The Flow of Mandarin
  • Home
  • 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
Introduction | Tonal Relativity | The Five Tones | Tone Comparisons | Submission

Tonal Relativity

The main problem people have with tones is that they think about them too much.  Your goal is to accurately produce Mandarin tonal flow without consciously thinking about it at all.  The only way to attain this ability is through mimicry, so after today, mimicry will be the ONLY thing we do here.  

The reason we are explicitly talking about tones now is because you may need a "sense of direction" while you train your tonal perception and mimicry.  There are only 3 ways you can mess up a tone, so when you get feedback, it is very simple to identify what the mistake is. 

There are three features to tones. What's most important to note is that tones are identified in relationship to other tones, NOT absolutely. In other words, we're actually concerned about the following:
  • Movement
  • Relative Pitch
  • Relative Duration

Relative Pitch

In the audio track below, I say the word "Hey", then I say the word again with a higher pitched voice, then a third time in a pitch lower than both the previous two.  While listening to this, you should have had the feeling of the second "Hey" going up, and then the third "Hey" going down.
The ability to listen to two pitches and identify one has higher or lower than the other is the most basic ability in tonal perception (if you could not  hear how the 2nd "hey" was higher than the first, then you may have a problem with tone deafness and should message me).  

Some mandarin tones are ALWAYS higher/lower pitch in relation to others.  So even when a Mandarin speaker doesn't really hear the full tone, his brain can automatically perceive it correctly based JUST on its relative pitch.  

Movement (Up vs. Down vs. Constant)

Within a given syllable, the pitch can either: 
  • Go up
  • Go down
  • Stay constant
Movement is the tone feature that most people focus on when they study Mandarin, but it's actually not as important as people think.  When people speak fast, they might not execute the movement fully, or they might even do a different tone than normal all together.

So while it's important to perceive the basic up and down of pitch movement, try not to think about it too much- otherwise you'll overdo it.

Relative Duration (Short Time vs. Long Time)

In the audio track below, I say "hey" two times.  You should be able to perceive that the second "hey" is longer.  You can even perceive this on the visual waveform of the audio player.
Some Mandarin tones are ALWAYS longer/shorter in relation to others.  So even when a Mandarin speaker doesn't fully hear the movement of a tone, her brain can automatically perceive it correctly based JUST on the duration of the syllable.  
In this next section, we are going to review the five tones of Mandarin.  While listening, keep these three relationships in mind.
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Next>>>
Introduction | Tonal Relativity | The Five Tones | Tone Comparisons | Submission
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