Chinese pronunciation 101

I still can remember when I began learning Chinese, every day we would spend the first 10 minutes of the class being tested on the four tones of Chinese pronunciation. My teacher would read a word or character and we would have to guess what tone she was using.

When your Mandarin Chinese language tutor says it’s time to practice tones:

Then the tables would turn and we would have to read words out loud and have our tones corrected. I complained about how useless this was, and how we should be using our time more effectively learning grammar points or new words. Like a typical inexperienced student, I couldn’t have been more wrong!

I failed to realize then how important tones are, and I regret not having paid more attention.

Here are the elementary knowledge about the four tones:

•  First tone: a flat high pitch tone, g. 妈, ma1, mum. Like a singer practicing ‘Fa’.

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•         Second tone: a rising tone, start from a low to a high pitch, e.g. 麻, ma2, feeling numb. As if you are asking a question.

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•         Third tone: fall and rise, start at a neutral tone then dip lower and end in a high pitch, e.g.马, ma3, horse. Imagine you are surprised.

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•       Fourth tone: falling tone, start at a high pitch and strongly drop the pitch down, e.g. 骂, ma4, curse. My favorite tone, you just sound angry!

       (*There is also a neutral tone.)