Why intonation is important?

There are five intonations  in Chinese. Chinese words may have same ways of PINYIN but have different intonations. It's very crucial to speak Chinese with correct intonations because when you put  a diffident intonations to a word, it may mean a totally different thing. So when you are practicing the vocabulary on our flashcards and stories in our textbook and even our famous Chinese poems, you should try to say it based on the intonation mark attached to the pinyin.

Here is a good example.

Try to say the three things: (梨子)lízi (李子)lǐzi (栗子)lìzi

If you go to a traditional Chinese market and say
 "我要买lizi。( I want to buy a lizi)"
Without speaking with correct intonations, you might get something you don't want at all.

This is because (梨子)lízi is an oriental pear, (李子)lǐzi is a plum, and (栗子)lìzi is a chestnut.

Same thing as we mentioned in class, "我要Shuijiao. (I want shuijiao.)"

(水饺)shuǐjiǎo means dumplings and  (睡觉)shuìjiào means to sleep.

So please practice the intonations more to make sure you can express yourselves well.