Beginners Guide to Chinese Tones

People learning Mandarin usually say that learning Chinese tones is very important. Though many people think Chinese tones can be overlooked. In fact, learning correct Chinese tones is very important to become an expert Mandarin speaker. 

What are Chinese tones?

Mandarin has about half of the sounds as English Chinese folks use the same sound with different pronunciations to deliver different meanings.

For example, ‘Ma’ speaks in five different tones means spicy, mother, a horse, a question element, and the verb to yell.  

From this example, you may assume that there are five tones in Mandarin. Every tone is marked with a different tonal indicator to specify what nature of voice to use when speaking the word. However, the natural tones are not marked with a tonal indicator.  

Why is Learning Chinese tones important?

Tones are an essential part of the Chinese language, so you have to start learning tones from the day first for the following reasons:

• Native Chinese folks, especially those not used to talking with ex-pats, can’t understand you if you communicate with incorrect tones. 
• You can’t expect that native Chinese folks will understand you from the situation of the dialogue. For instance, the word sugar táng and soup tāng have a similar sound but different tones. If you ask for soup in a Chinese restaurant but spoke in the incorrect tone, though the order taker knows the situation of the dialogue, he might be confused whether you are asking for soup or sugar. 
• Tonal mistakes are usual. Once you get in the habit of speaking a word with an incorrect tone, it is hard to correct it and leave that habit. However, you can avoid these tonal mistakes by focusing on word tones when learning vocabulary. 

How you can Learn Chinese Tones?

Speaking Chinese with correct tones comes with enough practice, but there are many ways that help you to learn Chinese tones quickly, some of them are as following:

• Start your learning by focusing on the difference between each tone. There are many resources for listening practices as Chinese Pod.
• While learning new words, repeat the words loudly. It will help you to memorize the correct tone with pronunciation and meaning of the words.
• While talking with a native Chinese speaker, try to focus on the tones of each word. It will help you get stronger your knowledge of word tones you already know and expand awareness of tones you have not yet memorized.
• When you make tonal mistakes, always ask a native speaker to correct you. 
• Find a language tutor who will guide you and offer you more resources to practice and improve your tones. 
• Write down tones for each word you learn. It is better to color coat tones, which can help you to memorize the correct tones.

Can Tones change in Chinese?

Once you get more than learning the basics Chinese language, you will notice that tones can change depending on the previous word. 

For example, yī is usually pronounced with a first tone. However, when followed by a character with a fourth tone, yī changes from the first tone to the second tone (yì) as shown below:

一个yígè

 一样 yíyàng

So, you have to learn Chinese tones on a character-to-character basis and also learn how tones can change within any dialogue. 

However, tone-changing rules can vary, but to know how tones can change, you should read classified readers as Du Chinese or Chinese Breeze. 

Both feature the language tones in pinyin within the Chinese characters for all ways, which is great for overall tonal exercise and for learning capacities where tones can change. 

Final thoughts 

When you start learning Chinese tones, keep in mind that native Chinese speakers learn the language with correct tones through listening practices. If you think that you are getting nothing with tactics such as using flashcards or color coating vocabulary, learning a language like a native speaker through listening practices is always an effective way to learn tones in Chinese. 

I think everyone has different views on this topic, what are your views about Chinese tones? Do you have any tips for learning tones? Please share in the comments below.