Pronunciation is not intonation
Whenever I took a language class they always manage to do this wrong.
Moreover, they tend to use those terms interchangeably and confuse every one.
What is the difference between pornociation and Intonation?
Pronunciation refers to the sound envelope and it’s very easy to see in a sound wave form.
Intonation refers to the sound pitch much harder to see in a sound wave. And it is also harder to perceive. When you understand what does it take for a computer to evaluate Chinese tones. You understand why is it so hard and perhaps impossible for some people.
Here is a link of how the tones are actually analyzed. corpus.eduhk.hk
You should be able to differentiate between the envelope at the top and the tone with a blue line at the bottom. Now you tell me which one is easier to perceived?
Now, consider this image:
The bottom garbage, if this is not a mess then I don't what is. And you have extract the tone out of it. You cannot find it just by looking at the one on the top. Think about this when you are teaching by tone. Maybe, just maybe it's not correct approach.
That reminds me back in the days as a software engineer. When 386 + 4 MB of ram was considered the highest state of the art, When people watching Star Trek saw the computer talking and listening. A guy from sales came to me and ask: When are you going to make voice recognition software. I replied to him: I don't know, when are you going to sell me a real computer?
.
Chinese people do not pronounce, they intonate.
Pronunciation is for the western languages.
That’s why it is easier to learn Japanese than Chinese. They at least both pronounce.
Furthermore, they either teach you unuseful sentences. Or something that make no sense to a native.
I wonder if they used a cheap translator to make those.
If you use these sentences the way they are taught you better have the right tones because no Chinese would ever say something like this in IRL. And the rhythm is completely broken. So don't be surprised if they look at you funny and even misunderstand you.
That's why on my site I use only Real Chinese material such as Cartoon and Movies. It sounds way more natural.
Plus imitating those will make you sound way more native than whatever those things are.
Here is an example:
我才来。
Never heard Chinese say this in that manner. Even though it is short, they'll only understand if you have the right tone. But if you say it like they say that expression 我敢才来了 or even 我才来了with the right rhythm (inflection) you won't have to think about the tone. Just make sure your sound is in the ball park. *I made tools for that.
You just have to imitate the overall expression with the inflections. Much easier and much less headache.
They'll understand no matter what. Because you are using the right expression the right way, believe this. And it's also easier to say. BTW: Those classes’ sentences are similar to what was in Rosetta Stone used to pull out of his ass. Which no body understood what I said at the time. It's was just the wrong expressions. Once I spend enough time observing how they talk I started to notice some patterns..
Regular expression
We have that thing in computer called ‘Regular expression’ it’s based the same way as people does. Which is; it will recognize an expression/pattern that it’s expected to see/hear. If it’s a different pattern like changing the expression, Nagana work.
The tone, the tone, remember the tone.
-No I won't.
Beside it's not a question of memory if you cannot hear them in a first place.
I tried training my ear for tones with tools. It kind of works when slowly. But, whenever I passed a tone test at normal speed and they ask me which tone was it? Was it 2 or 4? No idea they sounded exactly the same to me. I do hear the overall inflections in a whole expression though. That I can tell. In a single syllable at regular speed you can kiss that test goodbye.You should check my other article:
But What if you cannot hear the tones
https://thinknspeak.net/but-what-if-you-cannot-hear-the-tones/
it's rescue time.
So I developed other ways to learn Chinese and to get by.
I'm in R&D so I did what I do best, research. How their kids are being taught Chinese. Do they teach tones to infant? Nope. They teach them full expressions. Later mainly in school especially they learn more about the tones. It's like English or any other language. Do we teach grammar to infant 0-4? Do we teach them syllables by syllable, with the meaning and tone of every stupid one of them? Don’t get me wrong some have meaning. But most of the time the whole word has more meaning. Chinese language is the same. You want an example of that take my ‘ST6 Sulu Intro’ lesson the name of the ship is 精进号. Do you think every syllable carry its meaning? Not at all, it has only meaning as a whole. And there are way more words like this that you might think.
One final note:
So my point being, you’re doing it wrong. Instead of teaching Chinese syllable by syllable, why don’t you try teaching by regular expression?
Don’t know them find them. Like I did.
Conclusion
I am a retired R&D guy. I spend a long time researching as well as understanding the Chinese language.
As well as making those tools.
In order to help others acquired the language in a easier and faster manner.
I do that at my leisure. I’m just sharing my acquired knowledge with you.
Feel free to donate to my cause. It will help me make more and better content.
Thanks every one. 祝你好运
克丹尼 Denis Cote
.
