Fluid Character Language
Listen to a tone. Try it yourself. See the shape of your voice.
Pinyin spells Mandarin sounds using the Latin alphabet: mā and má. The symbols 妈 and 麻 are Chinese characters. Here, the character becomes a surface for feedback.
Start by listening to the first tone reference.
A shape comparison, never a pronunciation score.Listen → record → stop → compare. Switch views to inspect the same attempt.
Your mic stays on this device. Recordings last only for this session.
Listen to the movement.
First tone is conventionally described as high and level. This experiment compares steadiness relative to your own voice, not how high you sing.
The target line is a simplified level or rising shape, not a measured trace of the human recording. Feedback compares your relative pitch movement with that schematic target.
Try without a microphone
These generated sounds test the feedback without a microphone. They are not examples of Mandarin speech.
What we’re testing & audio sources
Does the fluid character make pitch feedback easier to understand than a curve? Try both views, describe what you would change, then try once without watching. Alternate which view you try first.
This is an interface test, not a validated language lesson. It checks relative pitch movement, not consonants, vowels, overall pronunciation, or learning. The same analysis drives both views. A formed character means the measured shape fits a broad level/rising rule; it does not mean the word was pronounced correctly.
Recordings stay in browser memory until you retry or leave. The reference crops and feedback need Mandarin-speaker review before testing with learners.
Human voice: Peter Isotalo, Mandarin tones with ma, CC BY 3.0. Cropped and converted to WAV; no synthetic voice used.
A new interpretation of Tactile Pinyin — Hot and Cold. The title refers to a visual material metaphor; this browser prototype has no physical haptics.