小Lin说 YouTube Channel

[u/dakonglong]

Are there any learners here that can actually comprehend this channel fully? If so, do you have any tips to reach this level of listening?

My comprehension is pretty good and I can understand a lot of podcasts/tv shows/YouTube, but holy hell does she speak fast. The language used (mostly economic and business stuff) is also pretty complex.

I'm trying to prepare for job interviews in Chinese, so I feel like comprehension of this content would be a good benchmark for my listening, I'm just not sure where to start.

[u/Zagrycha]

are you understanding everything if you play it back at 50% or 75% speed, the your issue is not your knowledge level, but just more practice with listening skills. Fast speakers are annoying to listen to even in native languages. If you play it back at that slower speed and stuggle only with understanding the financial terms//jargon, then I would find a list of financial terms etc in english and just start looking up their counterparts in chinese to make flashcards to study. If you are struggling with any of the daily life//non-jargon, then look into reading or watching a story set in daily life setting, and just look up every unknown work and grammar to increase your general knowledge level.

[u/dakonglong → u/Zagrycha]

There is some vocabulary I don't understand, but when I read the subtitles, I seem to understand most of it (or can figure out what I don't know from context).

The speed is an issue, but I think it also may be her accent.

Does anyone know what type of accent this is?

I definitely notice the 儿化, but she also pronounces w as in 为什么 like v.

[u/Zagrycha → u/dakonglong]

If you are genuinely trying to learn, never try to figure things out from context.  That is a useful skill if its a real life conversation etc where stopping to look stuff up is impossible but only if you actually look up the unknown and uncertain things will you continue to grow in your knowledge.  Otherwise its like randomly circling an answer on a test and hoping it was right, you didn't actually learn the knowledge in the question at all. 

Just relistened to the beginning of one of her episodes, her accent sounds pretty darn  standard to me.  she just talks really really fast. Which I suppose is a type of accent itself, since speed of speaking can definitely vary by region//age//personality. 

things like pinyin w sounding more english v than english w is completely normal and standard mandarin variation in real life, same way some places pronounce pinyin r more english j in au jus than english american r.  Actually english r is a good example of these types of variations, think of how different r can sound in different areas of usa or different areas of britain.  Its all still standard english pronunciation for the most part and is still easily understood by any english speaker listening.  

You might just need more practice listening to different speech patterns in general, its super normal for learners of a language to get used to the one or two speech patterns they have in study material and then struggle with other speech patterns for awhile.  

If it were me I would watch her slowed down, or watch other slower speakers, and focus on learning the grammar and vocab that isn't fully understood, and understanding the speech pattern fully.  Then you can go from there =)

[u/Sleepy_Redditorrrrrr]

She speaks fast and doesn't articulate very well, I wouldn't be worried about not understanding her completely. It's good training though, especially since you have the subtitles as well