Suzanne Brickman - Learn to Speak Chinese: Beginning Mandarin Chinese for Native English Speakers

What are tones? Tones are the pitches that are used when speaking a particular soundkind of like music added to the words that someone says. And boy, do they make a huge difference in learning Mandarin! You can say four entirely different things (with the SAME sound, but with different tones).

The basics of each tone are briefly explained below. Understanding how each tone works is crucial to your mastery of the language. If you skip over this as if it is nothing, then I can guarantee that most Chinese speakers will feel you know NOTHING about the language itself!

On the other hand, if you master the tones, you will get compliments all day long about how wonderful your Chinese iseven if you can only speak a few words!

First tone: a higher than normal flat pitch (This pitch is extremely annoying if repeated over & over againmuch like a high monotone singer who is blatantly trying to annoy you!)

Second tone: a rising pitch that begins at your normal speaking pitch and rises (This is probably the hardest to distinguish and even native Chinese speakers sometimes confuse the second and third tones).

Third tone: a falling & rising tone that begins at your normal pitch, falls, & then rises (Its sometimes pretty obvious when you hear this pitch because its pretty distinct).

Fourth tone: a falling pitch that usually begins at a higher than normal pitch and falls softly (Most English speakers make the mistake of landing too quickly & makes it sound as if you are angry as you speak this tone. Be careful not to be part of the vast majority: Land with style and grace).

The true difficulty and skill comes in two parts. First, being able to both speak and distinguish between the various tones is quite a challenge! But never fear, with time it will become easier! Basically, you will need to train your ear over time to be able to tell the difference between the four tones (and the one neutral tonewhich is toneless like when speaking English).

The good news is that even many native Chinese speakers sometimes have difficulty distinguishing between the second and third tone! If their PinYin training wasnt solid, or they did not even receive this type of training when they were in school, they might even have difficulty identifying the tone for you (even though they can speak it perfectly)!

Another reason for this, however, is that the third tone when it is combined in a particular sequence, NO LONGER IS A THIRD TONE! Yeah, talk about tricky! (But, its a great rule to keep your throat and voice box from going crazy)! When there is a 3-3 sequence (or two third tones together), then the first of the two tones actually changes to rising pitch (second tone). When you take this into consideration, its very easily understood how the second and third tones could be confused!