These lessons examine "tonal cousins": groups of semi-homophone characters that have the same pronunciation, but may or may not have the same tone. Simply click on the appropriate tone for each character and improve your tonal production and recognition.
toneandcolor
 said on
February 18, 2009
This quiz uses the syllables [fen] and [feng]. The common character 分 is excluded from this test because as a 多音字 duōyīnzì it has readings in both first and fourth tones, but keep an eye out for its role as a radical and as a clue to the pronunciation of certain characters.

brett
 said on
February 18, 2009
I found this one very hard (8/15). Am still getting used to seeing the tones as colors. Out of curiosity, was there any reason you picked this particular color scheme?
Echo
 said on
February 18, 2009
Very good test! Also remind me of a friend who's name is "Feifeng" ：）

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
trevelyan
 said on
February 18, 2009
yeah. This is great stuff. I got questions 氛 and 奋 incorrect. Much easier once we got to 丰, because the characters felt higher frequency.

Just to note that I actually got question #14 wrong too, but that's because I picked the first answer (fourth tone) instead of the fourth answer (fourth tone). Might want to fix that.
toneandcolor
 said on
February 18, 2009
@trevelyan

Oops. Fixed - thanks.

@brett

The choice of colors was largely arbitrary, although it basically follows the color spectrum "down" from 1 to 4. In my experience with my students, as long as you stick with one assignment, it eventually starts to click. Unless of course, you're actually a synesthete.