Category: Language And Music

Mandarin is famously a tonal language, but what many learners quickly discover is that the tones they memorize often change in mysterious ways during conversation. This isn’t a mistake—it’s a fundamental feature called ‘tone sandhi,’ a set of rules that governs the musical rhythm of the language. This article demystifies the most famous of these rules, revealing the elegant logic behind Mandarin’s chameleon-like tones.