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Mandarin Chinese Tones: How to Learn Them

1,705 views · Published 9 February 2017 · 30:34 · Indexed 4 November 2026

Channel: eChineseLearning · 2017 · Education

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Today's lesson is for those who are in Level 5 of Chinese. For a description of each level, you can check here: https://goo.gl/Cg93Na 

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Some foreign Chinese learners speak excellently, but Mandarin being a tonal language, like Thai and Vietnamese, you will not only be making your own mistakes, but copying and fossilizing the mistakes of the non-native teachers you are learning from.

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First tone, or high-level tone (陰平/阴平 yīnpíng, literal meaning: yin-level): a steady high sound, as if it were being sung instead of spoken.

Second tone, or rising tone (陽平/阳平 yángpíng, literal meaning: yang-level), or linguistically, high-rising: is a sound that rises from mid-level tone to high (e.g., What?!)

Third tone (low tone, or low-falling-raising, 上聲/上声 shǎngshēng or shàngshēng, literal meaning: “up tone”): has a mid-low to low descent; if at the end of a sentence or before a pause, it is then followed by a rising pitch.

Fourth tone, falling tone (去聲/去声 qùshēng, literal meaning: “away tone”), or high-falling: features a sharp downward accent (”dipping”) from high to low, and is a shorter tone, similar to commands. (e.g., Stop!)

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