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  • Hi, I'm Fame Ketover of Lenguin com, and this is Mandarin Chinese

  • Get ready because we're going to be talking about tones

  • Listen to these four Chinese tones, which we'll do in their traditional order

  • mama

  • Again

  • mama

  • Ok, so you're an English speaker, you're probably like,

  • they just said the same word in four different ways

  • Well, not quite

  • See, in English, I could say, "Ma???"

  • And that'd mean like, "is that you, mom?"Then I could say, "Ma!!"

  • Which would mean perhaps, "mom, you're embarrassing me!!!"

  • But in both cases the word "ma" is refering to the same thing

  • But, things work differently in Chinese

  • The way you say the word, determines which word it is

  • Now listen again to what we said are different words in Chinese

  • mama

  • Again

  • mama

  • To a speaker of Chinese each of these words is perfectly distinguishable from the others

  • The different tones keep them apart the same way that

  • in English different consonants set off "ma" from "pa" and different vowels set off "ma"

  • from "me" So giving a word a wrong tone can be just

  • as disastrous as giving it a wrong consonant or vowel

  • For example, if you say this: ma, when what you meant was this: ma,

  • you basically just called your mother a horse

  • So, let's take a look at the visual representation of each tone

  • The vertical scale covers about an octave Just which octave it is, of course, depends

  • on your voice Now this is a somewhat greater range than

  • you would use in English Since the top of the range will seem slightly

  • too high for comfort and the bottom's going to seem slightly too low

  • The first tone, or high tone, word "mother" and the third tone, or low tone, word "horse",

  • will help you locate these extremes Have a listen:

  • ma ma Again, "mother" and "horse", high versus low

  • má mà People often equate Chinese tones to notes

  • on the musical scale And like you just heard, the distinctive difference

  • between the two tones is that one is high and one is low

  • But you may have noticed that while the high tone was like a single steady high note,

  • the low tone was lower in the middle than at either end

  • For a more dramatic example of such a difference in contour,

  • listen to the second tone, or the rising tone, word "hemp" and the fourth tone, or falling

  • tone, word "to scold"

  • má mà Again, "hemp" and "to scold", rising versus

  • falling

  • má mà Can you see the distinctive contours of the

  • tones? You can also see it suggested in the accent

  • mark used to indicate the tones of the romanization Tones also differ in length, the third tone's

  • the longest and the fourth tone is the shortest They also have different patterns of loudness,

  • which you can see in the width of the curves So let's go through the tones in their traditional

  • order By the time we're done we'll have contrasted

  • each tone with every other tone

  • The first tone is called the high tone It's pitch is near the top of your speaking

  • range and it's contour is level Listen to the high tone word which means "mother"

  • ma ma ma We don't really use such high level intonation

  • in English, so the high tone might seem sung rather than

  • spoken

  • ma ma ma Try repeating "mother" after the speaker

  • Make sure you stay on the same high note throughout

  • ma ma ma If you're getting it right, it should feel

  • a bit unnatural Try saying the high tone word "mother" and

  • then repeat after the speaker

  • ma Notice that the mark in the romanization shows

  • its level contour Try saying "mother" again, and repeat after

  • the speaker

  • ma The second tone is called the rising tone

  • It starts in the middle of your range and almost immediately rises sharply to the top

  • of your range Listen to the rising tone word, which means

  • "hemp"

  • má má má In English, if you want to ask, "Is that YOU

  • mother?", you can say, "ma????", with a rising intonation

  • So, think of that question, "ma????", and it may help you pronounce the rising tone

  • word which means "hemp" But remember that it's not a question and

  • it has nothing to do with mother Try repeating "hemp" after the speaker

  • má má má Now try saying the rising tone word "hemp"

  • yourself, and repeat

  • Notice that the tone mark in the romanization

  • rises from left to right Try saying "hemp" again and repeat

  • Now let's compare the high tone with the rising

  • tone Both are in the upper part of the pitch range

  • But the high tone stays level, while the rising tone climbs sharply,

  • staying slightly below the high tone and then reaching the top of the range

  • Listen to "mother" followed by "hemp"

  • maAgain, high tone - rising tone

  • maLet's turn them around now, "hemp" followed

  • by "mother"

  • ma Again, rising tone - high tone

  • ma The third tone is called the low tone

  • It has a slightly dipping contour It starts fairly low, and then dips to the

  • very bottom of your range You can almost feel and hear it scraping bottom

  • At the end it swoops up a bit The most important part, and the part to listen

  • for and the part to really emphasize, is the low part in the middle

  • Remember, also, that this is the longest tone Listen to the low tone word, which means "horse"

  • ma ma ma Try repeating horse, concentrating on getting

  • as low as you can

  • ma ma ma Now try saying the low tone word "horse" yourself

  • and repeat

  • ma You can see the the dipping contour in the

  • tone mark Try saying "horse" again and repeat

  • ma It's pretty easy to tell the high tone and

  • the low tone apart, since they contrast in contours as well as

  • in pitch The high tone is level and the low tone is

  • dipping Listen to "mother" followed by "horse"

  • ma ma Again, high tone - low tone

  • ma ma Now, we'll turn them around, "horse" followed

  • by "mother"

  • ma ma Again, low tone - high tone

  • ma ma The contrast between the rising tone and the

  • low tone is a bit harder Most students actually find it hardest of

  • all One reason is that their starting points are

  • not too far apart, and they also both rise at the end

  • The best way to tell them apart is to keep your mind fixed on the features which give

  • them their names For the rising tone, think rising

  • All the energy goes into reaching the ceiling The tone actually gets louder as it rises

  • For the low tone, think low All the energy goes into reaching the floor

  • The rising tail of the low tone is almost an afterthought

  • In fact, the rising tail is completely lost in certain circumstances as we'll see in another

  • lesson Listen to "hemp" followed by "horse"

  • ma Again, rising tone - low tone

  • ma Now, the other way around, "horse" followed

  • by "hemp"

  • maAgain, low tone - rising tone

  • maNow, the fourth tone is called the falling

  • tone It's an sudden drop from the top of your range

  • to the bottom Listen to the falling tone word, which means

  • "to scold"

  • mà mà mà Since in English we use a falling intonation

  • at the end of statements and exclamations, the falling tone might sound declarative or

  • emphatic Listen to the answers in this English conversation

  • "Who's mowing the lawn?" "Ma"

  • "Whatdya say??" "Ma!!"

  • Try repeating the verb "to scold", sliding all the way down the scale as fast as you

  • can

  • mà mà mà Now try saying the falling tone word "to scold"

  • yourself and repeat

  • Notice that the tone mark drops from left

  • to right Try saying "to scold" again and repeat

  • The contrast between the high tone and the

  • falling tone should be clear Since one stays high and one starts high but

  • drops sharply to the bottom The rising tone is a mirror image of the falling

  • tone Except that the rising tone rises from the

  • middle of your range to the top, while the falling tone falls the whole way

  • down from top to bottom The easiest way to tell them apart is to think

  • of the English question and statement intonations But remember that the rising tone has nothing

  • to do with questions and the falling tone has nothing to do with statements

  • The contrast between the low and falling tones shouldn't present any difficulty

  • Just remember that the falling tone drops sharply through the full range,

  • while the low tone spends most of its time at the bottom

  • It helps that the falling tone is the shortest tone and the low tone is the longest

  • Well, that's the end of this lesson Remember to head over to Lenguin

  • com to do the exercises for this lesson That's Lenguin as in Lenguin the Penguin

  • Thanks for watching! I want to thank all of our subscribers and

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  • Until next time, stay cool

Hi, I'm Fame Ketover of Lenguin com, and this is Mandarin Chinese

字幕與單字

單字即點即查 點擊單字可以查詢單字解釋

A2 初級 美國腔

學習漢語國語--4個聲調的發音(第1課時 (Learn Mandarin Chinese - How to Pronounce 4 Tones (Lesson 1))

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    覺 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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