So I'm trying to learn to speak in kansai-ben. I'm doing the Hikaru challenge (finally found something I enjoy) and have based a lot of my listening around that and vtubers. I've watched Darius's video and the only real thing I can do is kotu as I don't know any natives and can't really get corrections for my pitch. Therefore, I would like to ask whether just doing minimal pairs tests and listening a lot would be enough to aid my pitch accent development. (Of course, and speaking practice too, but for now, I would like to work on perception).
#Is doing Kotu.io and listening a lot enough for pitch accent?
unkempt cargo
dark stream
This is all I’ve done, and usually when I hear a new word in immersion I can mirror its pitch/pronunciation pretty well (although I won’t always be able to identify what particular pattern I’m using). Correction will always be better than none, but imo what you’re doing is sufficient.
unkempt cargo
Alright then. Ty. Then I shall get to doing this.
fervent anchor
IMO if that's all you can do then don't worry about it. If that's all you "want" to do and are asking if you are shooting yourself in the foot. IMO, probably not. As long as you are aware of pitch accent and listening to train your ear to hear it then, IMO you will slowly grow your instincts for pitch.
However, when you start outputting I highly recommend at the very least recording yourself often to get personal feedback (after training your ear over the years through what you are already doing. listening a lot and pitch listening training) Chorusing is likely your friend.
And I highly recommend at output stage finding some opportunities to get feedback from natives. pay for it if you have too. Even if rarely because cost is an issue.
In the end though, pitch accent and these really fine details of getting as close to native as possible are still very theory based and I don't think we "know the best way" or exactly what creates how much "damage" if any.
dark stream
It's worth noting that Darius himself actually ignored pitch, then learned it later and is now our default pitch guide resource, as well as the pera tester. Obviously no one here recommends that path because Darius had to put a ridiculous amount of work in to achieve that, but I think the general consensus via experienced learners seems to be that the fears of damaging your pitch accent (mostly deriving from early day MIA) are unproven at best. I don't want to say nonexistent, since as Brett pointed out we have no real scientific data on this subject. But, anecdotally, being aware of pitch and listening for it after a little honing via minimal pairs is fine.
unkempt cargo
IMO if that's all you can do then don't worry about it. If that's all you "want"...
Ty for the input! This is probably the route I will go down.