The Flow of Mandarin
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  • Table of Contents
    • Course Tutorials >
      • Your First Recording
    • Sound System Primer >
      • Syllable Finals >
        • Syllable Finals 1
        • Syllable Finals 2
        • Syllable Finals 3
      • Syllable Initials >
        • Syllable Initials 1
        • Syllable Initials 2
        • Syllable Initials 3
    • Phonetic Training >
      • Introduction
      • Basics
      • Construction
      • Memorization
      • Mimic & Meaning
      • Conclusion
    • Song Lessons >
      • Unit 1: BJ2NY >
        • Lesson 1: Taxi Part 1
        • Lesson 2: Taxi Part 2
        • Lesson 3: BJ2NY Part 1
        • Lesson 4: BJ2NY Part 2
      • Unit 2: Tone Bootcamp >
        • Single Tones (Pt 1) >
          • Tonal Relativity
          • Single Tones
          • Tone Comparisons
          • Single Tones Submission
        • Tone Pairs (Pt 2) >
          • Tone Pairs A
          • Tone Pairs B
          • Tone Pairs C
          • Tone Pairs D
          • Tonal Mimicry & Meaning
      • Unit 3: Tonal Infusion >
        • Lesson 1
        • Lesson 2
        • Lesson 3
        • Lesson 4
        • Lesson 5
        • Lesson 6
      • Unit 4: Mimicry Training
  • Tone Bootcamp
  • Help
TOC | Introduction | Single Tones | Tone Pairs | Comparisons | Mimicry & Meaning

Mimicry & Meaning

In the last unit, you learned some lyrics from "Taxi" and "Beijing to NY".  Due to the nature of these songs, however, you did not really learn the Tonal Flow for those phrases.  

For the rest of this course, we will focus on songs that are much more tonally consistent with real speech. In the meantime, what you need is a nice refreshing shot of "Tonal Infusion."

Before you practice with this exercise, you will first learn the "Tonal Infusion," - a "ma....ma...ma" version of the speech that maintains accurate rhythm, timing and tones (left-side audio clips).

The tonal infusion will allow you to focus all your attention on the flow before overloading your brain with the syllables. 
Practice with the audio files below by mimicking the just the tones as well as the actual speech. Try to hear the difference between what you sounded like before vs. now. You can refer back to this page as often as you like.

​When you think you had enough practice, move on to the next unit.

Taxi Line 1

Tonal Infusion

Mimic

Meaning: Where do you want to drive to?
你要开到哪里去

Word for Word: ni (drive)...yao (want)...kai (drive)...(dao) to...na li (where)...qu (go)

Taxi Line 2

Meaning: Don't lose (leave) me here
别把我丢在这里
Word for Word: bie (don't)...ba wo(do <action> me)...diu (lose)...zai (in)...zheli (this place)

Taxi Line 3

Meaning: Tomorrow I will lodge a complaint against you
我明天要投诉你
Word for Word: wo (I)...mingtian (tomorrow)...yao (want)....tou su (lodge a complaint)....ni (you)

Taxi Line 4

Meaning: But I forgot the license plate!
但是车牌忘了记
Word for Word: danshi (but)...chepai (license plate)....wang le ji (forgot)

Move on to the Next Unit

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