IWTYAL 034: How to learn tonal languages

Shane asks: “I'm learning Chinese and Thai. What's the best way to learn the tones, or tonal languages in general?”

In this episode:

• How to approach learning tonal languages
• Why top-down approaches beat bottom-up approaches for learning tones

How I approach learning a tonal language:

1. Make sure you understand the tones in the language you're learning
2. Start listening to recorded dialogues from your textbook every day
3. Work with a tutor right from the start, so you can practise speaking and get feedback
4. Write down new words and phrases with the tone indicated
5. Give yourself time to get used to it all!

[Tweet “You don't learn a language, you get used to it – Khatzumoto”]

Resources mentioned in today's episode:

• Tone Pair Drills – a great article on the Sensible Chinese blog.

Olly speaking Cantonese:

Start speaking today

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Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.