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A comment on Show HN: I trained a 9M speech model to fix my Mandarin tones. Parent comment

Re:Show HN: I trained a 9M speech model to fix my Mandarin t... by danparsonson on Friday January 30, 2026 @10:44PM (#46833210)
Wholeheartedly (or maybe downheartedly?) agree with this - sometimes I try to say the simplest things and people just stare at me like I'm speaking Martian. Which I suppose I might as well be! One of my big problems is implicit use of tones for things like expressing uncertainty; that's a very difficult habit to get out of.
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Re:Show HN: I trained a 9M speech model to fix my Mandarin t... by bunderbunder on Friday January 30, 2026 @11:53PM (#46833622)
Another one that I wish I had realized sooner is that, contrary to the impression teachers tend to convey, tones aren’t just a pitch contour thing. There are also intensity and cadence elements. Native speakers can fairly accurately recognize tones in recordings that have had all the pitch contour autotuned out.
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