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Pin-Yin Romanization | Basic Chinese Phrases

The Chinese Language is based on tones. The most common language in China, Mandarin, is based on four or five tones. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the English language that directly parallels this unique characteristic of the Chinese language.

English uses inflections on some words and sentences, without proper inflection, the meaning can be difficult to comprehend. But in Chinese, an incorrect tone, can not only make the word difficult to comprehend, but it can completely change the meaning.

For example: The word "Ma" in Chinese can be pronounced with 4 separate tones. In the first tone, the meaning of the word "Ma" becomes "mother". In the second tone, the meaning of "Ma" becomes "hemp or grass". In the third tone, the meaning of "Ma" becomes "horse", and in the fourth tone the meaning of "Ma", becomes "to scold or nag". With a little imagination, you can see where telling a parent that their child looks like her "mom" could be quite a disaster if the tones were not correct.

  How the Tones Work:
Unlike music, the tones of Chinese involve different "levels" of sound relative to one another. Whereas English speakers express excitement, amazement, or sadness by varying the pitch and inflections of their words, in Chinese this is not possible, because the meanings of the words are based on these tones. The tones remain constant when whispering, yelling, and even while singing. One of the most common errors when first trying to speak Chinese is to raise the tone of the last word of every sentence as if asking a question. If the tone of the last word is raised, it then changes the meaning of that word.

Note: Although we use a music scale below to represent the "level" of a Chinese language tone, it is not based on a particular "scale". The tones are high or low depending on their relationship to other words within the sentence. A deep-voiced man's high note might be much lower on a scale than another man's low note. They do not correspond to a western-type musical note.

THE FIRST TONE (right): The word is spoken with an even tone, at the highest level of the speaker's voice (speech) range. A common mistake is to let this tone drop offwhen spoken at the end of a statement. Try saying "Ma" with the first tone, it means "mother".    

THE 2nd TONE (right): The word is spoken with a "rising" tone. The tone begins near the bottom of the speaker's range and rises upward to the top level, much like an American asking a question at the end of the sentence. A common mistake is to let the last word of a question to "rise" like the 2nd tone, even when the word should not be spoken with that tone. Try saying "Ma" with the 2nd tone, it means "grass" or "hemp".    

THE 3rd TONE (right): Perhaps the most difficult to master, the 3rd tone is spoken by starting the word slightly above the bottom of the speaker's range, then letting it drop to the bottom, then rise to about the middle of the range, something like an American speaker that is not too sure of an answer and drags the word out a little, as in saying "yes" to a question, but expecting to back it up with an explanation. Try saying "Ma" using the 3rd tone, it means "horse".    

 
THE 4th TONE (right): This tone starts high and drop off quickly to the lowest range of the speaker's range. It is sharp and quick as if answering a question with a emphatic "NO". Try saying "Ma" using the 4th tone, it means "to scold or nag".    

THE 5th TONE: This tone is often left out of the descriptions and Mandarin is often referred to as a "4 tone" language. This is because the 5th tone is spoken very lightly, as if it has no tone. We show no chart on the 5th tone. Try saying "Ma" lightly and quickly, it is sometimes used that way at the end of a sentence to make that sentence a question.

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