"Singing" Chinese (conclusion)
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	The tone is marked above the vowel in the romanized syllable.  It is marked only in this pinyin romanization, not in the actual Chinese characters.  We'll talk about characters at another time. The tone changes the meaning of the sound.  So "ma", which in pinyin is pronounced just like you'd expect, has the following meanings when combined with the four tones:
			"ma" in the first tone means:        mother "ma" in the second tone means:    hemp "ma" in the third tone means:       horse "ma" in the fourth tone means:     to curse
		So it's really easy to say the wackiest things if you use the wrong tone.  I remember the conversational drill instructor at the China Institute, a young lady from Beijing, turning beet red at something innocent I was trying to say but obviously used the wrong tone.  The class had a good laugh, but she wouldn't explain what I had actually said.
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