{"id":6046,"date":"2015-09-28T12:48:42","date_gmt":"2015-09-28T12:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/?p=6046"},"modified":"2022-05-03T02:46:47","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T02:46:47","slug":"how-to-master-tones-without-using-tone-marks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/how-to-master-tones-without-using-tone-marks.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Master Tones without Using Tone Marks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been learning Chinese for over 10 years and one thing I\u2019ve seen countless students struggle with is the tones.<\/p>\n<p>Why is it that so many Chinese language students struggle with this aspect of the language?<\/p>\n<p>Well, without a doubt, tones are a very foreign concept to learners who come from non-tonal native languages. When you\u2019re learning a tonal language as a second language, tonal languages certainly require a level of discipline when speaking the language that you don\u2019t experience when learning many other languages.<\/p>\n<p>However, that being said, I personally think a big culprit is the tone marks. To me, the fact that so many students struggle with the tones indicates to me that there might be a problem with the tone marks. So, when I started teaching Chinese, I ditched the tone marks and started working on my own approach.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I personally never liked the tone marks for several reasons:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The names (first tone, second tone, etc) are not intuitive. If you look at the name \u201cfirst tone,\u201d you have no idea what that means.<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Most Chinese language learners come from languages that read left to right. Yes, pinyin is also read left to right, but you also have to refer to the tone marks while you\u2019re reading, which creates a sort of dissonance in your head.<\/li>\n<li style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Finally, one thing many beginners don\u2019t realize is that m\u0101, m\u00e1, m\u01ce, m\u00e0 are actually four different words, not just one sound you\u2019re changing with tone marks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, let me tell you about the approach that I\u2019ve developed: <strong>tone scales<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6050\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/1.png\" alt=\"1\" width=\"177\" height=\"81\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, a tone scale looks like a musical scale with three ranges: high, normal and low. I should emphasize that these ranges are within the normal range of your voice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Let me introduce how I show the different tones with the tone scale system:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First tone m\u01ce (I refer to the first tone as the \u201chigh\u201d tone with my students)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/21.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6051\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/21.png\" alt=\"2\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\"><\/a>Second tone m\u00e1 (I refer to the second tone as the \u201crising\u201d tone with my students)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/31.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6052\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/31.png\" alt=\"3\" width=\"79\" height=\"81\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Third tone m\u01ce (I refer to the third tone as the \u201clow\u201d tone with my students)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6053\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/4.png\" alt=\"4\" width=\"79\" height=\"78\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Third tone sandhi (as in when there are two \u201cthird\u201d tones in a row)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/5.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6054\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/5.png\" alt=\"5\" width=\"160\" height=\"143\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fourth tone m\u00e0 (I refer to the fourth tone as the \u201cdrop\u201d tone with my students)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/61.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6055\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/61.png\" alt=\"6\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And finally the neutral tone ma (I refer to the neutral tone as the \u201ctap\u201d tone)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/7.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6056\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/7.png\" alt=\"7\" width=\"78\" height=\"80\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, the tone scales are very intuitive, and they also give you a visual reference of how you need to manipulate your voice and pitch.<\/p>\n<p>If you want a more in-depth explanation, please check this video:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wistia_embed\" src=\"http:\/\/fast.wistia.net\/embed\/iframe\/yocfm9tt7x?canonicalUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwarpspeedchinese.wistia.com%2Fmedias%2Fyocfm9tt7x&amp;canonicalTitle=WSCToneScaleIntros%20-%20warpspeedchinese\" name=\"wistia_embed\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Here are a few examples so you can get a sense of how the tone scales work with phrases and sentences.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/8.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6057\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/8.png\" alt=\"8\" width=\"1087\" height=\"213\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/8.png 1087w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/8-300x59.png 300w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/8-1024x201.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1087px) 100vw, 1087px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>y\u012b \u00e8r&nbsp;&nbsp; s\u0101n s\u00ec w\u01d4&nbsp;&nbsp; l\u00ecu q\u012b b\u0101 j\u01d0u sh\u00ed<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wistia_embed\" src=\"http:\/\/fast.wistia.net\/embed\/iframe\/ds9rshvcra?canonicalUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwarpspeedchinese.wistia.com%2Fmedias%2Fds9rshvcra&amp;canonicalTitle=How%20to%20say%20the%20numbers%20in%20Chinese%20-%20warpspeedchinese\" name=\"wistia_embed\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Long Time No See<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/9.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6058\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/9.png\" alt=\"9\" width=\"824\" height=\"212\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/9.png 824w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/9-300x77.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 824px) 100vw, 824px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>h\u01ceo&nbsp;&nbsp; j\u01d0u&nbsp;&nbsp; b\u00fa&nbsp;&nbsp; ji\u00e0n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wistia_embed\" src=\"http:\/\/fast.wistia.net\/embed\/iframe\/qa2qg2pg9x?canonicalUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwarpspeedchinese.wistia.com%2Fmedias%2Fqa2qg2pg9x&amp;canonicalTitle=How%20to%20say%20long%20time%20no%20see%20in%20Chinese%20-%20warpspeedchinese\" name=\"wistia_embed\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Nice to meet you<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/91.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6059\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/91.png\" alt=\"91\" width=\"1024\" height=\"211\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/91.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/91-300x62.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>h\u011bn g\u0101ox\u00ecng&nbsp;&nbsp; r\u00e8nsh\u00ec&nbsp;&nbsp; n\u01d0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wistia_embed\" src=\"http:\/\/fast.wistia.net\/embed\/iframe\/h39ezv6r31?canonicalUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwarpspeedchinese.wistia.com%2Fmedias%2Fh39ezv6r31&amp;canonicalTitle=How%20to%20say%20pleased%20to%20meet%20you%20in%20Chinese%20-%20warpspeedchinese\" name=\"wistia_embed\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In my next few articles, I\u2019ll go over each tone in detail and offer some more tips on how to master each tone using the tone scales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been learning Chinese for over 10 years and one thing I\u2019ve seen countless students struggle with is the tones. Why is it that so many Chinese language students struggle with this aspect of the language? Well, without a doubt, tones are a very foreign concept to learners who come from non-tonal native languages. When&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":6060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,176],"tags":[77,93,96,90,80,81,89],"post_series":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.2.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Master Tones without Using Tone Marks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/how-to-master-tones-without-using-tone-marks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Master Tones without Using Tone Marks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve been learning Chinese for over 10 years and one thing I\u2019ve seen countless students struggle with is the tones. 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