threedaysinsept

Hey there! I'm a Native Chinese speaker and I have been teaching Chinese for 6 years so I think I can help you with this! For starters, don't be intimidated by our tones, don't think of them as singing tones, but instead, think of them as the tones we use during our normal conversation. 1st tone is a high and consistent pitch - similar to the sound you make when you are scared and scream out - "ahhhh" 2nd tone is goes from low to high pitch - similar to the sound you make when you don't understand something - "ah?" 3rd tone goes from high pitch to low pitch then back to high pitch again - similar to the sound you make when you have understood something - "ahh" 4th tone is similar to the sound you make when you are angry - "ah!" Honestly, I haven't come across a student who is tone deaf so I don't know if this works for you. You can check out this video I made to hear the different tones - https://youtu.be/EKMwF-zkAhs . Please let me know if you can hear the difference in the tones and if you are able to pronounce them. I would love to find out if this method works for everyone. Thanks! :)