The Confusing Side of Changing Tones in Mandarin Chinese

Chinese is a tonal language and it can be very confusing. None of the overdose of memorizations in Chinese has done a thing. I tried using the Taoli application updates and found myself not hitting the 75% mark in the Pinyin lessons. I do feel I didn't master the subject until I hit 75% (passing) then tried to reach 80%. The final lesson in the Taoli Pinyin course is tonal change. If I still had that weekly report card from the Pinyin course, I think I'd get a red mark with a score I had with only 68% during my exercise last night.

It can be very confusing but here are a few rules to remember:

Vivid Chinese

This can be very confusing. From the Vivid Chinese, we can read this general rule of thumb to follow:

不 usually pronouns as “bù.” But it can change to “bú” when it follows by a 4th tone word.

一 pronouns as “yī.” But it can change to “yí” or “yì.”

And if you see two third tone in a row, the pronunciation of the first word will change to the second tone.

This can get confusing and hence why Pinyin, though easier, can eventually still be complicated. Maybe, I'd say that Pinyin is only slightly easier than Zhuyin. Despite using the Latin alphabet, Pinyin has a lot of rules. Sure, I don't have to memorize the pesky old Bopomofo table. However, Pinyin is basically Bopomofo transliterated into the Latin alphabet. I still call Pinyin "Bopomofo" (read here) because it serves the same purpose--to teach you how to read Chinese.

From Mandarin Blue Print, this can be a comment that I didn't throw back at any Chinese language teacher in the past:

OK OK, so we already know about Mandarin tones, but there are also tone changes. “Geez, Luke & Phil” you might be thinking, “First it’s tones, then it’s tone pairs, now this?! Why don’t I just switch my learning focus to rocket science or brain surgery? Clearly much easier than Mandarin Chinese!”
Alright alright, calm down hypothetical hyperbolic protestor, we’ve got you. Besides, everything seems harder than it is when you first look at it.

The tonal rules in Pinyin and Zhuyin are still the same. In Zhuyin, you needed to memorize a different set of characters. In Pinyin, you learned to combine the familiar Latin alphabet to transliterate the Zhuyin for non-Chinese speakers or to get a business permit in a non-Chinese-speaking area.

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