Tones
View/ Open
Issue Date
2008-10-29Author
Hacker, Randi
Publisher
Center for East Asian Studies, University of Kansas
Type
Recording, oral
Is part of series
Postcards from Asia;0138
Published Version
https://audioboom.com/posts/832517-0138-tonesMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Broadcast Transcript: Chinese is a tonal language. That means the tones are semantic markers. That means the way you say a word affects its meaning. Thus if you say "ma" it means mother but if you say "ma" it means horse. Many people claim that this is what makes Chinese so difficult for speakers of English to learn. English, they say, is not a tonal language. But is this true? Maybe not entirely. Let's take the words "yes" and "no" for example. If we say "yes!" it means "Yes!" but if we say "Yes... " it could mean "maybe" or even "no." And if we say "No!" it means "No!" but if we say "No" it could mean "well" or even "yes". These tones are much used in boardrooms and pre-schools. Our advice? Practice these two tones: you don't want to get caught saying "Yes... " when you mean "No." #ceas #china #hacker
Description
This is one of hundreds of 60-second radio spots created by the Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) for Kansas Public Radio (KPR). The purpose of this outreach program is to introduce the people of Kansas to the culture and current issues of East Asia.
Collections
Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.