Difference between revisions of "Tone pair"
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* Sinosplice: [http://www.sinosplice.com/learn-chinese/tone-pair-drills Mandarin Chinese Tone Pair Drills], [http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2006/10/29/new-feature-mandarin-chinese-tone-pair-drills New Feature: Mandarin Chinese Tone Pair Drills] | * Sinosplice: [http://www.sinosplice.com/learn-chinese/tone-pair-drills Mandarin Chinese Tone Pair Drills], [http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2006/10/29/new-feature-mandarin-chinese-tone-pair-drills New Feature: Mandarin Chinese Tone Pair Drills] | ||
* Hacking Chinese: [http://www.hackingchinese.com/focusing-on-tone-pairs-to-improve-your-mandarin-pronunciation/ Focusing on tone pairs to improve your Mandarin pronunciation] | * Hacking Chinese: [http://www.hackingchinese.com/focusing-on-tone-pairs-to-improve-your-mandarin-pronunciation/ Focusing on tone pairs to improve your Mandarin pronunciation] | ||
| + | * About.com: [http://mandarin.about.com/od/How-to-learn-Mandarin-Chinese/fl/How-tone-pairs-can-improve-your-Mandarin-pronunciation.htm How tone pairs can improve your Mandarin pronunciation] | ||
=== Videos === | === Videos === | ||
Revision as of 13:21, 3 June 2015
| This article is a stub. Editors can help the Chinese Pronunciation Wiki by expanding it. |
Tone pairs are an important unit of pronunciation to focus on as learner's tones gradually improve.
The concept
Most learners can accurately pronounce the tone of a single syllable after enough practice. But they find that once they try to pronounce two tones in a row, it all falls apart: they get the second one totally wrong, or the first, or even both. Stringing tones together is a skill that needs to be practiced it, and the foundation for this skill is to practice every combination of tones in the smallest unit possible: tone pairs.
The logic here is pretty clear: if you can string two tones together accurately, you can build on that, stringing more and more together, until you can do whole sentences. This is not a quick process, however. You're going to need quite a bit of practice, and you should expect this practice to take up a good chunk of your pronunciation practice as an intermediate (B1) learner.
The 20 pairs
There are 20 tone pairs because there are four main tones and one neutral tone, but a neutral tone can never be the first syllable in a word or phrase.
| + 1st Tone | + 2nd Tone | + 3rd Tone | + 4th Tone | + Neutral Tone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Tone | 1-1 | 1-2 | 1-3 | 1-4 | 1-0 |
| 2nd Tone | 2-1 | 2-2 | 2-3 | 2-4 | 2-0 |
| 3rd Tone | 3-1 | 3-2 | 3-3❋ | 3-4 | 3-0 |
| 4th Tone | 4-1 | 4-2 | 4-3 | 4-4 | 4-0 |
❋ You might be tempted to think that 3-3 doesn't count, because after the tone change it's the same as 2-3. But actually, you really need to practice this tone change as part of a tone pair, so you'll definitely want to practice 3-3 pairs, just like all the others.
Sources and further reading
Websites
- Sinosplice: Mandarin Chinese Tone Pair Drills, New Feature: Mandarin Chinese Tone Pair Drills
- Hacking Chinese: Focusing on tone pairs to improve your Mandarin pronunciation
- About.com: How tone pairs can improve your Mandarin pronunciation
Videos
- YouTube: [The Most Effective Way to Learn Mandarin Tones - Tone Pairs - Google Hangout with Yangyang] (08:16-27:18)
