The neutral tone can change the meaning and function of words, making it crucial for proper communication. It plays multiple roles in the language, enhancing its rhythm and pronunciation.

For instance, in grammatical particles, it appears in words like 吗 (ma) for yes/no questions and 吧 (ba) for polite requests. Auxiliary words like 着 (zhe) for ongoing actions and 了 (le) for completed actions also use this tone. Nominal suffixes such as 子 (zi) and 们 (men) form new words or indicate plurality. Reduplicated words, where the second part is in a neutral tone, are common in everyday language, like 谢谢 (xièxie) for thank you. Understanding these roles helps in grasping the subtleties of Chinese grammar and pronunciation.

Get to know the full picture of the Chinese Tones.

Neutral Tone As Chinese Grammar Particles

Particles in Chinese are words used to indicate various grammatical functions or convey nuances in speech. Some common particles often pair with the neutral tone, including the following:

吗 (ma)

is used for yes or no questions. For example:

你好吗? (Nǐ hǎo ma?) How do you do？

这是他的电脑吗？(Zhè shì tā de diànnǎo ma?) Is this his computer?

吧 (ba)

indicates a polite request or softens a command. For example:

我们一起坐吧！(Wǒmen yìqǐ zuò ba!) Let’s sit together!

快睡吧！(Kuài shuì ba!) Go to sleep soon!

呢 (ne)

is used to form questions about actions, situations, and conditions. For example:

我觉得这里的菜不错，你呢？(Wǒ juéde zhèlǐ de cài búcuò, nǐ ne?) I think the food here is good. How about you?

你在做什么呢? (Nǐ zài zuò shénme ne?) What are you doing?

Learn more about Chinese particles here.

Neutral Tone As Auxiliary Words

Auxiliary words in Chinese are frequently employed alongside verbs, adjectives, or adverbs to convey an action’s status, describe the overall situation, or alter the sentence’s meaning. Many of these auxiliary words are pronounced with a neutral tone.

着 (zhe)

indicates an ongoing action or state when placed after a verb. For instance:

他们坐着上课。(Tāmen zuòzhe shàng kè.) They are sitting and attending class.

躺着玩手机对眼睛不好。(Tǎngzhe wán shǒujī duì yǎnjīng bù hǎo.) Lying down and using a mobile phone is not good for your eyes.

了 (le)

denotes completed actions or changes in a situation. For example：

我吃饭了。 (Wǒ chīfàn le.) I have eaten.

他刚喝了很多果汁，现在不想喝了。(Tā gāng hē le hěn duō guǒzhī, xiànzài bù xiǎng hē le.) He just drank a lot of juice and doesn’t want to drink anymore now.

过 (guo)

indicates that an action has been experienced or completed in the past. For example：

我去过北京。 (Wǒ qùguo Běijīng.) I have been to Beijing.

我没吃过红烧肉。(Wǒ méi chīguo Hóngshāo ròu.) I have never eaten braised pork.

的 (de)

is a versatile particle used to indicate possession or describe nouns. For example:

这是我的书。 (Zhè shì wǒ de shū.) This is my book.

他长着一头黑色的头发。(Tā zhǎngzhe yì tóu hēisè de tóufa.) He has black hair.

地 (de)

used to link adverbs with verbs or adjectives, turning them into adverbial phrases, describing how an action is performed or modifying an adjective. For example:

她慢慢地走回了家。 (Tā mànman de zǒu huí le jiā.) She walked back home slowly.

哥哥高兴地跳了起来。(Gēge gāoxìng de tiào le qǐlái.) The older brother happily jumped up.

得 (de)

used to link verbs or adjectives with a complement to indicate the degree, possibility, or necessity of an action. For instance:

他跑得很快，我跑得很慢。 (Tā pǎo de hěn kuài, wǒ pǎo de hěn màn.) He runs very fast, while I run very slowly.

今天热得要死。(Jīntiān rè de yào sǐ.) It is hot as hell out today.

Learn more about Chinese Aspect Particles  and Chinese Structural Particles.

Neutral Tone As Nominal Suffixes

Nominal suffixes, often pronounced with a neutral tone, are attached to nouns to either form new words or impart precise meanings. For example:

子 (zi)

is added to nouns or adjectives to create diminutive or affectionate nouns. Here are some examples:

们 (men)

is used with nouns or pronouns to indicate plural forms. For examples:

Learn more about Chinese suffixes.

Reduplication with the Neutral Tone

When a single-toned Chinese character is duplicated, the repeated part is pronounced with a neutral tone. For examples:

Learn more about the Adjective Reduplication and Verb Reduplication.

These examples showcase how the neutral tone is frequently used in everyday Chinese words, contributing to the language’s unique rhythm and pronunciation patterns.

The post The Versatility of the Neutral Tone in Chinese appeared first on .

Overview

Pinyin is a system of symbols for the phonetic notation of Chinese characters. Each Chinese character has a corresponding syllable composed of three parts: the Initial, the Final, and the Tone. In the Chinese Pinyin system, there are 21 initials, 36 finals, 2 semi-vowels, 4 basic tones, and 1 light tone.

21 Pinyin Initials

(You can check the Pinyin Chart for the pronunciation of each initial.)

36 Pinyin Finals

(You can check the Pinyin Chart for the pronunciation of each final.)

There are 6 main finals in the table of finals: a, o, e, i, u, ü.

Others are called compound finals.

It`s said that the Final is the most important part of a pinyin syllable. We can`t compose a syllable without the final part. Sometimes, the final itself can be an independent syllable without the initial.

Rules about spelling:

1. The three compound finals, “uei”, “iou”, and“uen”, are composed of “u+ei”, “i+ou”, “u+en”,   We should compress the syllables as “ui”, “iu”, and“un” in writing.

For example:

• 对 right, correct: [duì] √,  [duèi]ⅹ
• 秋 autumn：[qiū] √,  [qiōu]ⅹ
• 春 spring：[chūn] √,  [chuēn]ⅹ

2. When the finals “i”, “in”, “ing”, and “u” form pinyin syllables by themselves without any other initials, “y” and “w” should be put before these finals respectively to make it as “yi”, “yin”, “ying”, and “wu”.

For example:

• 一 one：[yī] √,  [ī]ⅹ
• 音 sound：[yīn] √,  [īn]ⅹ
• 应 should：[yīng] √,  [īng]ⅹ
• 五 five：[wǔ] √,  [ǔ]ⅹ

3. The compound finals with “i” or “u” as the beginning and which form syllables by themselves, the “i” and “u” should be changed as “y” and “w” in writing.

For example:

• 爷 grandpa: [yé] √,  [ié]ⅹ
• 我 I，me：[wǒ] √,  [uǒ]ⅹ

4. Rules about “ü”

When a final that begins with “ü” meets “y” in one syllable, the two dots of “ü” should be omitted.

For example:

• 鱼 fish: [yú] √,  [yǘ]ⅹ
• 月 moon, month: [yuè] √,  [yüè]ⅹ

The final “ü” cannot be spelled with the initial “j”, “q” or“x”. Thus, when “ü”, or the finals that begin with “ü”, meets one of the three initials, the two dots above “ü” should be omitted.

For example:

• 举 hold: [jǔ] √,  [jǚ]ⅹ
• 去 go：[qù] √,  [qǜ]ⅹ
• 学 study，learn：[xué] √,  [xüé]ⅹ

5. When the second syllable begins with “a”, “o”, or“e” in a word, the two syllables should be separated by the mark (’).

For example:

• 先 first [xiān]  VS 西安 Xi`an [xī’ān]

Tones

Tone is an aspect of learning Chinese which can be difficult for many learners. Many Chinese characters share the same Pinyin syllable but have different tones, and therefore have completely different meanings.

The basic tones:

The 1st tone: (—)

It`s pronounced very high and level with a natural prolonging. For example:

ā, ō, ē, ī, ū, ǖ

The 2nd tone: (/)

It`s pronounced as a rising sound, from low to high, which sounds like asking a question. For example:

á, ó, é, í, ú, ǘ

The 3rd tone: (∨)

When pronouncing this tone, you should first fall down and then go up; it is a relatively long tone. For example:

ǎ, ǒ, ě, ǐ, ǔ, ǚ

The 4th tone: (\)

This tone is pronounced short and strong and is a falling tone. For example:

à, ò, è, ì, ù, ǜ

Neutral tone

Besides the basic tone, there is another special tone which is called the light or neutral tone. It has no tone mark in writing and it`s pronounced very light and short. It`s usually used as the last syllable of a word or a phrase, such as 谢谢 [xiè xie] (thanks), 妈妈[mā ma] (mom).

Note:

The tone mark should be put above the finals. When the final is a compound one, the tone mark is usually put above the main vowel which is based on the following order: “a”-> “o”-> “e”-> “i” -> “u”-> “ü”.

Related Reading: The Complete Tone Guide

The rules of tone changes

In a word or phrase, when a third tone is followed by another third tone immediately, it should be pronounced as a half-rising tone. For example:

• 体检 physical examination – [tǐ jiǎn] -> [tí jiǎn]
• 我很好 I`m very good. – [wǒ hěn hǎo] -> [wó hén hǎo]

While a third tone is followed by a first, second, or third tone immediately, the third tone should be pronounced as a half-falling tone. For example:

• 很新 very new – [hěn xīn] ->[hèn xīn]
• 很强 very strong – [hěn qiáng]-> [hèn qiáng]
• 很旧 very old – [hěn jiù] -> [hèn jiù]

Note that the tone changes only orally, and the written version will keep the original tone marks.

Learn about the Third Tone Change Rules in detail.

Practice

After learning the rules of Pinyin above, it`s time to do some practice. Try to pronounce the following syllable:

Go through the course and master the pinyin system in 16 days!

The post Learn Pinyin: illustration of the Chinese Pinyin system appeared first on .

• Part 1: What is Pinyin?
• Part 2: What is Tones?
• Part 3: Tips and Suggestions: How to improve your Chinese pronunciation
• Part 4: Resources

Part 1: What is Pinyin?

Chinese is not a phonetic language. Its pronunciation does not relate to the writing of Chinese words (characters). Pinyin is a special system created to help people learn Mandarin pronunciation. It transcribes Chinese characters so that people can pronounce them. Pinyin may also be used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into computers or electronic devices.

Pinyin’s writing is similar to that of the English alphabet. You can pronounce every single sound in Chinese using Pinyin. However, you should be aware that the pronunciation and spelling of Pinyin letters differ from English letters. The sounds that Pinyin letters represent do not correspond exactly to the sounds that English letters represent. Therefore, you cannot pronounce Pinyin as if it were English. For example,

One Chinese sound corresponds to one syllable, and each Chinese character has its own Pinyin syllable.

A Pinyin syllable consists of three parts: the Initial, the Final, and the Tone. The Initial and Final represent the segmental phonetic portion of the language, rather than individual letters.

Chinese PinYin Chart with Audio (click here)

Learn more about the detailed illustration of the Chinese Pinyin system.

Part 2: What is Tones?

Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, meaning the pronunciation of a sound directly affects the meaning of what is said. Mandarin’s tones give the language a distinctive quality, but they can also be a source of miscommunication if not given due attention.

There are four main tones and one neutral tone in Mandarin Chinese (or, as some say, five tones). Each tone has a distinctive pitch contour, which can be graphed using the following Chinese 5-level system.

I’ve seen some posts claiming that Chinese tones are just like English, conveying the attitude or feeling of a speaker, but this is not the case. This idea confuses two different concepts. English doesn’t have tones; words don’t change meanings when pronounced with different intonations. However, in Chinese, even with the same initial and final, different tones represent different characters and meanings. Many Chinese characters share the same initials and finals. For example,

Common Tone Rules

• Third Tone Sandhi

When a third tone is followed by another third tone, it should be pronounced as a second tone automatically. But the writing script should remain unchanged as the third tone mark. For example:
你好 (nǐ + hǎo)  ->  你好 (ní hǎo)

我很好 (wǒ + hěn + hǎo)  ->  我很好 (wó hén hǎo) 

• Tone sandhi of “不”

“不” becomes a second tone when followed by a fourth tone character. It is a fourth-tone syllable by itself, and when followed by other tones, the following changes occur.

• Tone sandhi of “一”

“一” is pronounced in the first tone when it`s by itself, at the end of a word, or used as a number. However, when followed by a first, second, or third-tone character, “一” changes to the fourth tone. It is pronounced in the second tone when it precedes a fourth-tone character.

Why Tones Matter?

If you can’t recognize the tone, you may struggle to understand Chinese speakers and face embarrassing communication barriers.

Many learners quit after initially underestimating the importance of mastering tones and proper pronunciation in Mandarin. They find Pinyin deceptively simple and rush into more complex language aspects, only to be overwhelmed by similar vocabulary that erodes their confidence. However, consistent practice in listening and speaking, though tedious, is vital. Mastering these basics builds a solid foundation for further Chinese studies, underscoring the critical importance of tones.

Related Reading: A Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Tones in Mandarin Chinese

Part 3: Tips and Suggestions: How to improve your Chinese pronunciation

1. Master the basic rules of pronunciation and tones

Knowing basic greetings like “你好” and “你好吗” in Chinese is straightforward, but advancing beyond these initial greetings is a different endeavor. As a beginner, it is crucial to become familiar with all Pinyin sounds, spelling rules, and tone-changing rules. If possible, find a professional teacher who speaks standard Mandarin Chinese and can clearly explain the differences among similar sounds.

Many learning experiences are shared on how to improve your Chinese pronunciation, Master Chinese Pronunciation with 6 Techniques.

To improve your pronunciation of each initial and final, here are the tricks:

The Pinyin Finals:

• [ɑ] / [e] / [i]
• [o] / [u] / [ü]
• [ü] & Its Spelling Rules in Exception
• [i] / [u] / [ü]
• [er]

The Pinyin Initials:

• [b] / [p]
• [m] / [f]
• [d] / [t]
• [g] / [k]
• [n] / [l]
• [h]
• [j] / [q] / [x]
• [z] / [c] / [s]
• [zh] / [ch] / [sh] / [r]

2. Having Enough input: Create your own language environment

If you are learning Chinese in China or luckily are surrounded by a group of native speakers, just try to talk to them about what you`ve learned. If you can`t follow them at the beginning, don`t feel embarrassed or upset; it`s a quite common phase. Focus on distinguishing the words you’ve learned and becoming more familiar with the intonation of the Chinese language. Gradually, you will be able to connect all the words and understand the conversations.

If you don`t have the language environment, create one yourself! There are tons of online learning resources available, especially on platforms like Dig Mandarin. 🙂 Whether through Chinese learning audios or videos, make use of your spare time to listen. While some learning content might be tedious, diversify your practice with  Chinese songs to perfect your accent.   Additionally, learning from movies and TV shows is an excellent way to improve your language sense and deepen your understanding of Chinese culture.

3. Having Enough output

i. Practice in words, phrases, and sentences

Phonetic changes occur in the flow of speech, especially with tones. When you begin studying Mandarin Chinese pronunciation, it is beneficial to practice tone pairs. Start with a phrase you know, such as 很好 (hěnhǎo, very good), which uses the second and then the third tone. Repeat this phrase out loud several times, listening to the tone and rhythm of the syllables. This study of the language’s natural rhythm will help you accurately pronounce new words and speak sentences more smoothly. Starting can be tough, but mastering this will make longer sentences much easier.

ii. Slow down and be clear

Ensure you do not speak too quickly. It’s natural to want to speak at a normal speed like a native speaker, but as a beginner, you might not produce standard sounds. Focus on clarity and correctness over speed. If people can’t understand you, there’s no point in speaking quickly. Clear and accurate communication should be your goal.

Here is the Chinese Speaking Training with the Shadowing technique.

iii. Practice makes perfect

As mentioned, cultivating a keen sense of the Chinese language requires sufficient input. Practicing alone can sometimes create the illusion that you are speaking well, when in reality, perhaps only you or your teacher can understand. Therefore, the key is to practice repeatedly. If one doesn’t work, try twice, then three times, and more. Persistence will lead to success.

4. Learn from your mistakes

As you know, Chinese people are very kind, so they often offer encouragement and compliments. While confidence is necessary, don’t let their kindness prevent you from recognizing and correcting your mistakes and foreign pronunciation. Ask your Chinese friends to point out inaccuracies and specific issues directly. Ideally, one of these friends should be a professional teacher. Take notes on your common mistakes and analyze them one by one. This process will help you overcome your problems. It can be discouraging to hear about many mistakes, but you will learn a lot from them quickly, and this will accelerate your improvement.

You can also gauge if others understand you; regardless of their kindness, being understood is a good start. Additionally, try preparing a paragraph on a specific topic, then record your speech and listen to it several times to assess if it sounds odd from your perspective. Then have your Chinese friends or teacher check it. If possible, compare your recordings with those of native speakers to clearly hear differences in sounds, rhythms, and intonation. Focus on the difficulties, repeat them slowly, and ensure your pronunciation is correct.

5. Review all the time

Acquiring accurate pronunciation is a long-term battle. Do not be naive and think you can master authentic pronunciation in one shot. Record all your mistakes and misunderstandings of specific concepts. Review your notes regularly to keep your attention focused and remind you of the correct approaches. Eventually, you will master them all. Repetition is the key to mastery!

Part 4: Resources

1. Video Lessons

a) Learn Complete Chinese Pronunciation in 16 Days! – This pronunciation course is produced by DigMandarin. With this course, you will:

• Pronounce every Chinese sound clearly with the proper accent.
• Understand the phonetic alphabet (Pinyin) and how it relates to pronunciation.
• Learn each of the 21 Pinyin Initials.
• Learn each of the basic 6 Finals, as well as the 30 compound Finals.
• Reduce your accent to sound more like a native.
• Master the trickiest elements that challenge most beginners, including the complex Mandarin tones.
• Receive detailed explanations on how to shape your mouth, position your tongue, and produce the required sounds.

b) Fluent Forever – Just as I illustrated above, these 3 videos provide instructions to help you gain a basic understanding of Chinese pronunciation, tones, and spelling rules. Its whiteboard illustration way is quite clear and easy to follow.

c) Yoyo Chinese – Featured in an interview by Dig Mandarin, this group offers over 100 YouTube videos designed to help you learn Mandarin more easily. An additional 300-400 videos are available if you pay for the premium membership on the website. Beginners can make great strides in language learning with the systemic video organization that naturally builds world knowledge and pronunciation skills.

d) Chinese Made Easy – This course is designed to guide you through the fundamentals of Mandarin pronunciation and is essential for anyone new to learning Chinese. It provides a thorough understanding of Pinyin, the Romanization system used for phoneticizing Chinese characters. You will learn about the importance of tones in Mandarin, how they affect meaning, and the structure of Pinyin syllables, including initials, finals, and tone marks. Whether you are starting from scratch or looking to improve your pronunciation skills, this course is your first step toward fluency.

2. Audio Lessons

 ChineseClass101 – ChineseClass101 offers a substantial number of lessons, with five episodes dedicated to teaching Chinese word construction, tones, related tone rules, and challenging sounds. These lessons cover the essential aspects of Mandarin Chinese pronunciation.

Mandarin Bean – As a Chinese-graded reading and practice site, Mandarin Bean offers many resources focused on fundamental content such as grammar and pronunciation. You can listen to tutorial audio on Pinyin and then engage in practice exercises to reinforce what you’ve learned.

3. Tools & APP

a) Pinyin Tools – If you want to learn about how to use Pinyin to aid your Chinese verbal language acquisition, Dig Mandarin recommends apps: pinyin chart, tone chart, and Pinyin to Chinese character converter app.

b) Pleco – This dictionary is one of the most useful tools for people learning Mandarin. You can search by either Chinese characters or Pinyin spelling. If you hear a new Chinese word that you do not understand, you can easily search for it on this site to figure out what it means. A premium version is also available, which includes audio pronunciations.

4. Book

New Practice Chinese Readers – This Mandarin Chinese textbook is my personal favorite. It combines a carefully laid-out learning structure ideal for language with audio files for better pronunciation and understanding. The lessons include vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar sentence structure, and even cultural information. New Practice for Chinese Readers is available on Amazon and from major book retailers.

Related Reading: Chinese for Beginners – All in One

The post Chinese Pronunciation: The Complete Guide for Beginner appeared first on .

When it comes to learning any skill, you need to frame it in a way you can understand before you can truly learn and master the skill. Quite often, I’ll use the analogy of playing music when teaching my students about tones.

If you think about it, learning the Chinese tones is like learning how to read music. You might be able to read the musical notes, but if you don’t know how to play those notes with the instrument, you won’t be able to pay the song. It’s the exact same challenge with Chinese tones.

So recently, I’ve been using the concept of Morse code to teach my students how to pronounce 3 out of the 4 Chinese tones, and it’s been working very well.

If you’re not familiar with Morse Code, you’ll need to read this article (otherwise, the concepts in this article won’t make any sense to you!).

HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE FIRST TONE (OR HIGH TONE)

The first tone is very similar to the “dash” in Morse code. A common teaching cue for the first tone is to pretend like you’re singing a high note. This cue isn’t completely inaccurate, but quite often, people will exaggerate too much and the tone won’t sound natural.

Instead, imagine you’re standing in a crowded subway, and you’re trying to hum a high-note without drawing any attention.

Drill 1

Hum a high note 10 times, each time for about ¼ of a second

Drill 2

Now, repeat what you practiced in Drill 1, but apply that high note to the following sounds (imagine you’re on the crowded subway)

BA       DA      MA      LA       PA       TA       ZA

HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE THIRD TONE (OR LOW TONE)

Similar to the first tone, I think the third tone is also very similar to the “dash” in Morse code, except in the lowest pitch of your voice. Even though the third tone looks like a “U,” natives rarely go “down and up” as the tone mark indicates. Instead, it’s more of a sustained sound in the back of the throat. Again, imagine you’re standing in a crowded subway, but this time you’re trying to vibrate your uvula (the dangly thing at the back of your throat) without drawing any attention. This sound is almost identical to when you make the sheep sound, “baaaaah.”

Drill 1

Vibrate your uvula 10 times, each time for about ¼ of a second

Drill 2

Now, repeat what you practiced in Drill 1, but apply that “vibrating” to the following sounds (imagine you’re on the crowded subway)

BA       DA      MA      LA       PA       TA       ZA

HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE FOURTH TONE (OR DROP TONE)

Finally, the fourth tone is almost identical to the “dot” in Morse code. If you’ve never heard the dot in Morse code, it’s a quick, forceful tap.

Drill 1

Say the “duh” sound 10 times with a quick, forceful tap sound.

。        。     。      。       。      。       。       。      。       。

Duh    Duh    Duh    Duh    Duh    Duh    Duh    Duh    Duh    Duh

Drill 2

Now, repeat what you did in drill 1, but apply that quick, forceful tap sound to the Chinese sounds below

。       。       。        。        。        。        。

BA       DA      MA      LA       PA       TA       ZA

There you go! Now you have a simple framework to correctly pronounce the first, third, and fourth tones.

I recommend that you practice these drills several times so you can get these tones into muscle memory!

Related reading resources:

Chinese pronunciation foundation: The Complete Chinese Pronunciation Guide

Experience sharing:

• From Frustration to Fluency: Master Chinese Pronunciation with 6 Techniques
• How to Master Tones without Using Tone Marks
• An exciting new audio-visual way to practice Mandarin tones
• Recommended Chinese Songs for Perfecting Your Accent
• How to Improve Your Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation
• Top Tools to Help You Learn Chinese Pronunciation and Pinyin

The post Learn The Chinese Tones With Morse Code? appeared first on .

If you’re on this site and reading this post, then you’ve probably at least heard of the four tones, so I won’t go over what they are in detail here – but if not, I’ve explained them in detail in this video.

In this post, I’ll want to give you a strategy for practising the tones so that you can get them sounding right, and some tips for how to fix them in your head. A lot of beginners learn about the tones, but find they are difficult, give up on them and just try to speak Chinese pretending that they don’t exist at all. This is a really bad idea, because it’s so much more difficult to correct your pronunciation mistakes later on, and it’s really worth taking the time to get them right early on.

Learn to say the tones right by practising them in pairs

The key to getting ‘into the feel’ of how the tones work in words and sentences is to practice them in pairs and different combinations. Luckily, most ‘words’ in Chinese have just two syllables and therefore two tones, and with only 4 tones there are only a small number of different combinations (even when you factor in the syllables that are unstressed).

I’ve produced videos that will help you practise all the combinations of the tones. All you have to do is listen and repeat the examples to see how they work. The most important thing is to get your mouth moving and give it a try!

If you get used to what the different tone combinations ‘feel like’ to say, then you will become much more familiar with them and also be able to able to pick them out more easily.

When you are familiar with the tone combinations in two-syllable words, then it’s just the same for three-syllable words, there’s just an extra syllable on the front.

And full sentences can generally be divided down into two or three-syllable ‘blocks’, which makes them easier to say correctly.

Related Reading: An exciting new audio-visual way to practice Mandarin tones

Fixing the tones in your head

One common difficulty that beginner learners of Chinese face is remembering what tone each character or word should be.

This is also why many people decide to ‘give up’ on the tones.

Each Chinese character has a tone, and if a word is made up of two characters, then that makes two tones you have to remember.

The problem is that there aren’t normally any clues from the character or the word itself that will tell you the tone.

This is why you have to pay special attention to the tones of words right from the beginning, integrate them into your learning, and continue to reinforce them so you don’t forget them.

After all, native Chinese speakers wouldn’t normally ‘forget the tones’, except for really rare words, so it’s definitely possible to remember them, even though it might seem really tough on your brain.

My strategy for remembering the tones of characters and words

1. Be disciplined about using the correct tones whenever you say anything in Chinese

One of the best ways to remember the tones is not to try to remember them from a list of words but to simply use them.

It’s easy just to try to ‘muddle through’ by saying things without using the tones at all, but it’s important to try to be disciplined and pronounce every word and sentence you learn with the correct tones right from the beginning.

Even if it slows you down at first, it will pay off in the long run.

2. Analyse your use of tones as you speak Chinese

Don’t worry if you make tone mistakes, everybody does, and it’s normal for any learner, but try to recognize when you’ve made a mistake, and correct yourself, or go and look up the tones of the word again later if you’ve forgotten them.

3. Always learn the tones when you learn a new character or word

Whenever you learn a new character or word, always remember to learn the tones at the same time. Don’t just try to copy a native speaker roughly, always ask what the tones are or look them up in a dictionary.

4. When you learn a word, use that as an opportunity to reinforce the tones for the characters in it

Chinese ‘words’ are usually two or three characters. You might recognise the characters individually but have forgotten their tones.

For example, if you know that 法律 is law, and it is pronounced “fǎ lǜ”, but you only remember that the first character is in the 3^rd tone, then you could use it as an opportunity to refresh your memory about the pronunciation of the second character (lǜ in the 4^th tone).

5. Focus on tones during Chinese listening, rather than just trying to pick out words

You may find that native speakers speak very quickly and it is hard to pick out the tones of words from a constant stream of speech, but whenever you can, try to also listen for the tones of words, or at least for parts of the sentence.

Obviously not everybody speaks in a clear standard accent, so this tip works better for classes or when you are listening to TV/radio etc.

6. Keep double-checking the tones of characters/words in a dictionary as you speak

As I said, forgetting the tones of words is completely normal.

If I look back at myself a few years ago, I was constantly checking the tones of words in a dictionary because I had forgotten them, but the more you double-check words and then use them correctly, the more likely you are to remember them. It takes time, but you will get things right in the end.

Now, with smartphones, it’s really easy to look up a word quickly anywhere, using an app like Pleco. If you were unsure of the tones in the word for pencil, say, you could just type in /qianbi/, and see that it should be pronounced in the 1^st then 3^rd tone. Simple!

7. When you read, read out loud with the correct tones

Reading texts out loud in Chinese can be more difficult than other languages, because you have to remember all the pronunciations of the characters, and it can be quite slow.

However, it’s a great exercise to help you reinforce the tones, and it gives you a chance to look up any that you have forgotten. It’s a great memory exercise, and will help you improve quickly!

8. Use colours and mnemonics as well as the tone symbols

If you are the kind of person who likes to rely on visual prompts to remember things, then feel free to use mnemonics or different colour pens to represent the different tones.

Who knows, it might make things easier for you.

As with all aspects of learning a language practice makes perfect. The more you practise the tones, rather than wishing they didn’t exist, the more you will remember them. You might forget the tones of a word 5 times, but if you accept that, and the result is that you remember it forever, then it’s definitely worth it!

Related reading resources

Back to Chinese Pronunciation Foundation: The Complete Chinese Pronunciation Guide

Experience sharing:

• From Frustration to Fluency: Master Chinese Pronunciation with 6 Techniques
• How to Master Tones without Using Tone Marks
• Recommended Chinese Songs for Perfecting Your Accent
• How to Improve Your Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation
• Top Tools to Help You Learn Chinese Pronunciation and Pinyin

The post How to Get the Tones in Chinese Right, and then Fix Them in Your Head! appeared first on .

Why is it that so many Chinese language students struggle with this aspect of the language?

Well, without a doubt, tones are a very foreign concept to learners who come from non-tonal native languages. When you’re learning a tonal language as a second language, tonal languages certainly require a level of discipline when speaking the language that you don’t experience when learning many other languages.

However, that being said, I personally think a big culprit is the tone marks. To me, the fact that so many students struggle with the tones indicates to me that there might be a problem with the tone marks. So, when I started teaching Chinese, I ditched the tone marks and started working on my own approach.

I personally never liked the tone marks for several reasons:

• The names (first tone, second tone, etc) are not intuitive. If you look at the name “first tone,” you have no idea what that means.
• Most Chinese language learners come from languages that read left to right. Yes, pinyin is also read left to right, but you also have to refer to the tone marks while you’re reading, which creates a sort of dissonance in your head.
• Finally, one thing many beginners don’t realize is that mā, má, mǎ, mà are actually four different words, not just one sound you’re changing with tone marks.

So, let me tell you about the approach that I’ve developed: tone scales.

As you can see, a tone scale looks like a musical scale with three ranges: high, normal and low. I should emphasize that these ranges are within the normal range of your voice.

Let me introduce how I show the different tones with the tone scale system:

First tone mǎ (I refer to the first tone as the “high” tone with my students)

Second tone má (I refer to the second tone as the “rising” tone with my students)

Third tone mǎ (I refer to the third tone as the “low” tone with my students)

Third tone sandhi (as in when there are two “third” tones in a row)

Fourth tone mà (I refer to the fourth tone as the “drop” tone with my students)

And finally the neutral tone ma (I refer to the neutral tone as the “tap” tone)

As you can see, the tone scales are very intuitive, and they also give you a visual reference of how you need to manipulate your voice and pitch.

If you want a more in-depth explanation, please check this video:

Here are a few examples so you can get a sense of how the tone scales work with phrases and sentences.

Numbers

yī èr   sān sì wǔ   lìu qī bā jǐu shí

Long Time No See

hǎo   jǐu   bú   jiàn

Nice to meet you

hěn gāoxìng   rènshì   nǐ

In my next few articles, I’ll go over each tone in detail and offer some more tips on how to master each tone using the tone scales.

More content by the author:

• Learn The Chinese Tones With Morse Code?

Chinese pronunciation foundation: 

• The Complete Chinese Pronunciation Guide

Other experience sharing:

• From Frustration to Fluency: Master Chinese Pronunciation with 6 Techniques
• An exciting new audio-visual way to practice Mandarin tones
• Recommended Chinese Songs for Perfecting Your Accent
• How to Improve Your Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation
• Top Tools to Help You Learn Chinese Pronunciation and Pinyin

The post How to Master Tones without Using Tone Marks appeared first on .

Firstly I’d take a look of the words with their pinyin, tones, their characters and their meaning in your native language. Usually when you are a beginner it is around 10 to 15 words in the first lessons and then until 30 new words in the last ones. These examples are the words proposed in the chapter 5 of my book:

• 有 (yǒu) to have
• 几 (jǐ) how many
• 本 (běn) used for books of various kinds
• 两 (liǎng) two
• 都 (dōu) all
• 多少 (duōshǎo) how much, how many
• 个 (gè) Measure word
• 朋友 (péngyou) friend
• 班 (bān) class
• 男 (nán) male
• 女 (nǚ) female
• 留学生 (liúxuéshēng) international student abroad
• 和 (hé) and

Once I have looked at the new words, I’d read the sentences proposed by the book or by the teacher. I would try reading the characters instead of the pinyin under the sentences examples. What I do then is write the pinyin in my notebook of every sentence proposed, with the appropriate tones in each word. If I don’t remember the character I will look for it because the main point is to grasp the tones.

Here are some examples:

1-我们 班 同学

2- 一 本 书

3- 他 有几个好朋友?

Then we should write the pinyin with the tones as exercise:

1-Wǒmen bān tóngxué

2-Yī běn shū

3-Tā yǒu jǐ gè hǎo péngyǒu

Typically in textbooks we may find exercises like these ones:

Give quick responses to the questions or Ask each other questions and give responses according to the actual situation:

他们 班 有 多少 人? (How many people are there in their class?)

我们 班 留学生 是 哪国人? (What nationalities are the international students in our class?)

你 有几本词典? (How many dictionaries do you have?)

都 是 汉语 词典 吗? (Are they all Chinese dictionaries?)

Before working on the speaking part, I will do the same process as the prior exercise. I will do the translation again and write the pinyin in my notebook.

Conclusions/ Suggestions:

This way of studying and learning, it is been so useful to me because by doing this process I can work on a lot of aspects. I learn how to remember the tones, the characters and their meaning along with learning to speak Chinese.

At the same time I have learned the sentence structures and I now understand that I just need to make substitutions of the words for the sentence to be correct. I also realized that by learning sentences it is easier to remember the tones that are not word-by-word. If you learn word by word it does not make too much sense to me, because also depending how we combine words and tones, which can change the intonation.

Now that I have been studying Chinese I realized that it is such a musical language due to the 4 tones. Before taking classes and just by listening to what my friends and coworkers were saying, I learned to just imitate the sounds perfectly without knowing that they were using tones. So I encourage everyone to study this beautiful language and hope that my experience as a student will be helpful for other learners!

The post Learning Experience Sharing: Remembering Chinese Tones appeared first on .

Most of the time, secondary speakers of Mandarin just don’t understand how bad they sound to a native speaker. I think that this is due to several reasons, and can be helped.  Here are a few of the things that I think cause a bad Mandarin accent.

1) No one has ever mentioned that your accent is terrible.

Accents are often viewed as something that just can’t be helped, something that we are born with. 

This perception is completely untrue. 

If this were true, there would be no need for speech pathologists or diction coaches.  An accent is something that you can tweak and intentionally craft.  When most people speak a language they are not thinking actively about how to manipulate how they are sounding, they first imprint a sound and then focus on the output of the memorized sound.

Accent training requires that we be more active in our output.  The view that it is something that can’t be helped does make a bit of sense because it is very hard to change the way we sound, however it is not impossible. So we should try our hardest to improve our accent.

2) You imprinted yourself with sound patterns that you self-developed without hearing them from a native.

The problem with learning from a book and not speaking to, or listening to natives, is that you will not be able to get a feel for where words begin and where they end. 

Cadence and timing are just as important to sound like a native as tones. If you’ve learned the wrong cadence and timing, it’s very hard to change that without having to think about each word.  If you are not including listening to native speakers and speaking with them in your learning routine and making it just as important as learning new vocabulary, you should listen to more Mandarin.

3) There is a “culture block”.

Some people just can’t bring themselves to make an effort to sound like a native.  They may try to imitate it with about 65% effort.  This lack of effort is because they fear that if they try their hardest to have an authentic accent, they will either fail, someone will think that they are mocking or they are “not being American”. 

This is just my opinion but after speaking with people like this and asking why they don’t seem to try to have an authentic accent at all, they usually answer that they don’t want to be rude.  I have also seen that after being immersed in the language their accent does improve over time.  So I believe this is mostly a mental problem.

These are all reasons that Singing is a great way to improve your accent.

Singing helps you develop a natural timing and cadence, it gives you a feel for tones, and it`s a powerful memorization tool.

Don’t believe me? Let’s do an exercise: how many songs can you currently sing from memory in English? How many times has a song come on the radio and you were able to effortlessly sing along with it even though you had put no concentrated effort into learning it?

Human Beings have been using songs since songs were invented to pass down oral traditions of history and language. Also, most early-stage language acquisition occurs through song with native speakers.

On top of that, it’s really fun, and singing along is an objective way to measure progress and set goals. Too often we get sidetracked with learning because we are unable to see any real progress and we get discouraged. Singing along with a song is something that you can rapidly see progression in, so it acts as a great motivator. Plus it`s really fun to perform in front of your native friends.

Below, I have included a list of Karaoke Songs that helped me when I was first learning. Please try to follow along with the pinyin and sing out loud, because not only is it fun, but you’ll notice in a few weeks that you won’t feel as tongue-tied when learning new vocabulary.

(Besides Chinese songs, there are other tools to help with your Chinese pronunciation. For a deep understanding of the Chinese pronunciation system, you can go through this Guide. To master Chinese tones, please click here to start.)

曲婉婷 – 我的歌声里

心跳 – 王力宏

愛我別走 – 張震嶽

小幸运 – 田馥甄

愛人錯過 – 告五人

小半 – 陳粒

The post Recommended Chinese Songs for Perfecting Your Accent appeared first on .

It was also through my article. We put together the very useful chart below, showing the 20 tone pairs in standard Mandarin, with a familiar example for each. The 20 comes from the fact that a 2-character word can begin with one of the four tones, and end in one of the four or the fifth neutral tone.

(For extra credit, note that 3-3 pairs are pronounced exactly the same as 2-3 pairs, so really there are only 19 unique Mandarin tone combinations – you can read more about why here.)

To review the concept – if a Chinese 2-character word begins with 1^st tone and ends with 1^st tone, we put it in the 1-1 tone pair bucket. All words in the 1-1 bucket have the same intonation, so if you know one well, you can apply that pronunciation to all other words in that bucket. It helps to pick one familiar word as the label for that bucket. So you may call 1-1 words the “today” bucket or the “airplane” bucket. Let’s give it a try.

Let’s try another, the 1-2 tone pair, you may call this the “forest” or “China” bucket. Here, there is a distinctive jump from the 1^st tone down to the start of the rising 2^nd tone.

We covered the 3-2 tone pair in the last article, but it’s worth revisiting. It is a beautiful phonetic pattern, with the 3rd and 2nd tones blending together in a smooth curve. Notice that the 3rd tone is not falling and rising, as often described – it is a deep, throaty sound.

Now let’s have a look & listen at tone pairs that include the 4th, falling tone.

Here again is a useful word list for illustrating tone combinations. Use it in addition to the “mā má mǎ mà” example, to not only impress your friends but give them a more realistic point of reference for understanding Chinese pronunciation.

And let’s close with another useful example, of two common words that sound alike except for the difference in tone pairs – also two of my favorite things after a long day of studying Mandarin:

Related reading resources:

Chinese pronunciation foundation:  The Complete Chinese Pronunciation Guide

Experience sharing:

• From Frustration to Fluency: Master Chinese Pronunciation with 6 Techniques
• How to Get the Tones in Chinese Right, and then Fix Them in Your Head!
• How to Master Tones without Using Tone Marks
• Recommended Chinese Songs for Perfecting Your Accent
• How to Improve Your Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation
• Top Tools to Help You Learn Chinese Pronunciation and Pinyin

The post Tones Prefer Company! Part II – An exciting new audio-visual way to practice Mandarin tones appeared first on .

When you hear someone discuss the basics of Mandarin pronunciation, they usually start with the four tones and give an example like the famous (mā má mǎ mà).  To be fair, they might also mention the fifth, neutral tone.

Learning the basic tones is a good start, but it misses two important points:

1. Chinese is not simply a string of syllables – the meaning of the characters evolves when they are combined into words and phrases;

2. Similarly, the true rhythm of spoken Chinese emerges as the tones are combined with one another.

I realized early on in my Mandarin studies that it is helpful to learn to pronounce pairs of tones.  All the words that use a particular tone combination have the same sound pattern.  These sound patterns can be stacked together to form fluent phrases and sentences of any length.

3rd tone + 1st tone

For example, to practice the 3-1 combination – a deep third tone followed by a high first tone – think of a commonly heard 3-1 word, such as ‘cell phone’ (手机，shǒujī).  If you’re not sure you’re pronouncing it correctly, ask your teacher or a friend who is a native speaker to practice it with you.  Now when you come across other 3-1 words, such as ‘Good Morning!’ (早安，zǎoān), ‘Good Night!’ (晚安，wǎn’ān), ‘Beijing’ (北京，Běijīng), ‘seafood’ (海鲜，hǎixiān), ‘seaside’ (海边，hǎibiān) … think back on the original word that you already know well, and pronounce these confidently with the same rhythm.

3rd tone + 2nd tone

Of course, you can use any word that is familiar and easy for you to remember, to associate with a particular tone pair.  I personally refer to the 3-2 combo as the strawberry group.  Notice how ‘strawberry’ (草莓，cǎoméi), ‘United States’ (美国，Měiguó), and ‘actor’ (演员，yǎnyuán) all have the same rhythm, a smooth wave that starts deep and rises at the end.

4th tone + 4th tone

Let’s try one more, the 4-4 combo, you might call this the ‘Goodbye!’ group: ‘Goodbye!’ (再见，zàijiàn), ‘consultant’ (顾问，gùwèn), ‘forget’ (忘记，wàngjì).

Next time someone asks you about the tones in Mandarin, instead of the old standby (mā má mǎ mà), why not give this slightly more complex – and more fun – example using tone combinations:

• (zhǔjiǎo) 3-3 means ‘主角, lead actor’
• (zhùjiào) 4-4 means ‘助教, teaching assistant’
• (zhùjiǎo) 4-3 means ‘注脚, footnote’
• (zhūjiǎo) 1-3 means ‘猪脚, pork knuckle’.

Next Reading:

Tones Prefer Company! Part II – An exciting new audio-visual way to practice Mandarin tones

Related reading resources:

Chinese pronunciation foundation: The Complete Chinese Pronunciation Guide

Experience sharing:

• From Frustration to Fluency: Master Chinese Pronunciation with 6 Techniques
• How to Get the Tones in Chinese Right, and then Fix Them in Your Head!
• How to Master Tones without Using Tone Marks
• Recommended Chinese Songs for Perfecting Your Accent
• How to Improve Your Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation
• Top Tools to Help You Learn Chinese Pronunciation and Pinyin

The post Tones Prefer Company! – A New Way to Practice Chinese Tones appeared first on .