From Sounds to Syllables:
Training Your Mandarin Ears
The very first skill you learned in this course was the articulation of each Mandarin sound. Now that you have some practical experience with these sounds through exposure, you should have some expectation. In other words, you should never hear a Mandarin sound or syllable that is new to you, since we've already covered every possible one. This is why we spent so much time on this at the beginning of the course. Now we are going to spend some time developing this ability by listening to Mandarin speech. Below there are a few different audio files.
- After watching the final lecture, with either your computer's text editor or a paper and a pen, listen closely to the text and transcribe each syllable.
- This will take you some time and several replays of the audio clips, but the level of attention you will need to dedicate to this task will do a lot to develop your syllabic perception.
- Do not move on until you have transcribed and double checked everything. The answers will are posted below.
- For reference of IPA Symbols, you can use this website and the Resources Section of the course.
- For further practice, use the 500 Frequency List Audio located at the bottom of the "drills" section of the course.
Assets
Syllable Mimicry Answers (don't peek!)
Congratulations on making it through all of the course content - this is an achievement to be celebrated as it takes a lot of willpower to push yourself into the higher gears of speaking speed while maintaining a new set of sounds.
This is the kind of continued training you should do for yourself beyond this course. Whenever you hear Mandarin people speaking, mimic it out loud to yourself, even if you have no idea what the person is saying.
The more you practice mimicry, the better you will be; and the better mimic you are, the easier it will be for you to pick up new expressions and use them easily in conversation.
Your journey doesn't stop here - this whole course can be used as a reference, whenever you need it. You can always refer back to it to keep your skills sharp.