The languages of China - The Four Tones

The four tones in Chinese are very important. Whether or not one speaks good Chinese depends in a great degree on how well uses the four tones.

Chinese is a language that is rather tonal, namely, different tones distinguishing words that are pronounced alike otherwise. There are four tones in Putonghua, a high tone (marked as “ˉ”), a rising tone (marked as “ˊ”), a tone that combines a falling and a rising inflection (marked as “ˇ”), and the falling tone (marked as “ˋ”). A pronunciation in different tones may mean different things. For example, mā may mean mother with the high tone(mā), but it means horse in the falling-rising tone(mǎ), or curse or scold if it is in the falling tone (mà).

Because the Chinese is a language rich in homophones and so there are in the language a lot of characters sharing the same pronunciation, it is highly important if the four tones are rightly applied. The sound da ge mean nothing. But when used with the tones, it has meanings. For instance, “dà gē” means big brother (大哥) while “dǎ gé” means hiccup(打嗝).

Please do not be frustrated with the four tones. Do not forget that in English there is the old saying of “practice makes perfect”. If one keeps practicing in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, one will be able to have good Chinese.

Welcome to China2Go, the talking Chinese phrase book for Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Palm OS. Featuring crystal clear voice recorded by a real person, this product is a great travel companion and an ideal tool to learn Chinese! With our cutting edge voice compression technology, this product includes more than 1000 phrases, their Chinese translation, and the voice in only a few megabytes. Supports all Windows Mobile Pocket PCs. H&H China2Go Talking Phrase Book for Windows Mobile