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Chinese Tone Practice
Version 4.1  Updated recordings!


What is it?

In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language that differ in only one phonological element. In practice that makes them ideal for teaching students to distinguish problem sounds, a technique used to great effect in the English textbook "Ship or Sheep?" (Ann Baker, Cambridge University Press 1977):

This pill's got vitamin C in it.
This peel's got vitamin C in it.

This website takes a similar approach to learning Chinese tones.

100% beginner friendly!
100% free!
Over 45,000 unique recordings!
Test yourself at classroom then at conversational speeds.
Complete real time progress statistics with detailed breakdown.
Three kinds of listening test plus a speech production mode you can use with your teacher.

Learn more: why this is the most direct way to learn Chinese tones properly

Or just...

  right now and find out how good your tones really are! 
 You can try all the tests as a guest user with default settings (beginner, simplified characters) but your progress won't be saved. Create a free account to set all your preferences and get detailed feedback of your progress on each tone combination.