Why Is There a Problem with Mandarin Tones?
Native speakers of Mandarin are proud of the phonetic and symbolic beauty that our poetry（诗、词）and couplets（对联）are able to convey，but the very element that creates the richness and elegance in our literature presents one of the most challenging tasks for Chinese teachers.A literature review discloses numerous studies and papers on the teaching of tones but it would seem that we have not yet developed practical，applicable，and effective means to address the issue comprehensively.An undeniable truth is that we cannot rely on current secondary/foreign language theories to address this challenge as most languages being studied in this connection are non-tonal.We therefore need to resolve this difficulty ourselves.We must acknowledge that most of our students’language backgrounds are non-tonal and that an indispensable element of our task in teaching the Chinese language is to explain concepts and teach skills that students are unfamiliar with.It has been an ongoing struggle to describe and explain precisely what the tones are，and how to manipulate one’s muscles and vocal cords to utter the sounds in the desired tones.Additionally，the initial task of perceiving the tones，is a challenging task except for the few new learners who are musical.
I have been interested in research on tone acquisition for a long time.I have observed that there was a period when many papers were produced which focused on analyzing errors in tone production among non-tonal language students.Even today a typical introduction of the pinyin system would start with the introduction of initials，finals and then to tone drills along the lines of“mā，má，mǎ，mà”.Reviewing this approach，it appears to me a similar situation as if we were to ask students to play a field game at a time when most of them cannot even walk properly.In other words，we have put the cart before the horse.“Listening，speaking，reading and writing”has been a language learning clichéfor as many years as I can remember，but we have failed to follow this order in our practice of teaching pinyin.I believe that the sequencing is valid with both first and second/foreign language learning，and particularly valid with the tone acquisition phase.Without any knowledge about tones nor an understanding on how to produce them，the consequences of these teaching practices has inevitably been widespread and entrenched tone mispronunciation，a result which has reinforced the myth that Chinese tones are hard to learn.In my teaching career，I have seen many students who began conventional beginner training in pinyin with little emphasis on the tones，continue their language study with little tone sensitivity.Few of these students，having reached a level of proficiency in the language were able to improve their tone pronunciation.The Canadian comedian Dashan’s Putonghua evolution is a positive example in this respect.Unfortunately，this is a self-monitoring and self-improvement process rather than a deliberately designed pedagogical process and depends upon the self-realization that better tone accuracy requires a significant investment of time，dedication，and persistence.
Zongji Wu，the founding father of experimental linguistics in China，summarized the evolution of understandings and attitudes to tone acquisition nearly three decades ago:“From the Sui and Tang dynasties onwards，we have had many works on phonology among the classics but virtually none on the four tones.As we know，the earliest Chinese scholars who studied on tones were only Yong Zhou and Yue Shen in the Six dynasties，but their works were not passed on.The Chinese academic community has not been interested in research topics such as tones，and their ignorance and indifference have continued even until today.Surprisingly，it was some Japanese monks who observed and analyzed the tonal features in our language and categorized the four tones of the Sui and Tang dynasties into eight tones based on their initials.He further claimed that it was only in the 1930s when Fu Liu，Yuanren Zhao，Changpei Luo，Li Wang，and others had started their research on Mandarin tones.”[1]I am obliged to concur with Wu’s observation that tonal language background scholars have tended to overlook the existence of the tones and have been relatively unconscious of the hurdles that non-tonal language background learners need to overcome in this respect.
In 2001，one decade later，Tao Lin（林焘）echoed the lament：“In the past two decades，the teaching of Chinese as an international language has developed extremely rapidly，but unfortunately，the proportion of phonetic teaching，a foundation in this sector，in the whole teaching process has been decreasing.”（曹文，2002）In my own observation，I believe that the situation has not changed since then.Most beginner level tertiary course materials begin with the teaching of pinyin，overlooking the fact that non-tonal background students need to understand what the tones are.There is scarcely any time allocated to instruction of Chinese phonetics in general，（and the tones in particular），within prevailing curricula and teaching programs.Even those teachers who would like to cover these areas are frequently disheartened in the face of the amount of information to be covered and of the processes requiring implementation，as well as the time which must be allocated for students to digest and practice these skills.The combination of an absence of information and explanation in textbooks，the lack of examples and exercises in teaching approaches，and teachers’difficulties providing the requisite oversight have all contributed to a consensus that“Mandarin tones are really hard to learn”.This has become a familiar complaint（and an inconvenient truth）that we teachers have begrudgingly accepted.Clearly，so long as we continue our current teaching practices in the early stage of Mandarin learning，our students will have difficulty in mastering the proper tones.I argue that this inherent disability is detrimental to the standing of Chinese programs in the tertiary curriculum and acts to hinder its development in the long run.At the Asia Institute we have chosen to meet this challenge head-on，and this paper reflects our development of a Chinese 1 semester one curriculum in which we allocated about four hours to addressing the problem of learning the tones within the foundation period and before the introduction to the students of full Chinese character texts.