Pronunciation practice, by language
Guides on what makes each language’s pronunciation genuinely hard for English speakers, and how pitch-matched practice helps.
Mandarin 普通话
Mandarin’s four tones carry meaning the way vowels do in English — get one wrong and mǎi (买, to buy) becomes mài (卖, to sell). Mos…
Cantonese 粵語
Cantonese is often cited as having six tones (some analyses count nine, splitting the three checked tones separately) — nearly hal…
Japanese 日本語
Japanese isn’t tonal in the Mandarin or Cantonese sense, but it does carry pitch accent — hashi can mean "bridge" or "chopsticks" …
Spanish Español
Spanish isn’t tonal, so the stakes of a mismatched reference register are lower than in Mandarin or Cantonese — but rolled Rs, vow…