What is the most difficult thing about learning to speak Chinese?  Almost everyone will yell in unison: "The Tones!".   Not to worry, they aren't as impossible as everyone thinks.  We know you can handle it.

In Chinese, the pitch of your voice affects the word you are speaking, changes in pitch are called tones.  The same pronunciation with different tones has different meanings.  There are five tones in total:

Tones play an important role in Chinese.    You have to be very careful with the tones. For example, "ma" (-) means "mother", "ma" (\/) means "horse".  I am sure even small Children in China are smart enough to tell who are their mothers and who are horses.  How about you?  

Want to learn more Chinese and hear how the words are pronounced?  please go to  Learn Chinese with Tracey.