This is the most comprehensive guide to the pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese you will find on the market in any format. While most pronunciation guides are relegated to the first few pages of a beginner’s text, this is over sixty full pages devoted exclusively to helping students of any level achieve an authentic accent and accurate tones, including exercises, detailed descriptions, and a variety of methods to ensure the concepts are clearly conveyed.
Designed by a professional teacher from the United States, this is a unique approach to learning an accent, at the heart of which is the belief that new information is best learned and recalled when it is associated with older, familiar information. Using instances in spoken English that closely resemble target sounds in Chinese (they do exist!), a series of simple steps is provided to go from one language to the other. Even the tones are made simple and clear through this approach.
Be aware that this is not a comprehensive text on Mandarin. There is no grammar or vocabulary, no cultural backgrounds or dialogs. Just pronunciation. This guide is suitable for any level of proficiency, and will benefit anyone looking to sound more like a native speaker.