Your fastest path to Mandarin Tones - Chinese lesson for absolute beginners

Welcome to this lesson on Mandarin tones. If you mess up the tones, people will still understand you, just like how you understand your friend even when they text without punctuation. But sometimes you won't, and that's when things get fun. Mandarin has five tones, four that people talk about a lot, and one which is the black sheep of the family and always pretends not to exist. Tones are kinda like music, but for people who enjoy suffering, let us begin. First, let's talk about the four tones. Mandarin is a tonal language, which means changing your pitch can change the meaning of a word. Imagine if the pitch you say changes the meaning of a word from father into poop. Fuh, right? Well, maybe not to your father. First, we must know their names. We name the four tones in a very artistic way. First tone, second tone, third tone, fourth tone. This is how a first tone looks like. We call it high flat, like a mosquito trapped in a jar. For example, ma, ma means mother. Now repeat after me, ma, ma. It's fairly easy and your mom would respond to it even if they don't speak Mandarin. Now let's look at the second tone. This is how a second tone looks like. We call it rising tone. It's like you're making a question. Huh? What? Let's still take the syllable for example. Ma is a second tone. Ma means hemp. Now repeat after me for the rising tone. Ma, ma. Useful if you're making fabric. Less useful when calling for your mother. We now move on to the third tone. This is how it looks like. Kind of like a checkmark. This is the only tone with pitch changing. This is the falling then rising tone. Starting mid, dipping low, then rising. But in actual speech, especially in sentences, it's often pronounced as a very low tone unless it's emphasized or at the end of a sentence. We call it valley tone. I know it sounds hard. So here I have a shortcut for you. Just remember your pitch should be very, very low. Like you are a bit annoyed and thinking deep. Ma is a third tone. It means horse. Now repeat after me for the valley tone. Ma, ma. How deep should your pitch go? Imagine you are making the zombie groan. Now it's the time for the fourth tone. This is how it looks like. It's falling all the way down. So it's also named as falling tone. We can also name it I stepped on a Lego sound. Ma means to scold. Repeat after me for the falling tone. Ma, ma. If you remember the tones of no, God, please, no. Then you already can pronounce the falling tone. Just imagine you are him and saying no dramatically. Ma. Remember, you don't have to look shocked or angry to say this tone. Normally, it's not a common problem. But now it's in your head. You're welcome. Now the fifth tone. It's called neutral tone. Here is how it looks like. You might be wondering, Leo, I see nothing. And that's right. It's actually nothing. Just like how you feel after learning the first four tones. You now feel nothing. Neutral tone is shorter and softer, like the sound you sigh. For example, falling than neutral means dad. falling than neutral means little sister. falling than neutral means little brother. The second syllable doesn't have much tones in them. And I'm sure you can pronounce it naturally. Let's practice. Shall we test your ears? I will say some words and you tell the tones. Ready? How did you do? That's the tones lesson for today. I know it's not a one and done thing to learn tones. It takes a lot of practice. But it's worth it because tones are very, very important. The difference between calling your mom and summoning a horse is subtle. Mixing them up might make your mom upset. But the horse doesn't mind. Thanks for watching. I am Leo. If you find this video helpful, please like and subscribe. Bye-bye.