Conflict between Chinese tones and question tones?

[Desmond]

Sorry, by constantly questioning yourself, I didn't actually mean constantly. I meant "don't stop doing it". If you're talking with someone, focus more on the conversation. But if you hear something in passing on the TV, then don't just gloss over, take out the time to analyze it, if you have the time

[stephanhodges]

I agree too, that "questioning yourself" while in a conversation is a sure path to falling behind in comprehension. Also, sometimes you have to just relax and try and let the subconscious take over, and let it integrate.

What I do, quite a bit, is to review conversations afterwards, in my head (at least I hope I'm not talking out loud!). I also practice saying things, and comparing the rhythms, vowel sounds, etc. I find that very few vowels are identical across all consonant combinations.

I like to listen to recordings many times, too. Often, I find myself hearing different nuances of sound after a while. I'm hoping that means my brain is getting closer to mapping the sounds correctly.

I'd really like to get a recording of a typical speaking class (from BLCU or BNU, for example), to get some practice in listening, before coming to China.

[hakkaboy]

notice that sometimes I hear what I'm expecting to hear. Then I get confused cause it doesn't sound right. One recent example is "睡不着" where I thought it was (assumed it should be) "睡不觉" The second one made more sense to me, but I was like "I swear I'm not hearing a fourth tone, i'm hearing a second. It also sounded more like a "zh" than a "ji". But my brain really wanted to hear "jiao4" and just assumed I wasn't listening good enough. Eventually I got it.

Desmond, I know where you are coming from. 睡觉 means "sleep", so you might expect "can't sleep" to be 睡不觉, but 着 is a complement of some kind, so it is 睡不着. I think you can say - can some one correct me? - 睡不着觉 as a longer form?

[Quest]

睡觉 means to sleep

睡着(觉) means to be fallen asleep

When you "can't sleep", you mean you "can't fall asleep", so that's why we say 睡不着。

[Lu]

Hakkaboy, I think you're right and 睡不着觉 is the longer form.

[cjbaker]

I think the "questioning yourself" idea is onto something very important. In second language acquisition, linguists often talk about "fossilization", where the adult learner's grammar becomes stuck in an "imperfect" state and stops improving because they're unaware of the errors. As someone else noted though, trying to constantly be aware of your speech production (sometimes called the "monitor") can impede natural learning. Many linguists believe that successful adult acquisition of a second language depends on a skillful balance between using "the monitor" and "natural learning".

[Desmond]

skillful balance between using "the monitor" and "natural learning"

That's exactly what I believe is the key. It's a balance between the two. Most people leave it up to natural learning and never get better. Some monitor too much and always slow down due to worrying. Best things is go out there, practice, use your speech. But never stop working on it, even if it's a little thing here and there. Keeping your mind open to change and improvement is the key.

[lanlingsun]

the modal particle 吗 is used at the end of a sentence to make interrogative question. such question is called yes-no question.

when the particle 吗 is added at the end of a declarative sentence, it become a general question. the word order of such a question is exactly the same as that of answer to it.

the modal particle 呢 can be added at the end of a question with an interrogative pronoun, an affirmative-negative question or an alternative question to soften the tone.

when placed after a declarative sentence, the modal particle 呢 means that the action is just going on. it is often used in conjunction with adverbs like 在, 正在, 正.

in such sentence, 呢 also indicates confirmation or conviction, sometimes even converying a sense of exaggeration.

ellipticle question may b formed by adding modal particle 呢 to a pronoun, noun, or nominal phrase. the meaning of this type a question is determined mainly by the context.

when there is no context, elliptical question of the type are usually to ask where someone or something is.