So, in Mark Zuckerberg's speech, there were a few pronunciation and intonation quirks, but don't worry, these happen to the best of us!
First, let's talk about "again." Mark said "zàichī," which sounded like "eat" due to the first tone and added "H" sound. Instead, he could have said "zàicì zàicì" with the correct fourth tone.
When listing items, he used American-style intonation. In Chinese, we often add "ā" after each item to keep the intonation consistent and make it more Chinese-sounding. For example, instead of "technology, business, government, and other areas," he could have said "Wèilái de kējì ā, shāngyè ā, zhèngfǔ ā..."
Don't fret too much about these details, though. Learning Mandarin Chinese is a journey; we all make pronunciation and intonation slips. Keep practicing, and you'll improve over time! 🗣️🇨🇳
#communicationmastery #mandarinlanguage #studyingchinese
