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Posts: 150

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Q: Which is the hardest tone to master in Chinese?

11 years 44 weeks ago in  Teaching & Learning - China

 
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Comments (9)
Posts: 1318

Emperor

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There's tones?.....All of the tones are hard to master. I just claim I'm tone deaf for both my horrible pronunciation and my bad singing in the KTV

subhash.sah:

Can't get any tones even if my life depended on it. Barely know how to pronounce "sh" and been here a year and half.

11 years 44 weeks ago
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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
Posts: 2253

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Sarcasm. I think you'd have to have a firm grasp of the language to manage that one,  and maybe only with younger people.

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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
Posts: 960

Shifu

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I can get close to the tone on individual words one at a time. As soon as I try to string a few together it turns in to one giant fkn tongue twister. As I have said many times you only have to get English words reasonably close for an English speaker to understand ( I can understand Sth Africans and Kiwis and they don't even get close)but if I don't get the Chinese tone almost perfect no one can understand.

Jnusb416:

You can say it perfectly and they'll still be confused or repeat after you. I think a lot of it has to do with them never hearing a foreigner speak it, so they're not used to foreign accents. We, however, grow up hearing people who speak English as a second language all the time and are used to it. The other part is probably as you said, because it's a tonal language.

11 years 44 weeks ago
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HugAPanda:

The real test... can you understand Scots?

11 years 44 weeks ago
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woody:

Sober maybe, drunk even Scots can't understand Scots.

11 years 44 weeks ago
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TedDBayer:

My oldest friend from childhood was Scottish,through all these years and almost every word his dad says to me except Teddybear, I have to ask my friend what he said. When we played in bands I always thought his dad would make a great blues singer, never could convince him to try.

11 years 44 weeks ago
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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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I would say the third tone!

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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
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Governor

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The third tone is a big problem for a lot of foreigners learning Chinese. The problem is even complicated by the fact that the (3rd) tone changes with the environment in which it appears e.g. when it immediately comes after the second one, in which case the 'third' tone assumes the characteristics of the second one. To master such variations really takes a great deal of effort.

GuilinRaf:

Third tone is what does me in. I have trouble hearing it, and I have trouble saying it.  And when I do say it, I feel like Pauly Shore (Du-ude).

11 years 36 weeks ago
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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
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The one I found hardest was the 2nd instead of the 3rd, for some reason.

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11 years 44 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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I don't know how to say 2 or more first tones after each other. I sound like a robot!

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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
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munchie, no its monkey, no its mun-neey, one twoa tree munchie

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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
Posts: 703

Shifu

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Only the 2nd tone was/is difficult for me. The most difficult sound for me to make is the 'u' with the 2 dots over it.

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11 years 36 weeks ago
 
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Chinese has tones?  That explains a lot.

 

No wonder my mother-in-law thinks I keep calling her a horse.

Gaohao:

  I use it as a direct excuse 'to' call my mother-in-law a horse.

11 years 36 weeks ago
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11 years 36 weeks ago
 
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Peasant

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I have a difficult time with 2nd and 3rd tones. I can hear them ok (mostly), but saying them is another matter...

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11 years 36 weeks ago
 
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Gratitude

 

or perhaps humility, or maybe even sincerity.

 

 

I just can't seem to catch those tones right when ppl talk to me...

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11 years 36 weeks ago
 
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I find myself not even worrying about the tones.  Just speak somewhat quickly (not too fast) and get the non-tonal portion of the pronunciation correct.  If the person you're speaking to has half a brain and actually WANTS to know what you're saying, they'll figure it out by context.  If they DON'T have half a brain and DON'T care, either of which is highly likely...they'll just pretend they can't understand you anyways.

 

But for me, my biggest problem....the initial "C".  I can't hear it and can't speak it correctly to save my life.  Usually when someone says "cai" or "cong" or "c-whatever" I hear "tai" or "tong" or "t-whatever". 

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11 years 36 weeks ago
 
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General

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The combination of tones: 2nd + 1st is the most difficult for me.

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10 years 1 week ago
 
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What's the point of digging up old posts like this one just to add your reply? Who cares anymore?

jleav14782:

Having a bad day, are we?

10 years 1 week ago
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xunliang:

Not at all. It's just stupid when people dig up posts like this from a year ago.

10 years 1 week ago
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10 years 1 week ago
 
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