Come tone deaf, leave tone happy! Mandarin tone contrasts 1st vs 2nd: 深知 (shēnzhī) vs 伸直 (shēnzhí)

[@sambucca98]

The 神直 at 4:13 really doesn't seem to have the rising tone. Am I going crazy or what??

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

Yes it does, there's a slight 'uptick'. Try and slow down the video, turn up the volume, and listen closely.

[@sambucca98]

​@@ChineseZeroToHero super slight, it just sounds like his breath

[@IIllIIllIIllIIll]

Headphones help me

[@davidstaudinger1543]

The second tone (after the first tone) is often realized as something which just sounds lower with a very subtle uptick (if any)

[@noahallard1313]

there is one its small tho

[@readingbythequire]

I'm not learning Chinese, nor have I ever attempted to. I just clicked on this out of curiosity. But as a language learner, I must say I really like the idea of using drama/movie clips to give examples, because that's often how I test my knowledge as well. Plus this was a fun way to feel a bit good about myself because I managed to get the answers right. :)

[@techcontinuum7421]

YES! This is the best format and training I've ever seen concerning learning tones. Actually, it's teaching 4 things at once very successfully. Tones, homophone words, new vocabulary, and new character recognition. This is like interactive, audio video flash cards.

[@reginaganieva2320]

Ваш метод обучения на примере слов-омофонов с поэтапным усложнением сначала на личном примере, а затем с отрывками из фильмов - очень наглядный и понятный! Спасибо!

[@odd1ty612]

I’m LOVING these videos on tone recognition. These are EXACTLY a what i was looking for. Keep it up guys!!!

[@brunoesteves6711]

when the words are pronounced slowly or in normal speed, i perfectly hear the tones, but when its fast, i almost hear nothing

[@fufatem6733]

Wowuuu it was amazing. Before the training I wasn't even lucky enough to get one answer. But after I mange to understand 60%. Thank you so much for the hard work. This training tactics was really helpful

[@shabor2006]

I definitely need more of these type of videos. They are very helpful!!!!

[@aprendiz5873]

Wow, great! This time I was also able to perceive the difference in the speech of the drama speakers, not only in the teacher's speech. ♥️

[@Erik_Escriche]

Me too!!

[@dryagan]

Please I need more videos like this this was the only way I could learn to distinguish these two tones T^T Thank you so much fro your hard work!

[@VoiceOfManifestation]

老师您这个教法挺好的、我懂得别提多清楚了，谢谢老师

[@annasoos2235]

Thank you for the interesting and useful video. I really like the visual representation of how these tones sound (at 3:07). The thing is, that I heard quite clearly the difference when you read out the words/phrases, but I had difficulties with hearing them in the dramas. Maybe beacuse they were speaking so fast. In the very last example, I actually first guessed it from the picture. They were rising their hands 😃

[@lorrislegal2500]

These short videos about a few terms with a lot of repetitions and context (drama clips) are really usefull!

[@ecanesoruche-nia693]

Fabulous training. Thanks a lot.

[@anastasiaoskolkova213]

Thank you a lot! The format of video is just perfect. You use the exact amount of examples to make it all clear. Also, the tone of your voice sounds super nice. It's a pleasure to listen to you.

[@soundsparkasmrsoundscapes7208]

Amazing teaching method, finally i recognize the tones🎉

[@onyeenoma]

Wow. I'm a beginner but been practicing on my own for a while now. I'm proud to say I got 100%. What's been helping me is actually thinking of how we implement something similar in English for certain words, to raise questions by rising the pitch at the end of a sentence, the pitch we use when being sarcasting in English, and doing listening and tone practice on my own from native speakers. 😊

[@iancardenas-spanishbutcomp4074]

I really love this kind of videos, thanks a lot!

[@iliana2003]

This was very very helpful! Thank you!!

[@Faith-pg1vv]

this is so needed! amazing you are doing this. :D would love lots move videos for tones! thank you for your hard work!

[@reginaganieva2320]

пожалуйста, делайте больше таких видео! Сегодня всё было максимально понятно! Это даже вселило в меня уверенность, что это мне посильно! Спасибо за Ваш труд!

[@Carm9n]

Love these useful videos. Thank you so much!!

[@franciscusmagister]

a lively and imaginative collection of examples. I think I'm now closer to getting them!

[@Erik_Escriche]

Thank you!! This is very useful. After watching your first video and now this one, I'm way better at telling them apart!!

[@aminag3385]

Exactly what I needed this is really helpful ♥️ 谢谢老师 ！

[@abdolwadoudkeraoui9028]

这真的很有帮助，继续努力，你做得很好。

[@hone9838]

Yes, it has helped, although sometimes it’s very difficult to hear the tone difference and I guessed by the context

[@greyson8715]

This was awesome. Out of all the exercises I only got it wrong once.. Finally!! I'm starting to hear tones more clearly.

[@philly4330]

thank you for this series of videos! it is very good

[@terrycormier5221]

Thanks. That was very helpful.

[@leiajuste]

Improved a lot!

[@macgregory2854]

Wonderful lesson 👍👍👍

[@montybeton]

You have a fantastic ASMR voice, I feel very sleepy now after watching. Please make more videos!

[@donald_t]

Showing a video together with words / pronunciations provides an additional context that help with figuring out which of two tones were used. Basically, knowing the meaning of those words, you can infer from the context which one it was. he Internet Wisdom says that one should learn recognising tones with syllables that are not even Chinese words, this way one can focus on the tones instead of the words. For example, having 20 combinations of huo + zhe, i.e., huo1 + zhe0, huo1 + zhe1, huo1 + zhe2, etc... until huo4 + zhe4, one can focus precisely on tones. Obviously, every pair of tones should be recorded: 1) spoken at normal speed, 2) spoken fast, 3) spoken at normal speed with background noise (e.g. recorded during walking a street with noise removal turned deliberately off). Ideally, each tone pair should be spoken by 3 - 6 different native Chinese speakers (to avoid over-fitting), but at the learning phase the individual should be exposed only to one or two speakers. Recordings of additional speakers should be added to the recordings training pool only after the learner starts to correctly recognise most of the sample (95% seems to be gold standard, but anything less than circa 80% may cause learners frustration, due to multiple misses). Summing up, 20 tone pairs x 3 recording environments x 5 speakers (at average) gives 300 recordings per syllable pair. Initially such a recording database should have approx. 100 different syllable pairs, which gives 30k recordings (6k per each native Chinese speaker). During training we use recordings of only two speakers, so there are 12000 recording to go through. Again, at the beginning the focus should be put on 2 - 4 different syllable pairs. Taking into account SRS interval modifier (equiv. to ANKI's ease factor) of 2.5 and correct hit rate at 95% approx 550 reviews per day during first 160 days must be faced. A lot, but could be managed (5 batched with 110 recordings in each). Adding the remaining 18k recordings after first 160 days period would be just to keep the new listening skill at the sufficient level for prolonged period of time (that but must be done to avoid becoming tone deaf again :)). Lowering the number of syllables, speakers and sound environments will obviously lower the learners burden. Also I didn't count in the possibility of speeding the learning up when given tone pair is easy for the learner (equiv. to hitting EASY in ANKI ;)).

[@tedcrowley6080]

This is an excellent video, very useful to Chinese learners. Tones are tricky. I've only studied Chinese a few years, but I'm a life-long musician and English speaker, so I "hear" pitch changes. Normal speech is too fast for ANY syllable to have a "rising" or "falling" pitch. But there are pitch patterns in pairs of syllables. In a 1-1 pair, the 2d one is slightly lower. In a 1-2 pair, the 2d one is even lower. This video teaches that difference. The "video clip" examples show that difference in real sentences. The isolated teacher-spoken slow words are artificial, not how people talk. Is that how Chinese people think while talking?

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

Chinese speakers do use secondary cues to perceive and convey tones, that's why we can whisper and sing and still convey tonal information.

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

You mentioned "In a 1-1 pair, the 2d one is slightly lower." That's an interesting observation... I can hear how 知 in 深知 can be slightly lower. Are you sure it works for all words in all cases? Just on top of my head I'd say 湿巾 would sound weird if 巾 is pronounced lower. If you have any reference material on this please do share it here. Thanks!

[@valygarss]

By looking at the spectrogram at 3:36 "伸直" - 直 looks as a spectrogram of how 3rd tone is teached. So what's the spectrogram of 3rd tone in same position will be? more flat?

[@nhzziara4204]

❤I struggle with the tones, and your videos are very helpful. Thank you very much for your preparation and sharing it. 🥰❤❤

[@connorgrabowski817]

this is super helpful! while i got one wrong for both the before and after test, i definitely understand what to listen for now! 谢谢！

[@derekoreborn]

Very interesting! Of course it’s much easier since I know the translation and I can hear other words like 双手 或者 手臂 等等 然后我能猜一下。 我也上个学期给我的学生学习英语发音。我也不知道好不好用。其实我现在觉得 pronunciation can be found easily enough after getting enough comprehensible input. But I really liked your test to check how well I can hear the difference in tones. Also I’ve also heard with two characters words that both have tones 1-4, the stress is always on the second character. Unless the second character is neutral tone (5), then the stress is on the first character.

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

+1 on the comprehensible input. Yes, an unstressed 4th tone is basically a neutral tone (neutral tone is essentially a lower falling tone)

[@alishanziro6011]

大哥你好厉害呀。

[@meiiimeii1960]

太有用， 谢谢你老师 - 辛苦了

[@natalya3134]

Zero mistakes before and after! I'm glad. Xiè xiè

[@lindsayrendall]

谢谢。非常有用。

[@danieldavies4122]

Good. Now I am ready for more advanced training.

[@crischui-so5292]

Wow amazing! I love the pre test and the tests! I’m totally time dead so thank u! ❤️

[@nadidecicek2277]

Very useful thank you

[@henry12h]

youre an awesome teacher

[@christinebilore3307]

This is really useful. I made only one mistake but I'm not really surprised. I usually "hear" well (whatever the language) but when it comes to reproduce the right sounds and tones, that's another story :O)

[@oreradovanovi5204]

I think it's great, maybe add more to practice on our own at the end... But gr8

[@莎拉卡捷琳娜]

Thank you, it helped me a lot

[@ThalonRamacorn]

Even is you cannot hear it, isnt it obvious from the context which one he says? You cannot say "he also straightens" or "know your forearms well" in those situations :D

[@aixinxuanye9596]

For me, the most difficult thing is the difference between the second and the third tone. Could yo do a video on these?

[@rhea2811]

thank you for this, this really helps me a lot!

[@rahmayassen9652]

谢谢老师♥️

[@TJay41]

I found this very helpful, than you

[@هنا-شهود]

That was really helpful ❤❤❤and yes l recognize it better in the post test

[@YamiHW]

This video was really helpful 💕 sadly, I still can't hear the difference of tones in most of the drama clips

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll try to include more examples and slow them down next time :)

[@youssefosama711]

Can you explain the meaning of 一辈子 and what is the similar meaning to it ? Like 一生一世

[@structurednoodle]

It’s crazy to see what a difference hearing tv clips make because a Chinese teacher will always speak more clearly and slowly than people do in real life. When you say the words, the difference is obvious, but only when I hear the actors say it do I have to strain my ears to hear a difference. Do you include many tv clips in your course?

[@safahill4779]

After training was good 👍

[@massilez6720]

Thank u

[@zhangruyi3153]

John - I just want to let you know because I hear the context in which shen'zhi is used because not all of these actors speak Chinese as well as you. Thank you again for another splendid teaching video.

[@vryman]

Learnt different ways to use two new words.

[@youngmikim5545]

您好！ 这个方法挺不错！ 请问，这么多的电视剧里您怎么能找到自己需要的内容呢？有什么秘诀吗？

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

去我们网站 www.zerotohero.ca/en/zh/dictionary 然后搜索你要的词。如果结果太少，可以去 Nav bar > settings 反选"Limit "this word in TV Shows" search result (faster)"

[@alishanziro6011]

我终于成功了。

[@addohm]

While I do recognize tones, in actual conversation between natives, a lot of tones are ignored.

[@mariamali2183]

Honestly speaking I don't get the difference in any of the drama ..was guessing from the context ..either if it's "to know" or "to stretch" .

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

Yes, native speakers also use secondary cues to deduce the meaning.

[@peterbayne7227]

I heard no difference in tone in any of those drama clips. Like seriously, how do you hear any difference in tone when the words are spoken so fast?

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

The second tone (rising tone) has a lower onset pitch and rises. A native speaker or a highly trained l2 speaker can in fact tell the difference. It comes with practice. Watching this video many times and listen for the difference will also help.

[@peterbayne7227]

@@ChineseZeroToHero I find it hard to believe that one can hear such a difference in real time. It's so subtle at best. And I've been listening to Mandarin for years (I live and work in Taiwan) and still can't hear the difference. Not sure what more I can do. Tones are hard for English Native speakers.

[@amrbasha7824]

my pretest is better than posttest. 😭 its really hard to get the tone in normal daily speed speech.

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

Thanks for the feedback, next time I'll try to give more drama examples and slow them down and see if that makes a difference

[@amrbasha7824]

@@ChineseZeroToHero hi there, didn't think my comment will get noticed. thank you for your effort to help chinese learners like me to improve our chinese. you dont have to change the speech speed as they are what I am supposed to hear and able to listen. i just need to familiarise with more chinese drama or movies to improve my listening skill. 🙏

[@Marcus-si7su]

When you speak it as clear as day, but then the rest of the clips just the first guy sounded like it should the rest was like nope nothing don't hear anything, but think that is because of the speed when they talk. I have noticed that alot that I never hear chinese people speak like slow or more like other languages when it comes to speed. Since chinese is my 3/4tn language depending on how people count but still never felt the other languages speak as fast as the chinese language or people do, kinda the same with ex gf everytime she spoke with her mother on the phone or when we was visiting her they sometimes spoke in chinese since they maybe wanted to talk about something private but it was always fast, even after a few years I didn't really pick anything up because they spoke fast so things always sounded the same due to you can't hear the tone change when they spoke like that, even I asked like Ohh did you say that? very very few times I was right due to the tone change of the word and all the words that have the same sound but means something else. Still trying to learn even tho I get really annoyed with the language quite often. Hope you do more of these its a very good way to actually hear even tho listening to audio eveyday don't really help hearing so much only remembering sentences. Thank you for you hard work~

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

Yeah it will take time to hear the tones in fast speech, that's for sure. 😞

[@IIllIIllIIllIIll]

Bro, is your paid lessons this good, is better? Sign me up!

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

Thanks :) I haven't developed these tone videos into a full course yet. It's still in the "research" stage. But if you're interested in HSK 1-6 courses, check out our Ultimate Bundle chinesezerotohero.teachable.com/p/ultimate-bundle/

[@Joaquin2028]

No improvement for me. I must be tone deaf. I understood the difference when you spoke but could not hear a difference in the video clips.

[@alishanziro6011]

Funnnnnnn

[@victoperes3869]

Well, im good when man speaks, but with woman always wrong (((