Subtleties of a Tonal Language
Looking ahead at working in a foreign country for at least a full year I am very excited about the language. It’s kind of a ‘bucket list’ item of mine to become conversationally fluent in a foreign language. I’m certain that I have a capacity to learn other languages. During my forays into Spanish speaking countries I have picked up quite a bit and have gone past “survival skills” to “basic conversational fluency”. I really would like to go beyond basic conversation though. To communicate humor, feelings, etc is what I strive for.
There are several languages spoken in Taiwan, due to various historical occupations as well as indigenous languages that have somehow survived. The official language of Taiwan, however, is Mandarin Chinese.
Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language. A few weeks ago I didn’t really have a firm grasp on what that meant, exactly, but alas, the Lonely Planet guide to Taiwan has come to build my understanding. From the guidebook:
by altering the voice’s pitch within a syllable, the meaning of a word is completely changed. Getting your tones wrong can have embarrassing consequences – wǒ gǎnmào, for example, means ‘I’ve caught a cold’, while wǒ gàn māo means ‘I copulate with cats’!
Here kitty kitty 
I’ve managed to actually figure out what each of the different types of accent marks indicate as far as intonation are concerned. Baby steps.
Will @ April 29, 2010
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