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32 Responses to “CT_061: The Four Tones Revisited”

  1. At this point, we have completed about 10 hours of material over a 5 month period so we’re still at a relatively basic level albeit higher than when we first started. At each 10 hour junction I will try to slowly increase the difficulty level. I am hesitant to label the levels as “basic” or “intermediate” since that definition may vary from one person to another.

    For those interested in more in depth resources, expect to see more “side” material introduced over the next few months to supplement what is being taught in the main course. There is also work being done on a separate intermediate podcast to satisfy those wanting more of a challenge.

  2. Hi Bazza,
    I’ve updated it to just keep your last score. So if you do it again, your new score will replace your old score even if it’s lower. The reason it’s done this way is that some lessons have more than 10 questions so while you may get the first ten right, you may not get all right the next time. Let me know if it’s not working this way.

  3. Bazza – I noticed the same problem and here’s what I’m doing until this gets fixed:

    First, before retaking a test, click the reset for that row. (Don’t click “Reset All” – just reset the row for the test that you’re going to retake.) Then retake the test and it will be the only row there when your done retaking the test. In effect, you have the result from the last test taken.

    It’s obviously not a permanent solution, but it works as a temporary work-around to achieve the same result.

  4. rtowner

    I have just subscribed to CLO and would rate myself as intermediate. I have just tried the typing tests in this lesson to check the accuracy of the choice of characters. The fifth test ‘zuotian, zuo shi na yi sheng’ lists five ‘zuo’ to choose from, none of which is the correct character – 昨.

    I hope such a mistake in your material is an exception rather than the rule, otherwise I shall feel I have wasted my subscription.

    Roy Towner

    • admin

      Hi Roy,

      We have implemented a 3rd party input method editor for Chinese characters on the site, but unfortunately it’s not perfect. It should be fine 90%+ of the time. But in the odd time it isn’t, then to get the right character you sometimes have to add a full word like 昨天 first, to get the right 昨, before deleting the 天 after it.

      Another option is to just use your own Chinese input editor to get the right character.

      Let me know if you have further questions.

  5. I’m confused. Where can I download the podcast for any lessons past section 1, so basically anything 2-7. I love listening to these on the go, then doing the work later at home, but I can only seem to listen to 2-7 online and not via podcast or downloadable content.

  6. henrikmarcel

    I’ve always wondered about this (and after the lesson still am): How should I ask “zuotian, zuo shi na yi sheng?” if I have no idea about which tone is “zuo” or “tian”? Then how should I pronounce “zuotian” or “zuo” to even ask the question?

    • Adam (Admin)

      Yes in this case you would first have to establish the context of what word you’re referring to before asking what tone it is. So perhaps if you already know “jintian” and “mingtian” you could refer to those correctly then ask “na zuotian de zuo shi na yi sheng?” hoping they realize which word you’re referring to now. Without that context it would be hard for them to reply.

      • henrikmarcel

        I get it. Giving context always helps. Thanks! However, that still leaves me with the question of how to pronounce zuo in that example. Have you found any of the five tones work particularly well for that? Or should I make up an imaginary tone (e.g. rising-falling) or even say the “zuo1zuo2zuo3zuo4 tian1 de zuo1zuo2zuo3zuo4 shi na yi sheng?”

        • Adam (Admin)

          In this case you could use the neutral tone or whatever tone you want to guess. Assuming the correct context has been given and your partner understands what word / character you’re referring to, he / she should be able to correct you with the right tone.

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