Tones in Mandarin

In Thai or Cantonese, tones are tough, pitch and direction (rising falling)

In Mandarin, there are just four. Mandarin sounds are largely a subset of English sounds.

Connecting tones to inflections in English:

First tone is singing tone: Gao... Gaaoo Second is question tone: Mao? Mao? Third is low, sarcatic tone: Obvious question, you say. its rising.: Yeah? Hoa? Fourth is falling tone. Its an assertion, like in swearing. Damn, shit. Dao.

Four syllable idioms are good ways to practice the tones.

We learned about playing zither to an ox and drawing a snake and adding legs.