"drinking straw" (吸管 xīguǎn) and “habit” (习惯 xíguàn) Listen to the differences! #tones #chinese #mandarin #languages pic.twitter.com/u498YnKTgN

— (@nihaohello) August 25, 2015

This is a interesting post highlighting the funny yet not so funny aspects about pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese. I posted this tweet out yesterday drawing the idea from how the first tones and second tone for 'xi' and third tone and fourth tone for 'guan' makes saying two different words if you aren't careful and clear when you speak.

1. "drinking straw" (吸管 xīguǎn)
2. “habit” (习惯 xíguàn)

My personal experience of teaching many different westerners who are mostly English speakers or Europeans is that, Chinese is definitely NOT the most impenetrable family of languages on Earth. The tonal variations do impute vastly different meanings, whether tone rises or falls, just like this example above.

Having said that, there are a big group of learners who actually enjoys the beauty of this language. This post is evident that within a few minutes, already many favourited it!