Mandarin Tone Trainer: Hear and Identify the Four Tones
Train your ear with 56 single syllables and 46 common two-syllable words. Pick the tone you hear, get instant feedback, and see which tone combinations need more practice.
Tone listening practice
Listen to each item and choose its tone. In pairs mode, choose a tone for each syllable. The characters and pinyin are shown after you answer.
The four tones at a glance
| Tone | Pitch (Chao numbers) | Listen for | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st ˉ | 55, high level | a steady, sung note at the top of the voice | |
| 2nd ˊ | 35, rising | a clear rise, like a surprised "huh?" | |
| 3rd ˇ | 214 alone, 21 in speech | low and often creaky; alone it dips and rises | |
| 4th ˋ | 51, falling | a sharp drop from high to low |
How to use the trainer
- Start with single syllables until you score above 90 per cent over 20 rounds.
- Move to two-syllable words. Tones change shape next to each other, and most everyday words have two syllables.
- Watch "most missed". The score line shows the tone combination you get wrong most often. Common problem pairs are 2 vs 3, and 1+4 vs 4+4.
- Replay slowly after a wrong answer, and say the item aloud yourself.
- Practise production too. Record yourself on the Chinese practice page and compare.
Why listening training works
Perception training, where you hear an item, choose an answer and get immediate feedback, is one of the best-supported techniques in pronunciation research. In a study by Wang and colleagues (1999), American learners of Mandarin improved their tone identification by about 21 percentage points after eight sessions over two weeks, and the improvement carried over to words and voices they had not trained on. Their pronunciation of tones improved as well. The key is regular, short practice with feedback, which this trainer provides.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Why are there no third-tone + third-tone words in the pairs mode?
Because of tone sandhi, a third tone before another third tone is pronounced as a second tone. A word like 你好 nǐ hǎo sounds like ní hǎo, so asking you to identify "3 + 3" by ear would be misleading. Sandhi is covered in its own guide.
How many rounds should I do?
Short, frequent sessions work best. Aim for 20 to 30 rounds a day. Research on tone training found clear improvements after around two weeks of regular practice.
The voice sounds robotic. Is that a problem?
Synthetic voices are a good starting point, and tone contours are usually clear. For extra variety, practise with different voices if your device has several, and listen to native speakers as much as possible.
Sources
- Wang, Y., Spence, M. M., Jongman, A. and Sereno, J. A. (1999). Training American listeners to perceive Mandarin tones. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 106(6), 3649–3658.
- Chao, Y. R. (1968). A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. University of California Press.
- Xu, Y. (1997). Contextual tonal variations in Mandarin. Journal of Phonetics, 25(1), 61–83.
- Thomson, R. I. (2018). High variability [pronunciation] training (HVPT). Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, 4(2), 208–231.