Language Lesson #2

Tones.

Many Asian languages uses tones. This means that the same word means different things when used with a different tone.

For example:
"Mama qi ma, ma man mama ma ma" means Mother is riding a horse. The horse walks slowly so Mother scolds the horse. Each word has a distinct tone giving it a different meaning from the other similar sounding words.

In Mandarin there are four tones:
First Tone has no rise or fall in your voice
Second Tone is high. In English it is like you are asking a question.
Third Tone is rising. This one would be like an overly exaggerated down and then rising to your voice.
Fourth Tone is low. This one starts high and then your voice drops lower.
There is also Neutral Tone which is just a short first tone.

Thai also had tones we had to learn. They were a little different but the same idea. In Thai for example Khaw (rising tone) aw (middle tone) and Khaw (falling tone) meant "He wants rice."

We just finished our second week of language learning and have many more on the way. Wish us luck for the next 150 weeks.