Tones: Mind and Mouth Don't Agree

[L-F-J]

Interesting phenomenon. So, I can hear tones and speak them correctly and have a considerable vocabulary of known words for which I am aware of the tones (otherwise I don't consider them known words). But quite often I can picture the tone in my mind of particular words, know what they are, intend to pronounce them properly... yet end up incorrectly pronouncing the tones nonetheless. My mind and mouth don't agree.

I don't have any impediment that I am aware of, but it's just an odd little phenomenon. I wonder if this is a common occurrence with other learners, and how one might go about correcting this problem.

[prateeksha]

To mutual relief [sigh] this happens to me too. More so, of late. Ever since I have started deliberately focusing on my tones. When I started studying Chinese, I used to learn tones [and consequently the words] only by copying the teacher's pronunciation. Until recently when I started revising words with Anki and I thought that I must "know" all the tone marks. And I feel that I have been confusing and mispronouncing tones ever since.

I must add that I am not saying Anki did this to me. I think it is happening because I changed my natural learning habit - from learning new words by listening to memorising tone marks.

Sometimes I know the exact tones in my mind. I know how to say it. But at the time of saying it, sometimes it would just come out incorrect. I think I will have to shift my methodology back to learning new words by listening and copying instead of focusing too much on tone marks.

[Silent]

Maybe this one is usefull to you....

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/36642-fixing-tones/

[renzhe]

Happens to me too. I'll say a sentence, then I'll repeat it, then the third time, it will sound perfect. Either that or I spend 10 seconds on preparation, and then pronounce it correctly. The first time, when I say it spontaneously, something is always afoot

I've found that correct, conscious practice helps. Repeat common and important phrases over and over, comparing them to a correct native speaker. Repeat them until you automatically say them correctly, all the time.

After a while, you can cover most of your speech automatically, and only need to concentrate on odd, rare words, making things much easier.

[hbuchtel]

You might be interested in taking the Distorted Tunes Test

Want to test your own sense of pitch? We've developed an online version of the Distorted Tunes Test, a standardized survey in use for over 50 years. In it, you'll listen to a series of snippets from well-known tunes—some of which have been distorted by changing various notes' pitch. Your task is to pick out the incorrectly played tunes.

[imron]

You might be interested in taking the Distorted Tunes Test

26/26

On the other hand there are plenty of songs that all just

.

[hbuchtel]

26/26:)

That is not a surprise!

As they say on that page, "Tone deafness appears to stem from nature, not nurture." While having difficulty with tones in Chinese does not mean one is tone deaf, it might mean that one is relatively less able to recognize and reproduce tones. I would say that someone who gets a high score on the 'Distorted Tunes Test' but has difficulty with tones in Chinese just needs to practice more, but somebody who gets a really low score (I have a friend who got less than half right) should just accept that they will always sound like a stereotypical foreigner on a CCTV history series, and focus their energy on improving other aspects of the language that don't involve this particular skill.

[Geiko]

I was surprised to get 24/26 right! I was convinced I was tone deaf, but this test gives me hope.

[Ludens]

Although I got a score of 25/26, I liked the 'out of tune' tunes better :-)

Regarding pronunciation of tones, the most difficult thing for me is tone changes in sentences, such as 3rd tones becoming second tones (or all tones seemingly becoming neutral tones). I assume this will only get better with practice and lots of input.

[艾紫茉]

I feel like I have grown accustomed to the tones over time. Once you get the hang of it it's kind of like a song. What I have problems with is that sometimes I concentrate so hard on pronouncing tones correctly that my throat starts to hurt from the effort of moving my voice in so many directions. Does anyone else have that problem?

Oh, and 26/26.

[ThePeaMonster]

If you can hear the difference you just need more training. It's not odd at all. It's exactly like learning to sing, you need some training before you'll be able to reguralry hit the right tone. Just try it again if it comes out wrong.

22/26, but I couldn't recognize several tunes, so I answered "no".