URLLesson Introduction
Here we arrive at the last stage in the rise and fall of the four tones of Mandarin Chinese, and poor fourth is a bit of an enigma. Due to his angry tone of voice and overbearing sharpness, some find it hard to get to know him. In this podcast, we peel back the layers and help fourth tone make peace with his inner child. He's not mad, just misunderstood.
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misterjess says
Dudes, Great lesson. tones were really hard for me in the beginning. and now I have a way to better understand them. Thanks. Jess.February 6, 2008
changye says
春节快乐！ Perhaps, the next tone lesson would be about the “fifth” tone, “轻声”, and after that 入声 (ru4 sheng1) may come. I have just told my chubby dog that today’s walk has been cancelled due to safety risks, i.e. firecracker sounds.February 6, 2008
darcey says
I really enjoy and appreciate the tone lessons; seeing breakdowns are very helpful. 谢 谢 ! The 'associations' are helpful. I can't wait to see what you follow these with!February 6, 2008
mark says
I liked this series on tones. The English examples are especially helpful. ( I should know tones by now, but I'm afraid I'm still developing an ear for them.)February 6, 2008
calkins says
I second Changye's suggestion of a lesson on the neutral tone. I'm always wanting to add a tone to it and it drives me crazy. Great series!February 6, 2008
orkelm says
I know that tones are a hassle, but as compared to other languages that I've studied over the years, I'm starting to think that I prefer tones over the gender agreement, case endings, and the verb conjugations that go with most of the others that I've studied. I've enjoyed the series on tones, thanks. OrlandoFebruary 6, 2008
goulniky says
doubts about 入声, but what do you expect, the next newbie lesson will be on, surprise, surprise, the neutral tone...February 6, 2008
darylk says
Where was the slow mo? That's been my favorite part of the tone lessons. I4 felt4 a4 bit4 deprived4 (just joking!)February 6, 2008
clay says
do you all think we would leave you hanging on the nuetral tone? wow, goulniky, do you have inside information or what?February 6, 2008
maxiewawa says
新年快乐！ Can I make a suggestion? How about a lesson on "The second tone AND the third tone"? They're so similar to my ears; I'd like to hear them both discussed in the same lesson.February 6, 2008
cricketbird says
新年快乐！ This series has been great. Can I put in a request for a lesson on the ba-construction? We just started it in my Chinese class and WHOA is that a brain-bender for English speakers. Thanks!February 6, 2008
artkho says
I am glad that Cpod finally came up with the lessons for each tone. Applying tones to English words to help the student get a better feel of tones is pretty creative, although I admit that some of the words do sound strange in tones. Unlike John who uses what in the third tone, I use what in the fourth tone. Why? (third tone) Live long enough to see people repeatedly do crazy and stupid things and you'll know why (second tone) what is pronounced in the fourth tone. ;-) Keep up the good work. 新年快乐！February 6, 2008
yase says
Re using English words, I was once teaching a Chinese language partner how to read a particularly long and difficult English text passage from her learning book.To my suprise, she marked up the English passage text with the Chinese 1st to 4th tones tones as she heard me read it out. I had always thought we English did not really have much tonal differentiation, but to her ears it came out quite strong.February 7, 2008
goulniky says
clayroup, goulniky has a php crystal ball :-)February 7, 2008
clay says
maxiewawa, good suggestions. john and i will discuss for sure. 新年快乐！February 7, 2008
lester says
And I hope everyone noticed John's extra emphasis on zai4jian4. If you listen to enough of the the newbie and ele lessons, you can practice it in unison with Ken and Jennie at the end of each and get your 4th tone fix. 新年快乐！February 7, 2008
longdehua says
When I started learning, I found sentences really frustrating as I tried to pronounce each tone correctly. The biggest step in terms of fluency was ignoring everything but the 4th tone. That way it works a bit like stress points in an English sentence. When speaking fast, Chinese people don't pronounce tones on every single word anyway but the 4th tone tends to be the most prominent. I probably wouldn't be popular with the 北京语言学院 suggesting this, but it worked wonders for me!February 7, 2008
eyux says
Stamp your foot as you say the 4th tone. You WILL(4) get it right!February 7, 2008
chubbeecheeks23 says
新年快乐！ yes, fifth tone for the next lesson will be great. nice series.thanks!February 7, 2008
everett says
Thank you, Tone Trio, for another great lesson, even if I was waiting for the slow mo the whole time, and it never came! ;-) The neutral tone still freaks me out, especially when it has trace sandhi effects on the tone of the preceding syllable. Will there be a neutral tone lesson as well?February 7, 2008
jennyzhu says
Yes, we do have a lesson on neutral tone. Once again, John, the linguistic mountain will offer some revealing insight as always. He had a particularly ingenious observation.Don't miss it.February 7, 2008
urbandweller says
I like to hear Jenny say "dude"...funny!February 7, 2008
urbandweller says
THE TONE TRIO RAWKS!!February 7, 2008
mandafars says
I really enjoyed these tone lessons and I'm so happy to hear about the neutral tone lesson. I agree with Cricket Bird about having a ba-construction lesson. I have seen a 300+ page book explaining only that construction. I don't want to read it. I would rather have the "BA" TRIO explain it.February 7, 2008
racerx says
Hi Everybody, I'm really new here but does anyone else see the typo in the expansion section? At the end there is another character written instead of de . The dialogue says de but the character reads something else. What is that character?February 7, 2008
sgillesp says
Dude! I really find it helpful when you give an English word that makes a certain tone. It helps me to remember, especially with 4th tone which I find the hardest. Xie-xie!February 7, 2008
boran says
"Dude" is a total Chinese word. It can have different meanings depending on its tone. dūde = common greeting word dúde = expresses agreement or joy dǔde = expresses disbelief dùde = expresses disagreement or displeasure Also, see the recent Bud Light commercial that's airing in the U.S right now for the variations on "dude" - funny stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUPvFAjpsVEFebruary 7, 2008
rlly says
Hello, The lessons with the tones is very helpful for a newbie like me. Only there was a gliche in the computer and the second tone recording did not come up. Still, the other three tones are the best thing that could have happened for me. Thank you rllyFebruary 7, 2008
guillermo2 says
Hi, these four short lesson on tones are the funniest lessons ever, and very useful, since pronunciation is the hardest part for me. It is easier for me to remember an entire written text in chinese than to pronounce it. You've asked for experiences to remember tones. Sometimes, I write it on Word, and I add a different color to each tone, then I print it or whatever, and so I can read with a little bit of color help. That's all... thank you very much to you allFebruary 10, 2008
racerx says
得 is de2 whereas 的 is de5 a different character altogether. It's the latter that should have been used. Mmmmmm Gee I answered my own question! Thank god I have a new I-Mac with international writing that allows me to write in simplified or traditional character using pin-yin! Yeah to technology!February 10, 2008
wmmaurice says
FINALLY... an entertaining "Latenight with Letterman" style approach to learning a very difficult language. I search pages and pages of boring, poorly designed Mandarin sites and it paid off -thanks! From a radio/print/web marketing guy, you're doing it right.February 11, 2008
racerx says
Boran. Love your dude analogy........... dude! 再见February 11, 2008
dragnbreth says
The fourth tone is my favorite, because it's easy to pronounce and it's also fun.February 12, 2008
AuntySue says
racerx, actually the correct "de" character was used. This one is not the possessive de that you're more likely to be familiar with, it's the de that I often notice in between (something that is done), and (the manner in which it is done). For example ni3 shuo1 de hen3 hao3 (you speak well) would use 得 for de, and you're not allowed to leave it out either. The two de words both sound exactly the same, but have different uses, so it's easy to tell which one to use... after you know about both of them.February 13, 2008
jazz says
AuntySue, that is so helpful.. I've been tying myself in knots trying to work out how that possessive "de" makes its way into (eg) 'ni keyi shuo de man yi dian' - and now I know, it doesn't!February 13, 2008
julesong says
I listened to all the various tone lessons I could find, today, and although I'm still at newbie level I found them easy to follow. Good job! :) As for the fourth tone, I prefer to think of it as "emphatic" rather than angry, negative, or aggressive. In fact, it occurred to me that it could be considered the Captain Kirk Tone. You know, how William Shatner often tended to phrase Kirk's dialogue emphasizing individual words? Yes, that's it. The Captain Kirk Tone. :)February 19, 2008
cassandramichael says
Jeez!February 20, 2008
triphazard says
Great lessons on tones! A friend of mine who started learning Chinese about 3 years ago asked me to say something in chinese, and when I did he said I had the tones totally correct. Wonderful lessons!February 26, 2008
amber says
triphazard, that's so great to hear! congrats and yay!February 26, 2008
AuntySue says
Going back to an earlier comment, I'm trying to work out how on earth the second and third tones can sound similar. The second tone starts just ABOVE the middle and goes UP. The third tone starts DOWN BELOW the middle and keeps on going DOWN to rock bottom, then hovers there and kicks up a bit at the end. They are in two different parts of the voice range. One starts high and one starts low. They glide in different directions from their starting point. One is a simple glide and one is a complex double glide. They're as alike as koalas and sharks. Have I got this wrong, or do those differences really scream out a lot less to other people?March 7, 2008
auntie68 says
Hello AuntySue, I think that the 2nd and 3rd tones are easy to tell apart if one is speaking in flat, even, tones, like a "borg", but once intonation -- the kind of colour that comes from emotions, rather than tones -- kicks in, it becomes less clear-cut. Eg. "鬼？？？？“ (gui3; "ghosts?") said in a totally incredulous way, with rising intonation. If the speaker doesn't have total control over the tones, that can sound a lot like the 2nd tone to me...March 7, 2008
stacyh830 says
LOL. This lesson really made me laugh.March 11, 2008
pdq123 says
boran. That dude analogy is pretty funny. It was originally an adam sandlar bit. Thanks for a fun bit on tones.April 5, 2008
zazen says
September 11, 2008
My observation is that the 4th tone sounds similar to the way you would say "ciao" in Italian. Very close to the way you pronounce the word jiao4. That's how I try to remember the 4th tone.
ciao!
cristoma says
September 11, 2008
why no slow mo
cristoma says
September 11, 2008
I love the slow mo
kelinsheng says
September 26, 2008
Why is 小 in a lesson on the fourth tone?
vousetesdebordeaux says
October 5, 2008
These lessons have been really useful and fun too. :)
Made tones easy!
Could there be a lesson focusing on not confusing the tones with one another? (from my sister - having a bit of trouble)