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My first week trying to learn Mandarin through an app and the tones humbled me fast
I downloaded HelloChinese about 10 days ago because I want to talk to my neighbors who run the dumpling spot near my place in Oakland. I practice every morning for 20 minutes and I thought I was doing pretty well until Tuesday, when I tried to say 'I want four dumplings' and the woman behind the counter just laughed and handed me 10. Turns out I kept mixing up sì and shí, so my 4 became a 10 every single time. She was super nice about it and wrote the tones on a napkin with little arrows going up and down, which honestly helped more than the app did. Now I've been watching the little pitch lines in the app way closer and slowing everything down before I speak. Has anyone else found that a real person correcting you beats an app for picking up tones? I'm wondering if I should just ask her for a quick lesson every week instead of guessing.
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cole_davis4718d ago
I heard somewhere that feedback from a real speaker matters way more for tones than any app can give you, since they can hear stuff the mic on your phone just misses. That woman at the dumpling spot correcting you with arrows on a napkin is honestly better than most paid lessons. If she's up for a weekly thing I'd say go for it, plus you get dumplings out of the deal.
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