Tones
Tone is the part of Mandarin pronunciation that most often gets flattened into a single “tone score” without explaining what actually happened. These guides cover the four tones individually — what each should sound like, the most common substitutions between them, and how to hear the difference in your own recordings.
- How to Actually Practice Pinyin Tones (Not Just Recognize Them)
Recognizing tones when you hear them and producing them correctly are two different skills — most study methods only train the first one.
- The Tone 2 + Tone 3 Combination That Trips Up Every Beginner
Second tone followed by third tone is one of the trickiest tone pairs in Mandarin — here's what actually goes wrong and how to hear it.