The best way to master Chinese tones and pronunciation

Let's be honest here, who hasn't struggled with tones and pronunciation? Chinese has sounds that English and other languages don't, like "r" which sounds like "rjrjh" and there's the sh, x, c, and s sounds which sound pretty similar. 

Pronunciation is one of my strong suits in Chinese. How exactly did that happen? Keep reading to find out my number one way to master Chinese pronunciation and tones. 

Right from when I started learning Chinese, I really focused on sounding identical to the audio (with recordings of people on the app Hello Chinese, NOT with the robot translating voice.). However, if you haven't done so since you started learning start now! This is a method that anyone at any learning stage can start to improve their speaking. 

The method is (drumroll...) IMITATION and REPETITION!

What do I mean by that? 

1)Find any source of audio whether it be a youtube video, a podcast, or a tv show where you can rewind

2) Listen to a phrase, try to say it with the audio. Try to match the intonation, the pronunciation, accent, everything.

3) Try to use the phrases you learn in your daily life, so it comes naturally

Although repeating phrase after phrase trying to sound as close as you can to a native speaker can be long and boring, but it is super effective. Think about it.. How do babies learn pronunciation, words and sentences? By repeating what they hear! By mimicking phrases you hear spoken by native speakers, you're journey to fluency will definitely speed up.

Note that this trick can work for all languages!

Have anything to add? Feel free to write a comment and start a conversation.