I dont understand tones at all

[imron]

However some people in this thread claim that this is impossible. Appearently, if I just try harder I will eventually hear them.

Actually what I claimed was that if you can distinguish tones in English, then there's no reason why you can't distinguish tones in Chinese, because it's essentially the same process.

It's not about trying harder, it's about trying to recognise the process by which you recognise tones in English and applying that to Chinese.

[achiese]

I agree with imron.

The tone in chinese and english is essentially the same process.

The two languages are both the kind of language with tone.

The difference between the two language is that in chinese each single

character has its specific tone. Among lots of same sounds of character,

it's tone to make them have different meaning.

On the contrary, tone in english only appears in some cases.

The sound with different tone won't makes words have different meanings,

it just works as intonation. Indeed tone exist in english, but it doesn't use

tone to distinguish lexical meaning.

Many languages in africa are the same as chinese, different tones on a sound

will be different words, meanwhile, Indo-European languages are not.

Just like imron said " It's about trying to recognise the process by which you recognise

tones in English and applying that to Chinese. "

[trien27]

4th tone is same as 1st tone, but try this: Say a word of 1st tone, then try to say it as if you've put an exclamation mark after it to turn it into 4th tone. Sometimes the word bu, meaning no or not, would change from the original 2nd tone into a 4th tone when used with a following character(I forgot which tone this second character was supposed to has. I learnt this in Chinese school a long time ago). Although this is very rare, it does occur sometimes.

[<<恒心>>]

I agree with those who emphasize hard work at the beginning when it comes to tones-- you just can't get around them, and you're far worse off if you even try to get by without biting the bullet. As an undergrad I studied under a self-described "tone Nazi" and while my tone production still has weak points, my recognition definitely benefited as a result of the hazing.

There are some points of hope, though: the more you learn about the syntax and different parts of speech, the easier it will get. You'll know whether what you're hearing is a noun, abverb, etc. just from that. Further, once your vocabulary grows to a certain size, you'll just know what is what. 消化，笑话，and 小花 are all 'xiaohua' but the syntax and context tell you what they can't be in a sentence. Once you know the vocabulary, there's no mistaking one from another, and from that, you can reinforce your grasp of the tones for a given word. Then you'll never mistake 没问题 for 美吻体 again. ;)

In the mean time, work hard at it-- but don't worry about it. Work and worry-- don't confuse them.

[cintiaghimel]

I'm sure you shouldn't give up even if you're tone deaf...I bet there are chinese people with this problem and they speak chinese don't they? I used to teach english to this guy who had a problem with his jawbone and he said he could only be able to speak english after he had the surgery done...I told him a lot of people who even had no teeth at all speak english (I know a couple of native btw) so this is no reason to give up.

I'm studying mandarin chinese all by myself, and I'm not giving up..sometimes I'm completely lost, but as I love it so much, it gives me strength to go forward. I repeat do not give up.

[ZLearner]

Hi

Do you read music?

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Chinese/Using_Tones

Here's a page that helped me finally GET IT. Because the tones are placed on a musical staff.

Its all about the music of the tones.

And then while teaching the children and babies I realised that these are the tones children use to communicate before they can speak.

1. High tone - sounds like a robot voice

2. 2nd tone - when a kid is complaining awwwwww!

3. 3rd tone - when you sympathise with some one - ohhh poor thing!

4. 4th tone - sounds surprised, upbeat happy tone.

5.5th neutral tone - like when you wake up from a dopey sleep 'uhh......'

Also notice there are rules when two 3rd tones are next to each other etc.

There's a blog out there who discusses this but unfortunately i did not save the link

The other thing which helped me on my L's learning mandarin is a demo called Fluenz.

They help you remember the tones by testing yourself writing them out.

Best ever software I've found on the web so far.

I learnt to speak after 2 plays of the demo.

Hope this helps!

[ZLearner]

http://www.sinosplice.com/lang/tone-pair-drills/

Here is a free software to help people practice tones together. I'm trying it out now.

[Luobot]

I don't know that this short article applies to your situation, but it discusses "why people who use auditory prosthetic devices have difficulty understanding Mandarin." By implication, there are physical impairments that can affect tonal language acquisition.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061212213436.htm

By the way, I found the above mentioned sinosplice tone drills to be very helpful with daily usage over a period of time. Highly recommended.