First Chinese Lesson

Last Friday, I had my first language exchange with another teacher from the school.

The language exchange is mutually beneficial (but more for me?). My teacher gets to practice her English while teaching me Chinese. 

The first lesson was the Chinese alphabet. We are working on pronunciation. Some sounds are completely new so lack English words I could use to approximate the sound. This is why vocal coaching is important. First, I would say a letter until a had the pronunciation correct. Then, I thought about what I was doing with my mouth to make the correct sound. For example, where is my tongue, what shape are my lips in, is my throat open or closed? I took notes for practicing independently.  

After the alphabet, we practiced saying different tones. Chinese is a tonal language with four basic tones: high, rising, falling, and falling then rising. Also, a fifth neutral tone. English is not a tonal language, however, we do vary our tones. Think about a question where you expect an affirmative answer. Say this out loud: "You're coming with, right?" "Right," is the rising tone. And a desist command like, "No!" is falling. I use references like this to help me say things correctly.

I think this step is critical. Also, It's not something I can teach myself so having a native speaker helping me is invaluable.