I'm a Mandarin Chinese beginner, and I see that everytime they give you advice on how to read this language, they tell you to master the 4 tones. Learning the tones is not that hard, but when it comes to read them in sentences is confusing. Am I the only one who thinks that these 4 tones are not helpful?. Let me give a few examples:
nǐ hǎo actually sounds more like ní hào
xǐ shǒu jiān zài nǎ lǐ? sounds more like xí shòu jiān zài nǎ li?
I understand that the intonation may vary when people speak, but the more I listen to sentences, the more confused I get. Is there any rules concerning these changes?
or maybe I'm wrong and need to pay closer attention to the tones?
nǐ hǎo actually sounds more like ní hào
xǐ shǒu jiān zài nǎ lǐ? sounds more like xí shòu jiān zài nǎ li?
I understand that the intonation may vary when people speak, but the more I listen to sentences, the more confused I get. Is there any rules concerning these changes?
or maybe I'm wrong and need to pay closer attention to the tones?