Accent Training JPod Style

[Javizy]

I was looking at the other thread about accent, and it reminded me of something I've been meaning to suggest. For a bit of a change, it'd be cool if JPod did a series that helped us pronounce common words that have a number of homonyms with differing pitch accent. It's no good just reading about differences, or simply being told; in my opinion, you need to repeat the correct pronunciation until it becomes unnatural to say it any other way, just like it is for natives.

The regular format could still be followed, with the hosts introducing a word, followed by each homonym with an example sentence. To make it possible to shadow this, a shadowing track including only the example sentences (without the English) for each word could be included either as a bonus, or as subscriber content. That way, listeners can play it on their iPods and shadow it whenever they feel like it, without worrying about skipping through banter. To get to the point of being able to easily follow it, listeners could use the PDF to learn the sentences in advance, and while listening, before relying solely on the audio track. My suggestion of the format would be something like below:

はし

端 LH edge
こっちの端を持っていてくれますか。
Could you hold this edge for me?

橋 LH bridge
２つの土手の間に、むかし橋がかかっていた。
There was a bridge between those two banks a long time ago.

箸 HL chopsticks
トレーシーはそのときまでお箸を使ったことが無かった。
Tracey had not used chopsticks until then.

It's just an idea - one that I think about every so often - and I don't expect it to be implemented, but if it at least made the idea bank I'd be happy. I really think JPod should stress shadowing more, since it's so effective. Repeating grammar constructions through example sentences is also really effective for remembering them and helping you reproduce them in conversation.