Learn Chinese Tone Pairs: How to Practice and Master Mandarin Tones

hi I guess we're alive alright so thank you so much for joining me on the Google hangout on air my name is yang Yang I'm the founder of yo-yo Chinese comm where you can learn Chinese through more than 400 clearly explained video lessons and today we're gonna talk about tones well I know since I started teaching Chinese many years ago I know that tones have a really bad reputation people just generally find tones really intimidating thinking that those are extremely difficult to learn because you know in English you don't have tones and that is absolutely not true not only you do have tones in English you're actually using it every single day for example when you say what where when you say no you actually using tones okay you're actually using tongues so so not only you do have tones in English you actually have the equivalent to all four Chinese tones and so the most effective way to learn Chinese is actually learn the Chinese tones is to actually to be aware of when and how you already used home already and then just apply that in the new way all right so today I'm gonna help you build that bridge and help you find equivalent in English that matches the four Mandarin Chinese tones so today first I'm gonna give you a lecture on the what memory four tones are give you the details and then I'm gonna teach you a really effective technique to practice Mandarin Chinese tones called tone pairs basically after you master the 20 essential words I'm gonna give you today you'll be set and you'll be able to pronounce any new words you know just by you know following what I give I'll give you today and after that I'll have a Q&A section where you can ask me any questions so if you have some questions for me already just click on the Q&A button on the event page and that would take you to the page and then you just need to click ask a question and ask away okay I prepare lots of good stuff for you today and let's get started all right before we talk about forced I want you to identify your normal speaking voice range do you know what that means okay so the reason we do that is because lots of people get confused when talking about tones they think speaking Chinese tones is like singing so you go to your singing voice that is not true you still speak your normal speaking voice so let's do that so think about this if your friend asks you what would you like to help me move this weekend and you say maybe all right maybe that's pretty much the highest point of your voice speaking range and let's say maybe repeat after me maybe maybe me all right good you find the highest point now let's find the lowest point so the lowest point is pretty much when your friend asks you what did you have for lunch yesterday so you're saying hmm so you're like you're thinking right you go down to the lowest part of your voice so you say uh and that is the lowest part of your voice okay great and so let's look at this chart on a scale of one to five with five representing the highest point of your voice range and number one representing the lowest part of your voice range so maybe it's pretty much here and uh it's pretty much here right okay great now you find the range so whatever you say is pretty much within that range now let me give you some good news you ready master - Mandarin Chinese tones what are they the first tone maybe and low and the third tone uh let me explain okay the first tone is in Mandarin Chinese is just a high flat tone so it's like when you say maybe right Mei all right and then you just stay there for like half or a one second that's first I'll repeat after me may-maybe Mei first time and then you already learn the third tongue the third tone it's pretty much like a low flat tongue at the very bottom and repeat after me I'm thinking what do I have for lunch yesterday that's the third time all right okay maybe first don't high flat tone and low flat um you already got three to two tones okay so now let's talk about the other two chunks you probably already know that there are four tones in Mandarin Chinese plus a neutral tongue which we'll talk about in just a bit now I'm gonna conquer the the other two tones the second and the fourth tongue first repeat after me these English words what huh yes all right you do it what huh yes there you go you're speaking the second tongue all right the Chinese second tongue is just when you say what it's like rising tone rising tone okay what mmm-hmm second tone all right so now you already know all the three tones maybe what uh okay repeat after me maybe first um me first time high and flat what mmm second tone and what did you have for lunch yesterday I don't know Oh third tone one two or three repeat after me maybe what uh one more time maybe what oh good last one see you're almost there great repeat at me no sure yeah so these are very emphatic and it's like a rat it just like a downward falling tongue right sucks it no sure yeah okay so that's the four stone so the fourth row is a route downward tone and it's like when you say no all right gosh you already mastered for Mandarin Chinese terms within what like two minutes so the tip the trick to think about each chunk is to really drill this in your mind okay each time you think about one Chinese tones associate that home with an English word and how you say it and then you'll get the tones out in English one you have different tones you're expressing emotions or attitudes but in Chinese they have different meanings so you need to associate how you say these English words with a specific Chinese tone the first one would be maybe I don't know what Oh No so that would be the sec a first second third and fourth tone repeat after me maybe what uh no me what no me what uh no me what uh no great job okay now I want you to say it one two or three what no me what ah no okay great all right so now you know what the four tones are and their associated English sense okay the way to practice Mandarin Chinese tones the best way is to come up is to practice the tones in combination instead of individually so let me show you a graph that's really really helpful for you okay look at this Cheung tell em this is like a Tom pinion Tom pairs table so basically most Chinese words are two syllable words and they come from one of these combinations and we call these combinations hares then Chinese words for each of these combinations are the sample words that I want to I want you to master which we show you in this table so what I mean by mastering is that you need to make sure you pronounce them perfectly with 100% right tones don't worry we're going to go through all these 20 words one by one okay so let me switch back just take a look at this chart and table okay okay great so you saw that try right don't worry about it and by by the end of the Hangout and I'm going to list it in the description part of this event page so you can actually go and download the chart so the reason why mastering these two 20 essential words are extremely important is because just by this foundation in the future when you learn any new Chinese word and this foundation will actually give you a quick Association or link in between what the new word is and what you're already familiar with and that's the most effective way to learn Chinese because when you learn another word with a third or a second tone combination you can just say oh that's easy it's just one of the three two combination word that I'll write I already know I know I already know what the tones are like for this specific combination make sense okay great let's wait no more and dive into these twenty essential words I want you to master them so well you know I want you to if other words don't matter these words matter okay so let's do it the first one is the one one combination okay one one combination think about one one is what like um that's Ginty right it's like maybe maybe right okay oh just give me one second I need to explain something real quick to you oh by the way so how do we how can we tell what kind of tongues these are right so there's something called tone marks and what you see here is the tone mark that represents what holiness and I will explain that to you one by one so let's first talk about the first stone so one one combination what sounds like maybe maybe right Meimei so today is Jing Tian Jing Tian Jing Tian Jing Tian baby maybe okay good the one-two combination which is the hmm what remember maybe what maybe what alright and then the sample word is China Joe mwah maybe what Joel go Joel Gua maybe what maybe what okay so you see it for the second tone it's just the tone mark is consistent with the second term which is a rising tone and the first time it's just like a flat tone which is consistent with the first tone remember okay great so John Gua so you see the tone mark completely are consistent with the tones okay let's move on to this third combo one three combo first two and third tone okay so remember the first always may be right May and third times what remember now be really low what did you have for lunch yesterday right there dumb uh right so maybe uh maybe uh so the combo would be ice water oh my gosh you gotta learn this in China no matter where you go that no matter if it's summer winter they just bring you a cup of hot water all the time right so this is an essential word for you if you want ice water okay so ice water is being stray being stray all right so the toe mark here is the third tongue right so you say uh why does it look like this because the third toe is actually a low flat tongue hmm right so the third toe is a very unique one because actually when third tone is pronounced by itself it's it's a balancing tool but don't worry about that you know for now just remember the third toe is actually looks like a V sign okay so third toe is a V sign instead of like a little slot to them just remember that being straight may uh may be uh being Shay remember this word being straight yeah all right ones for combination maybe no maybe no may know and then so you applied that tone to this they'll be what I know is to know is chewed out Zhu Tao so the fourth tone mark is consistent with a fourth tongue as well so this is F&C this is like a falling tone and then for the fourth tone this is a falling tone as well alright chuda chuda maybe maybe no good okay so now is the one plus five what does that mean okay let me just show you that graph real quick okay so you see the 1 5 here 5 is actually a neutral tone so a tone that does not have a tone mark where we caught work we call it a toneless tone all right so let me switch back and I'll explain what that means ok for any neutral tone just remember two things the neutral tone is usually in the middle of your voice range alright so here's the highest this lowest this is sort of sort of in the middle so maybe so this would be like uh you know in the middle roughly and then it's usually very short and quick and sweet so if other words like character are two beats and then the tonalist tone were the tone without a mark is basically just one beat it's short and sweet so what you say once what's a 1:5 combination will sound like maybe uh maybe uh made up and it's very quick and Mei Mei alright so how do you say really really gender gender maybe ah janda good remember this word gender I'm not lying to you really gender gender ha ha all right the two one combination the two one combination is what what may right what may what may good and then it applies to this very common words tomorrow what may minchia what may mean TI repeat after me being TN minton minton minton good to two combination that will be what what what right yeah yeah or or guess yes ha ha right what what all right and that will apply to this word next year meaning in meaning in mean it hey Chang ha very good next one the two three combination to is second tone hmm and remember what and the third is what their choice uh what uh what uh what uh so beer oh my gosh go to the restaurant you're gonna have the best Chinese pronunciation in the restaurant even better than Chinese people when you say appear okay you say peejoe what uh PG PG 1 PG PG o fate um house all right hmm - 4 combination what is what is that what no what no hmm all right something's very easy yeah easy peasy Joey Joey Joey no like what no Joey all right the 2 5 combination which is the neutral tone oh did I mention to you that amending their four tones and there's the fifth tone is a neutral tone tone wisdom or tone that does not have a tool mark I just want to illustrate that just one more time all right before a fifth time remember two things you need to remember for the neutral tone it's usually in the middle of the voice range and it's usually swore short sweet and quick so that would be what uh what uh what uh alright and what is Shen Shen what uh Shama Shama Shama all right good sati go next one hmm three one combination thirty times what what did you have for lunch yesterday first time me wow it's really that you go from the lowest your voice to the heights range so Mae Mae Mae all right and it sounds like so too like you say that all the time right she won she won she won so he sounds like uh-huh so remember three one combination is uh hot she what uh-huh Mae Mae she won she won she good next one three two combination three two combination remember what is number three mmm no flat tone that sounds like you know whenever years speaking the third tone it's almost that you're feeling uncomfortable here because that's not something you're normally speaking all the time you have really have to go down to the bottom of your purse throat and voice and just speak that what what what HM how and then to get up from bed you know if somebody you know he's being lazy bro in the morning cuz hey get up teach wha what Chitra Chitra Chi Chuan what that's the third a three to combination good okay here's a tricky part three three combination okay keep this in mind okay three three combination is a unique one and actually we had a specific Google hangout on the Chinese tone ruler changing in the past and I need you to dig out that go hangout on youtube and watch that lesson because I'm now going to go into details here but basically the rule is this when two third tones are together the first third tone becomes the second tone as simple as that so basically any three three combination just sounds like any two three combinations make sense so let's just practice the two three combination here so that'd be two three will be that's that is what uh what uh okay what do you know the very first word you'd learn in vendor is what Nihao hello right now today eventually today's the day you're gonna speaking this word perfectly Nihao second tone so they'll be second what uh Nihao Nihao Nihao remember three three is Neha okay future official have there you go mm three four combination three is the lowest part uh and then four is no right uh no uh no no we're having fun are we yay so oh do you like fried rice I do so that would be child fun chow fun chow fun no child fun ciao okay three five combination remember the neutral tone to things short and sweet in the middle range in the middle part of your voice range yay okay so see so you strive really low so and that in the middle so base if you're going up little so uh so this word is the sample word my remind would would would okay what okay for one combination what is for its fourth down remember and fatik no sure yeah but just remember no all right no maybe remember no me no me no me what kind of gibberish I'm talking about right you're singing no me so the equivalent I'm sorry the simple word is bread me and bow Mian Bao Mian bow alright that's second next one the four two combinations no what no what no what okay the question were this word can also mean problem one t1 t1 t know what 1t fades out how for three combination no uh no uh does it sound like someone was named Noah Noah hmm no uh no uh here is Julie no uh Julie Julie Julie Fisher House for for a combination do you know which word that is the four four combination do you want me to say Satan goodbye that's all right so that's four four combination it's like when you say no no right Sachin Sachin if not side chin it's not charged in its sienten no no okay now you can say hello and goodbye perfectly and also ice water and what else Oh pjo beer right okay Sachin no no there last one I know where you're having fun you don't want to stop we got to stop somewhere the four or five combination if I remember just really quick I know you probably think I'm nagging you okay it's short and sweet and middle part of your voice range so that will be no hmm no so this is different from the note before they'll be no remember doesn't know uh right no no no huh go to the middle particle up a little bit so that'll be remember which word that can match this tone thank you remember this word okay repeat after me yes perfect wonderful wonderful so now you know those are the Mandarin Chinese tone pairs they're very very important they're like the building blocks for you to learn Chinese tones so I highly suggest you memorize all these 20 words and in the description part not only I'm gonna provide you what you see on the screen earlier which is the tone pairs table with all these 20 essential words but also I have made a little recording for you just to read read those 20 words over and over again so you can listen to and to them and practice so what I suggest at the very if you just barely start learning Mandarin what I suggest is really fun a native speaker a tutor a friend whoever write at least at the beginning help you master these 20 words make sure you absolutely pronounced pronouncement 100 percent correctly and then you can move on to any any other words and you'll be very confident that you're speaking the right tones okay so this is what we can't talk about tone pairs

Channel: Yoyo Chinese

Views: 1,642,339

Keywords: Mandarin Chinese tones, Tone pairs, learn Chinese, learn Mandarin, Chinese learning, Chinese course, Mandarin cOURSE, Mandarin pinyin, Chinese pinyin, pinyin, Chinese pronunciation, neutral tone, China, Google Hangout, hangout, webinar, Mandarin Chinese (Human Language), chinese tones, speak chinese tones, mandarin chinese tones, master chinese tones, chinese tones explained, chinese tones audio, chinese tones pinyin, chinese tones typing, beginner chinese, yangyang cheng

Id: 3wV8B4bx1lM

Length: 27min 19sec (1639 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 21 2014