You'd be amazed at how many people try pronouncing Chinese tones ONCE, decide it's too hard, and quit. Share 0. She taught Chinese to MBA students at Pepperdine University. Lingomi Blog has a great post on a way to improve your tones in Mandarin Chinese.. If you need a little more persuading, remember that if you ignore tones, you will be mispronouncing every single word. The graph can help visualize each tone so it … Get your highs up high and your lows down low. Click here to get a copy. (That “I just got out of bed and can’t quite get my voice working correctly yet” croaking sort of sound). 1. This page is divided into three parts, here are jump links: New! This final tip isn’t as obvious as it seems: Make sure that you memorize the correct tones for all the words you learn. But just what kind of practice do you need? Pretend you’re a voice actor telling a story. Most Chinese people I’ve met are happy just to hear a foreigner try to speak their language, so don’t wait until your pronunciation is perfect to start trying. FluentU brings these native Chinese videos within reach via interactive captions. Aside from tone tests in class and the odd one-syllable vocabulary word, you won’t often encounter solitary tones. Don’t exaggerate it at all. FluentU has a wide range of contemporary videos—like dramas, TV shows, commercials and music videos. If you can put a sentence together without thinking the whole time about pronunciation—and get your pronunciation correct—you’re well on your way. This is the best resource I’ve found for testing yourself, like I mentioned earlier. Can you hear the difference? If you’re having a tough time knowing what to do, or you feel like you get everything wrong, try starting with some simple mimicking—he or she says a word, and you copy it. For example, the meaning of mǎ (horse) is very different from mā (mother). But how can you maximize its usefulness? There’s some good news for you, actually, as you’re learning: Chinese speakers tend to be extremely forgiving of foreign accents. Mental preparation: You just have to practice speaking Chinese. Think about how your native language uses pitch. Most Chinese words consist of … Practice with 中国炒面 (zhōng guó chǎo miàn). Your hard work will pay off in the end—and even before then, you just may find your pronunciation to be the envy of your classmates. But that's simply not true! The best part is that FluentU always keeps track of your vocabulary. 4 How should you think about pinyin. In this video I’ve got a handful of fun little phrases with some of most common Chinese words for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4 tones. Tones sound different in context than they do in isolation. Chinese provinces are similar to the states in the United States. When I travelled in China , I was the first foreigner that many Chinese people had ever spoken to, and we could converse fine. Even after 6 years there are times I have to guess what the conversation is about! If you spend too much time training yourself on one-syllable words, you may find yourself having a hard time hearing the difference between second and third tone in context. And then keep practicing until you get it right. You can sign up and go through the first 5 units of our, 6 Awesome Authentic Chinese Foods You Need to Know About. Check it out: Spend 3 minutes right now practicing tones with me using the very smart-sounding Chinese phrase 酸甜苦辣 (suān tián kǔ là). In Chinese, tones are more essential to the very meaning of the words, but the point is that the physical part of making these sounds is something you are already able to do! Of course it's difficult and unnatural the first time you try, but with regular practice - even just for 15 minutes a day - you are guaranteed to get better. We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe, Sign up for our weekly blog newsletter for a chance to win a free FluentU Plus subscription (value $240), Get regular language learning tips, resources and updates, starting with the "Complete Guide to Foreign Language Immersion" e-book. Now try doing the same thing, but instead of an English word, say it with a syllable like ma. If you can already hear the tones, you should know what you’re aiming for. Think about the first time you try to play an instrument or ride a bicycle. And memorizing characters is surely not for the faint of heart. FluentU brings Chinese to life with real-world videos. You don’t want to sound like this forever, of course, but it may help you get going in the beginning. Share 0. It's the same thing for mastering Chinese tones. Eventually, these things do start to come more naturally. Start here with lesson 1. “Tone Pairs Practice” Audio Grids “Tone Pairs Practice” Video Series; Video by YoYo Chinese on the importance of Tone … In everyday speech, however, it is said much differently. Because most of spoken Chinese (except classical poetry) is composed of two character words it makes sense to learn how tones sound in this context ie. But how? The big problem here is the disconnect between teaching one-character tones in isolation and two character tone pairs. That's crazy! Or if you’ve nailed the pronunciation, try saying the correct answer out loud instead of reviewing silently. So I recommend that, as soon as possible, you move on to working on hearing tones in longer combinations—at least two syllables long. After you tap or click the Play button, the system randomly plays the native speaker recording of a Chinese character or word (character compound). If you want continue learning Chinese with interactive and authentic Chinese content, then you'll love FluentU. Before that, Yangyang was the host of the popular entertainment TV show "Hello Hollywood!, bringing Western culture to tens of millions of viewers in China. In this post, I’ll give you some pointers that will start you down the road to tones that are guaranteed to get you more than a few “你的汉语很好!” (Nǐ de hànyǔ hěn hǎo – Your Chinese is very good!). Chinese listening practice help! You can put off memorizing characters, but you’ll regret putting off tones. Instead, we use the 5 lines to represent the pitch of our voice, 5 is the highest and 1 is the lowest. But like anything in the field of language learning…where there's a will, there's a way! If you’re more of a kinetic learner than a visual learner, maybe you’d find it helpful to use hand motions for the tones. Mandarin 20 words for Chinese tone practice. Or at least you could have, if you had been listening to some extraordinarily impolite person speak Mandarin. The most dramatic example of this is third tone. Sing if you have to! Bookmark this page and try work these practices into your daily routine whenever you can and watch your tones improve! (Ann Baker, Cambridge University Press 1977): This pill's got vitamin C in it. Chinese Tones Practice: 4 Tones & the Neutral Tone In this part, we will make some practice of Chinese tones. Read on. Unfortunately, there’s also some bad news: Without context, Chinese people won’t understand you if your tones are wrong. Some useful beginning tone practice that you could use for this can be found right here at FluentU. All words have carefully written definitions and examples that will help you understand how a word is used. These length differences start to disappear in real speech, but they’re real enough in the “reading a vocabulary list” type of speech you’re likely to hear in a dictation test. Tone seems to be the number one intimidating factor about Chinese for speakers of non-tone languages. But so is learning to pronounce “c” or “q” correctly in English. You can hear tones, so now you just have to figure out how to process them. It’s the same thing with learning to speak Chinese. When you’re practicing on your own, slow things down so you can fit everything in. Learning Chinese becomes fun and easy when you learn with movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talks. In fact, think anti-exaggeration. Hugh Grigg; 2011年3月31日. This phrase will get stuck in your head and keep you practicing your tones all day: 8. Native Chinese content comes within reach, and you'll learn Chinese as it's spoken in real life. I discovered the complexity of Chinese tones during my project to learn Cantonese. Although the primary grouping of words is tonal, words are also listed in order of difficulty, with difficulty level … 6. And once you’ve got that down, you can work from there to build the correct habits. But your brain has long since determined that this isn’t important information. These drills are intended for beginner to intermediate students of Mandarin Chinese. Do you hear creaky voice? After learning pinyin and the 4 tones, it is pretty easy to recognize the tones in isolation, but difficult to comprehend real speech. Finally, Arch Chinese also lets you quiz yourself on the four tones in isolation. Tones are, without doubt, one of the hardest parts of Chinese to master, and many students struggle with them even long after leaving the beginner stage of learning. Tone Activities. Choose the button of the tone you hear. (Download). Thus when learning new vocabulary , it is really important to practice both the pronunciation of the word and its tone. Then record yourself saying the same things and compare. As a subscriber, you can review all 20 words for all 7 tone pair sets. The first step to practicing your tone listening skills is, of course, to try to hear the four basic tones by themselves. Listen again to the Chinese tones and think about what they sound like to you. You may not be a native speaker of a tone language, but all spoken languages use pitch to distinguish some sort of meaning. But, speakers of non-tone languages, I have a little secret to share with you: You’re in the minority on this one. Pinyin Practice lets you quiz yourself on one or two tone combinations and keeps track of how many you have right and wrong. The 5-line Chinese Tone Graph is the proven best way for Chinese Tone practice. This type of choosing, followed immediately by feedback, helps with learning. Thanks for subscribing! Only by practicing the 3rd tone in combination with other tones will you advance. Even with something as basic as counting to 10, it's not uncommon for me to meet students who have been studying Mandarin for years and still don't use the correct tones. But we know students are always looking for more ways to practice tones, and so I made this series of videos to give you a TON of practice. Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. In addition to speaking slowly, use the full range of your voice. (And put your hard work hearing tones to good use!). Choose the tone; Enter the tone; Choose tone combo; Enter tone combo; Directions. And, in my experience, Chinese speakers are more likely to guess that you got your vowel—or even your consonant—wrong, than to guess that you were using the wrong tone. Having a strong foundation of Chinese Pinyin pronunciation is so vital if you want to speak perfect Chinese in the long run. Listening Practice for Recognising the Chinese Tones. Probably not the easiest thing in the world to learn! Language learners have a tendency to subconsciously rebel against learning language features that seem strange to them, especially things like tone that they can’t even hear. Although it may feel like something disjointed to you, tone isn’t a separate feature of the language. ... As you practice Chinese, take the time to learn several ways of saying things. If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn Chinese with real-world videos. Asian languages like Thai, Lao, and Vietnamese are also tonal languages. Everyone sounds a little different. See the tone cards below and practice. Chinese Insults: How to Name-Call Like a Pro (Part 1). ; Tone practice - The tones are the most difficult to learn for many foreigners. FluentU is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Without the fundamental basis of getting the Chinese vowels and consonants sound right, your Mandarin pronunciation will never improve.. This peel's got vitamin C in it. This is not how to write Chinese Tone marks. Chinese language textbooks universally teach you that third tone is falling-rising. Or try length. The pitch moving up and down from word to word is what gives English speakers this impression. That’s why to speak Chinese with tones correctly is important. Even if you don’t care about Super Mario (or never heard of the guy), you’re going to learn a useful Mandarin expression in this video. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list. So while tone may be hard, it’s not impossible. It suggests content and examples based on the words you're learning. Some people find it useful to color coordinate their flashcards according to the tone, and many programs for studying Chinese have this functionality built in. While the words for the drills were chosen with specific tones in mind, all words are appropriate for first year students of Chinese. (For example, ni3 hao3 -> nǐ hǎo), Already have an account? Saying and hearing the correct pronunciation will help to reinforce it. This time I get a little help from my dog 豆腐 (dòu fu)! By fluentin. So by now I hope you’re convinced that you need to learn tones. Mandarin's tones give it a very distinctive quality, but the tones can also be a source of miscommunication if not given due attention. Chinese Language online games and exercises. Some online resources for practicing tones. 3 How to practice pronunciation and tones in Chinese. FluentU's Learn Mode turns every video into a language learning lesson. But if you can’t find someone to work with, find recordings of a native Mandarin speaker instead. And even if you’re not too worried about whether someone can correctly point you to the pears (lí) in a store, instead of the plums (lǐ) or the chestnuts (lì), remember that this confusion turns into a bigger problem when you find yourself in a taxi and the driver can’t understand where you’re trying to go. Here is a principle that will take you far in learning a new language—or in learning a new culture: Strange is going to become your new normal. Practice Speaking English with Chinese Tones. I’ll teach you two fun/useful phrases with the 1-2-3-4 tone combination to help you practice tones... and remember the correct ones for these characters: Don't let tones scare you off learning Chinese. Think of it as an unstressed syllable and see whether you can hear it better. Practice hearing tones on one syllable, then in combination. Chinese listening can be difficult not just because of the tones, but the dialects and amount of idioms used. At least sort of, sometimes? Listen to the sounds by clicking on the Pinyin or the speaker symbol (visible when "show pinyin" is not selected). I mention it here just because this gives you another person to listen to, and because they also have a pinyin chart with audio that you can use for practice when you just want to choose the pairs of sounds you listen to. There's no doubt about it: nothing turns more people away from learning Chinese than tones. If you were easily intimidated, you wouldn’t have started studying Chinese to begin with. If you say a word with the wrong tone and realize it sounds wrong, you’re in good shape. So you can hear the difference between all four Mandarin tones now, right? So you can hear the difference between all four Mandarin tones now, … can take anywhere. The Wiggle Worms is a really cute game aimed at helping kids to learn tones. Practice the five tones of Mandarin Chinese with our Chinese tone trainer. This website takes a similar approach to learning Chinese tones. Even if you can pronounce the four tones in Chinese, learning to recognise them or pick them out in speech can be much more difficult. Sinosplice has a really useful set of recordings for the four tones in isolation, and then the four tones (plus neutral tone) in every possible combination. The more people you practice listening to, the greater your chances are of understanding the next person you hear. It's another fun way to memorize your Mandarin tones. Test your listening skills and tell the difference between the tones. “I want to learn some Chinese before I visit China, but I just don’t think I can learn a tone language.”, Not one day later, I read on a local Chinese school’s website, “Chinese is one of the most difficult languages for a westerner to learn.”. Did You Know You Can Use Yoyo Chinese Like a Mobile App? When do you decide you’ve spent enough time on tones? Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language. Do you hear a resemblance to what you just said? So what is it, exactly, that makes Chinese so hard for westerners? Now, many years later, you need to retrain your brain to think of pitch as an important feature again. If you’re having a tough time hearing tone, listen for things besides pitch. Singing a children’s song is a great way to start and practice. Tweet 0. These short lessons are designed to help you work on making these sounds, while also memorizing the correct tones for key vocabulary words. All Rights Reserved. It’s much harder to fix deeply ingrained habits than it is to make the right habits from the beginning. You can tap on any word to instantly look it up. Please listen to the audio first, then repeat and try to figure out the correspondence between these sounds and the spelling patterns (graphemes) that represent them. You will learn to use right tones after playing these 50 online exercises. Use listening materials that force you to make a choice: Which tone was it that you just heard? This may be, in part, because there’s a large amount of diversity in the way Chinese people themselves pronounce tones, and so they’re used to hearing tones that differ from the standard Putonghua. Click here to Log in, 9 Fun Exercises to Practice Mandarin Chinese Tones. That neutral tone? Most people think of tones as something totally foreign that just isn't a part of your native language. As you spend time each day going through the lessons and reviews in our Beginner Conversational Course, you are training yourself to make these sounds, little by little. Tone practice 2 tone practice ID: 1163596 Language: Chinese School subject: Chinese Language (CL) Grade/level: 9-12 Age: 13-18 Main content: Tone Other contents: Add to my workbooks (14) Download file pdf Embed in my website or blog Add to Google Classroom Add to Microsoft Teams Practice with 生活很累 (shēng huó hěn lèi). This video lesson is a general guide of Chinese Tone system and the 4 Tones in Mandarin and also the special Neutral Tone. Once you know where you consistently make mistakes, practice listening to those tones and then test yourself again. But it doesn’t have to be. The best resources for this kind of listening practice—aside from a real, and very patient Chinese speaker, of course—are recordings of real people speaking words or sentences. As mentioned earlier, tones are used to determine which Mandarin Chinese word is being implied. Please check your email for further instructions. © 2020 Enux Education Limited. 5. Do you know what it means? Practice until tone starts to come naturally. Chinese is a tonal language, and tones can affect the meaning of a character. Try this: Say “yes” like you’re absolutely sure you mean it. Mandarin Chinese Language and Culture Blog, Tone seems to be the number one intimidating factor, recordings of real people speaking words or sentences, 6 Chinese Magazines to Turbocharge Your Reading Skills, Quick Guide to Learning Chinese Through Movies, Learn Chinese Through Music: Top 10 Modern Karaoke Classics, Chinese Listening Practice: Why and How to Get Started, Chinese Idioms Like a Boss: 15 Common and Useful Chinese Idioms, Learn Chinese through TV: 10 Great Shows To Get Started, 6 Awesome Chinese Podcasts You’ve Never Heard Of. Probably a fourth tone at work. Sometimes, even though you think you can’t hear what people are doing, you can still mimic them correctly. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I haven’t ever sworn at my Chinese mother-in-law. FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. Chinese Tones are the Most Difficult when Learning to Speak Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation. Aim for short and quick and in the middle, and you’ll probably get it right. If you’re not in a place where Chinese is spoken, a great place to hear authentic material is on FluentU. But—and this is really, really important—it’s only like that when you say it all by itself, or maybe at the end of a sentence. Not a mistake you want to make? You know Chinese fried noodles - 中国炒面 (zhōng guó chǎo miàn) - are delicious, but did you know 中国炒面 (zhōng guó chǎo miàn) can also help you memorize Mandarin tones?? The best time to practice tones is when you start learning the language. Their answer: Chinese is a tone language. Chances are good that was a third tone. And there's no-one better than Chris Parker from Fluent in Mandarin to guide you through. YANGYANG CHENG is the founder of Yoyo Chinese and a TV personality. That way, even if you want to express yourself with more familiar words, you can still understand what other people are talking about if they use a synonym. You might think you’re politely complimenting your mother-in-law on the food she ordered while in fact you’re swearing at her! If you are serious to learn the Chinese language, in the long run, you have to practice the 4 Chinese Tones religiously until you can hum them in tune without speaking a word. Most articles that talk about Chinese listening practice will often suggest websites or apps. Ideally, find someone who can explain what it is that you’re doing wrong—someone who can tell you that your low tone wasn’t low enough or that your rising tone didn’t really rise far enough. Why do non-Chinese people feel that Chinese is difficult to learn? Or at least I don’t think I have. Let them work for you. When you’re first learning Chinese, you’re training yourself to make all sorts of new sounds. Chinese Tones Are Hard to Master. With time and practice, you’ll fix your tone problems and soon you’ll be ready for conversations with people not used to speaking with learners. You have a 100% personalized experience. None of them are “nonsense words” chosen merely for the sake of practice; they are all well worth learning. In this lesson I'm going to teach you a fun way to practice tones … Focus on these tones right from the beginning, so you have a solid foundation going forward: It’s true: part of mastering Chinese tones comes down to putting in some memorization work and practice. Or pretend you’re listening for stress. The next trick is to figure out how to say them yourself. Really short? Sure, tone is hard. Was the syllable long and drawn out? Chinese Pronunciation: How to Practice the 4 Chinese Tones When I first learned Chinese, I found that the easiest way to remember the four tones and pronounce them right every time was just to practice saying all four of them in a row and keeping that song going in my head. You can sign up and go through the first 5 units of our Beginner Conversational Course for free, so you have nothing to lose! Here you are ready to learn Chinese tones or practice Chinese tones. © 2020 Yoyo Chinese Inc. All Rights Reserved. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you're learning. After you learned the characteristics for the five tones, you can start to practice them. When you were a baby, you could hear the difference between māma (mother) and mà mā (swear at one’s mother). However, here are a few that at least meet the minimal requirement of having real people and real speech. In this practice video, you'll practice Chinese tones by speaking English: In this lesson I'm going to teach you a fun way to practice tones AND practice Chinese numbers :) FluentU brings Chinese to life with real-world videos. Any Mandarin language learner knows that Chinese tones are one heck of a foreign concept, especially if English is your native language. a pair of tones. Second, sing a Chinese children’s song with your kid or spouse together! You use tones in your native language to express emotion, with your voice rising our falling to convey the 'feeling' of your words. You’ll drive everyone around you nuts, but speaking these words with the right tones will start to feel totally natural to you. I bet as you go about your day, they'll be bouncing around your head (and that's a good thing)! Listen to different people pronouncing tones. Mandarin Chinese Tone Drill This tool is designed to help you test and practice your knowledge of Mandarin Pinyin and tones. Practice with 超级玛丽 (chāo jí mǎ lì) - Super Mario! This one only has the four tones in isolation, but if you have kids who are trying to learn pinyin (or if you’re a kid at heart), this one might be for you. Practice your Chinese with the help of 超级玛丽 (chāo jí mǎ lì) - Super Mario! Tone sandhi aside, in normal speech, third tone is more often just a low tone. Oh, but that neutral tone? We also participate in other affiliate advertising programs for products and services we believe in. You also get: Access to 1600+ Authentic Language videos - All Videos are transcribed into Characters, Pinyin, with English Translations - Integrated Dictionary - Caption by caption navigation, for easy phrase repeating - Slow Play - … Practice Your Chinese Pinyin Pronunciation with Chinese 4 Tones Audio. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. If you’ve put in your time with your listening practice, you should be able to get some feel for whether or not you’re on the right track. Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you You’d probably laugh if somebody wants to learn to play the violin but refuses to practice bowing. Home Tones Initials Finals Self Quiz More Donate :-) In order to differentiate meaning, the same syllable can be pronounced with different tones. In comparison, the tones in Chinese is manageable. While my friend may do just fine with her ten toneless Chinese phrases that she uses during her two-week trip to China (and I’ve heard foreigners carry on entire conversations in toneless Chinese without much detriment to their communication), there are some big spaces in between absolute beginner and fluent where correct pronunciation will be extremely helpful. If you find all of this memorizing business frustrating, remember, the more time you put into learning tones early on in your Chinese learning efforts, the less time you’ll have to spend unlearning bad habits later on. Many people characterize Chinese as sounding “sing-songy.” If you’re one of them, good news: You’re hearing tones! For intermediate or advanced learners, listening to some Chinese radio or watching Chinese TV is a great way to practice tones and pronunciation. Practicing with short poems or phrases is a really effective way to make the Chinese words you are learning and their tones stick together in your memory. You’re not trying to learn to speak to a computer, so don’t learn to listen from a synthesized voice. Not all speakers have creaky third tones, but they’re pretty common. Hokkien, which is used in Fujian province, China, and neighboring areas, has 7 tones. Here's another fun tone practice video with two more fun 1-2-3-4 phrases. If you’re a native English speaker, the pitch of your voice conveys things like whether you’re asking a question or making a statement, as well as how sure you are of what you’re saying, and how you feel about it. Once your mouth gets the hang of it, it won’t seem so impossible. If at all possible, find yourself a native Mandarin speaker who’s willing to give you honest feedback on your pronunciation. There are numerous recordings available that will let you do this. Currently, she teaches Mandarin through video lessons on Yoyo Chinese, and can also be found hosting educational shows on popular channels like the Discovery Channel. If you use flashcards, don’t take a “close enough” approach—if the tone is wrong, you’re wrong, and you need to review it again. Type tone numbers after each pinyin syllable then click the convert button to change them in tone marks. Use it when you want to listen to specific tones, or pairs of tones. Even tone-learning apps recorded by real people won’t help you learn what real speech sounds like if they rely on spliced-together syllables. A little bit of practice everyday will train your mind and voice to speak Chinese naturally, so watch the video and spend 5 minutes learning these fun phrases with me: 9. Tones can be a tricky part of learning Mandarin, and some of these pinyin practice games focus on listening and speaking pinyin words. Listening and repeating is a tried and true form of learning to say words in a new language. September 18, 2015 . Eventually, I promise, your brain will begin to sort it out, and you’ll start hearing differences. Our unique curriculum is designed to help non-native speakers get past the challenge of making these sounds! Practice Pronouncing Tones. Why Motivation is Overrated When Learning a New Language. Now say “Yes?” as if you’re not so sure. Hangman - Enrich your Chinese language vocabulary and remember the right tone, strengthen recognizing Chinese characters in this classic word game.