Q 2.About Mandarin Tones
Many foreigners feel headache as far
as they hear about the "Mandarin Tones" when they learn
Chinese in China. Some of them tried again and again but
failed all the time even they have studied Chinese for many
years. Then they give up. Later on, the more they can say, the
more they feel that it is not that necessary to say all the
words with correct tones (furthermore, it is almost impossible
for many people)
Somehow, it is kind of true. Because
based on the context, people still can understand what you
mean, however they might make fun of you. Of course, it is
still very important to learn Chinese in China --- this real
world.
Let's see some examples.
公共汽车
When you learn Chinese in Beijing,
"Bus" is pronounced with "gōnggòng qìchē". "Gōnggòng" means
"public", "qìchē" means "vehicle". But if you pronounced
"public" careless by saying "gōnggong" instead of "gōnggòng",
people can still understand you, but they might laugh a lot,
since "gōnggong" in modern Chinese means "father in law", so
it would be "a bus for father-in-law". And if we connect your
wrong tone "gōnggong" with the old meaning in the old days, it
would be worse, which means "a bus for eunuch."
答辩
When you learn Chinese in China, this
is a real story. The above word's tones are "dábiàn", which means "reply",
"answer". There was a foreign student who had studied Chinese
in China for four years. Before he got his degree, he had to
answer the professors' questions. After around half an hour,
he came out. Some of his Chinese friend asked him "did you
finish your replying?" by saying "nǐ dábiàn wán le ma?" He anwsered
"yes" by saying "wǒ dàbiàn wán le". He only changed
"dá" to
"dà", but
all his friends were breaking into laughters. Because
"dábiàn" surely means "reply",
but "dàbiàn" means "defecate",
"stool". So what he said is like to say "I finished
defecating".
So do not feel you are tied up by the
tones when you learn Mandarin in China, because people do
understand you if you can make the context clear enough, but
meanwhile, don't ignore the tones completely. If you can
remember the tones, always say them correctly. Better be safe
than sorry.
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