А зачем нужны тоны, в песнях же и без тонов (почти всегда) всё понятно))
1) In the Chinese military, there is a marching song called “强军战歌” (A Battle Cry for a Strong Army)
There is this line:
将士们,听党指挥,能打胜仗,作风优良。
(Officers and soldiers, follow the command of the party, be able to win battles, and be well-disciplined)
However, this “将士” (Officers and soldiers) part has a melody of “mi re do”, which makes it very easily mistaken as:
僵尸们,听党指挥,能打胜仗,作风优良。
Which means:
ZOMBIES! Follow the command of the party, be able to win battles and be well-disciplined!
Every time me and my buddies hear this line, we would imagine hordes of zombies, carrying the flag of CCP, charging towards confused enemies. LOL.
2) For example, there was an old song, with the lyrics:
夜夜想起妈妈的话,闪闪的泪光鲁冰花。
yè yè xiǎng qǐ mā ma de huà, shǎn shǎn de lèi guāng lǔ bīng huā.
Every night I remind my mom's word, my tears goes out.
Without reading the lyrics, I thought it was:
爷爷想骑妈妈的话,闪闪的泪光鲁冰花。
yé ye xiǎng qí mā ma de huà, shǎn shǎn de lèi guāng lǔ bīng huā.
If Grandpa wants to ride Mom, tears goes out.
[WTF, Mom is a horse or a bicycle?]
See, the meaning completely changed.
I knew I misheard only after I read the lyrics.
3) Another example:
The lyrics was:
原来原来你是我的
主打歌。
yuán lái yuán lái nǐ shì wǒ de zhǔ dǎ gē.
As it turns out you are my title track.
I misheard as:
原来原来你是我的
猪大哥。
yuán lái yuán lái nǐ shì wǒ de zhū dà gē.
As it turns out you are my piggy brother.
4) Another example, the lyrics was:
天地悠悠,
过客匆匆,潮起又潮落。
恩恩怨怨,生死白头,几人能
看透?
tiān dì yōu yōu, guò kè cōng cōng, cháo qǐ yòu cháo luò.
ēn ēn yuàn yàn, shēng sǐ bái tóu, jǐ rén néng kàn tòu?
The heaven and the earth are forever, passers-by are hurried, the tide is in and out.
Gratitude and grudges, life and death and grey hair, how many people can see through it?
I misheard as:
天地悠悠,
果壳葱葱,炒起又炒落。
恩恩怨怨,生死白头,几人能
砍头?
tiān dì yōu yōu, guǒ ké cōng cōng, chǎo qǐ yòu chǎo luò.
ēn ēn yuàn yàn, shēng sǐ bái tóu, jǐ rén néng kǎn tóu?
The heaven and the earth are forever, nutshells and spring onions, are being fried up and down.
Gratitude and grudges, life and death and grey hair, how many people can be beheaded?
As nobody wants to be “beheaded” (decapitated), it sounds so ridiculous that I immediately realized I must have misheard it, so I asked for lyrics immediately after I heard this song.
5) Another example, the lyrics was:
望求菩萨来
点化
wàng qiú pú sà lái diǎn huà
Hope the bodhisattva come to enlighten me.
I misheard as:
网球菩萨来
电话
wǎng qiú pú sà lái diàn huà
The tennis bodhisattva comes to phone me.
That's more ridiculous. Who is the “tennis bodhisattva”? Why does a bodhisattva make a phone call?
6) 梦里遇见球(
秋)一样的你 и другие укатайки:
https://m.bilibili.com/video/av8993080