Chinese is a tonal language with 4 tones and 1 non-tone! For someone that’s never learned a tonal language before, this can be quite difficult to get used. It means you have to add pitch to every word you say and be able to do it smoothly and fluently. Maybe even hard is when listening to a fast native speakers say all new words you don’t know quickly with multiple tons. Aiya!

Here’s a quick guide to learning the tones and memorizing them fully.

This picture shows the four main tones. On the Y-axis on the right side it goes from Low to High pitches, and if you know some music, this is about the same range as from Do to Mi. That means the first tone is the highest (mi) and just stays there. Almost like you’re singing it! The second tone raises up from Re to Mi and sounds like when you ask a question. Are you sure? That’s ok, yeah? The third tone dips down to Do and goes back up past Rein something similar to a Southern Drawl. Howdy. The fourth tone goes from Mi down to Do and will often sound a bit angry since it’s doing a fast descension.

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