Pick the right word — the judgment calls a tutor corrects: 你 vs 您, 几 vs 多少, 那 vs 哪, 还是 vs 或者, word order, times & dates, the tone changes of 一, and more.
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🎧 Pronunciation notes from tutoring
Chinese r (as in 人 rén) sits between an English r and a Polish ż — start from ż and relax it.
Question 吗 is neutral tone, but it rides high — it sounds close to a 1st tone: 你好吗?
工 gōng: really round and push the mouth forward on the -ong.
大学生: give 生 its full 1st tone (dà xué shēng) — it sounds nicer than the lazy near-neutral 生 of casual 学生.
你哪: when emphasizing, the 哪 is said high, almost like a 1st tone.
对对对: to agree, natives fire off 对 duì (4th tone) in quick bursts — duì duì duì.
波兰 Bōlán (Poland): tones 1 + 2.
Explode the t: Chinese t (as in 天 tiān, 听 tīng) is strongly aspirated — let it pop with a real puff of air.
-an finals (安, 看, 半): a clean, open “ahn” — pronounce them accurately, don't let them drift toward English “an.”
4th tone: make it really fall, at full length — 是, 四, 妹 should drop hard, not get clipped short.
日 rì: say it slooower — give the vowel time instead of rushing past it.