Enter the training hall: greetings and Mandarin tones

Start with 老师好 lǎoshī hǎo, Hello, teacher, and 我练武术 Wǒ liàn wǔshù, I practice martial arts. 老师 is a general word for teacher. You may hear 师父 shīfu, master, in a particular martial tradition; its use depends on that tradition and the teacher's relationship to the student.

Mandarin syllables have an initial, which can be a consonant, and a final containing the vowel sound and any ending. Some syllables have no consonant initial. Pinyin is a pronunciation system with its own rules, and its letters do not have their English sounds.

Tone is part of a word’s pronunciation. First tone stays high and level; second rises; third is low and may dip then rise when spoken alone; fourth falls sharply. Listen to 妈 mā (mother), 麻 má (hemp), 马 mǎ (horse) and 骂 mà (scold). First compare mā with mà: the syllable stays the same, but the pitch and meaning change. Then compare má with mǎ. Practice one pair at a time before mixing all four.

A neutral-tone syllable is shorter and unstressed, with pitch influenced by the syllable before it. It has no tone mark in Pinyin, as with the question particle 吗 ma. Third tone is often just low in connected speech; do not force a full dipping contour on every third-tone syllable.

Listen to 老师好 at normal speed, then slowly. Without looking at the English, say who is being greeted. Repeat 我练武术 one syllable at a time, then as a phrase. Record yourself, listen back and compare the tones and clarity with the model; repeat the phrase after choosing one sound to improve.