deal of trouble understanding her drawl accent (I am a native English speaker; so you might understand the issue)
My goal is to communicate not examinate which I believe is most peoples'.
One side of the converstaion is native whilst the other side must be non-native to give confidence, not frighten off people.
PS I gave up on the second series as I had no idea what "Lisa" was saying, shame really and Tao was utterly too difficult.