{"id":3694,"date":"2011-02-14T07:11:35","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T12:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=3694"},"modified":"2017-12-22T10:19:46","modified_gmt":"2017-12-22T14:19:46","slug":"tones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/tones\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay in Tone!"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to learning Chinese, understanding how to \u8bfb and \u5199 the thousands upon thousands of \u6c49\u5b57 is obviously the most difficult part of the learning process.\u00a0 However, if you are simply interested in learning how to \u8bf4\u4e2d\u6587, you will probably encounter the most difficulty whilst attempting to learn the four \u58f0\u8c03<\/strong> (sh\u0113ng di\u00e0o \u2013 tones) that are used in Mandarin.<\/p>\n

As a native English speaker, I was completely befuddled by the concept of a tonal language when I first arrived in China.\u00a0 Needless to say, the concept of constantly raising and lowering my voice in order to be properly understood took some getting used to.\u00a0 When I finally got fed up with relying on friends, phrasebooks, and charades to be understood, and decided to get a Chinese \u8f85\u5bfc (<\/strong>f\u01d4 d\u01ceo \u2013 tutor, lit. coach), we spent the first few weeks entirely on learning the \u62fc\u97f3 system and drilling the tones.\u00a0 During those few weeks, there were plenty of times when I was ready to give up hope all together, as I was convinced that I would never be able to properly utilize the tones.\u00a0 Thankfully, with loads of encouragement from my tutor, I chose to persevere.\u00a0 I listened to her \u53d1\u97f3 (f\u0101 y\u012bn \u2013 pronunciation) carefully, as well as people outside, my audio books, and Chinese \u7535\u89c6\u8282\u76ee<\/strong> (di\u00e0n sh\u00ec ji\u00e9 m\u00f9 \u2013 television programs), always trying my best to mimic the sounds.\u00a0 With time, utilizing the tones started to come more naturally, and I even started getting compliments on my pronunciation, which, to be honest, still isn\u2019t very good at all.\u00a0 But that\u2019s the thing with learning Chinese \u2013 if you make a concerted effort, and come close, people will for the most part understand you, and will often compliment you.\u00a0 Although you can get away with mixing up your tones (believe me, I do it a lot), it\u2019s still vital for new learners to focus their attention on learning to recognize and use the four tones.\u00a0 Here is a little crash course \u8001\u5916 style in the four tones of Chinese:<\/p>\n

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Image by Wereon on Wikimedia Commons is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u7b2c\u4e00\u58f0 (d\u00ec y\u012b sh\u0113ng \u2013 the first tone) \u2013 For tone #1, your voice starts high and stays that way, kind of like your hippie roommate in college.\u00a0 Do you remember singing do-ray-me-fa-so-la-ti-do in music class?\u00a0 Well, when pronouncing a syllable with the first tone, your voice should sound like it does when you hit that last \u201cdo\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u7b2c\u4e8c\u58f0 (d\u00ec \u00e8r sh\u0113ng \u2013 the second tone) \u2013 On to tone #2.\u00a0 The best way I can relate the second tone to something in English is the way you raise your voice when asking a question.\u00a0 You voice starts somewhere in the middle, and rises to the top.\u00a0 For a great cinematic example, look no further than Ron Burgundy\u2019s teleprompter mishap in \u201cAnchorman\u201d:<\/p>\n

If you just pretend like you are asking a question every time you use the second tone, you\u2019ll do just fine.<\/p>\n

\u7b2c\u4e09\u58f0 (d\u00ec s\u0101n sh\u0113ng \u2013 the third tone) \u2013 This one is by far the most difficult, if you ask me.\u00a0 Your voice needs to start in the middle, drop to the bottom, and then raise up near the top.\u00a0 When I started out, the third tone was the bane of my existence, and I was constantly screwing it up.\u00a0 It\u2019s difficult to relate to English, but it\u2019s somewhat akin to the way you would give a very surprised \u201cWhhhhaattt?!\u201d in response to a shocking statement from a friend.\u00a0 For example, a few years ago, when I told friends I was moving to China, they would often reply as such \u2013 \u201cWhhhaaattt?! You\u2019re moving to CHINA?!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u7b2c\u56db\u58f0 (d\u00ec s\u00ec sh\u0113ng \u2013 the fourth tone) \u2013 Finally, there is the falling sound of the fourth tone.\u00a0 This one is pretty easy.\u00a0 Your voice starts high and drops all the way down.\u00a0 Basically, you sound like you are angry when using the fourth tone.\u00a0 Pretend like you\u2019re dog just chewed up your favorite pair of Nikes (\u201cBAD dog!\u201d) or flash back to your younger years and your parents scolding you (\u201cYou\u2019re GROUNDED!\u201d).\u00a0 Harness that anger, and you\u2019ve got the fourth tone down.<\/p>\n

\u8f7b\u58f0 <\/strong>(q\u012bng sh\u0113ng \u2013 the neutral tone, lit. gentle voice) \u2013 Oh, wait, you thought we were finished?\u00a0 Ha!\u00a0 Think again.\u00a0 In Chinese, there is also a neutral tone.\u00a0 When reading pinyin, you can spot this one by the lack of tone identifier.\u00a0 Some common places you will see the neutral tone are at the end of a sentence, when asking a question, or when a syllable is repeated (the second one will have the neutral tone).\u00a0 Just as it implies, your voice should be gentle, with no rising or falling.<\/p>\n

\u4f60\u6e05\u695a\u5417? (n\u01d0 q\u012bngchu ma \u2013 do you understand?\/is it clear?)\u00a0 If not, don\u2019t worry about it.\u00a0 As my tutor told me when I was ready to give up, \u201c\u591a\u542c\u591a\u8bf4, \u4e0d\u6015\u51fa\u9519<\/strong>\u201c\u00a0 (du\u014d t\u012bng du\u014d shu\u014d, b\u00f9 p\u00e0 ch\u016b cu\u00f2 \u2013 listen more and speak more, don\u2019t be afraid of making mistakes).\u00a0 As long as you practice and actively listen when you hear other people speaking Chinese, you\u2019ll improve.\u00a0 Of course, you don\u2019t want to call your \u5988\u5988 (m\u0101 ma \u2013 mother) a \u9a6c (m\u01ce \u2013 horse), but that might happen when you first start out learning and speaking Chinese.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

When it comes to learning Chinese, understanding how to \u8bfb and \u5199 the thousands upon thousands of \u6c49\u5b57 is obviously the most difficult part of the learning process.\u00a0 However, if you are simply interested in learning how to \u8bf4\u4e2d\u6587, you will probably encounter the most difficulty whilst attempting to learn the four \u58f0\u8c03 (sh\u0113ng di\u00e0o…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":16666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3694","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3694"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14067,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3694\/revisions\/14067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}