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. |
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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. |