Which tones are hardest, why, and where to start.
Cantonese is tonal, but it transfers NEGATIVELY to Mandarin. Cantonese speakers systematically confuse two pairs: Mandarin T4 with T1 (Cantonese Tone 1 has a high-falling allotone [53] that captures Mandarin T4), and Mandarin T2 with T3 (both assimilate to Cantonese Tone 2 [35], so listeners default to answering T2). Tone 3 in second-syllable position is especially error-prone.
Source: Chan & Chen (2020), Chinese as a Second Language 55(1), 54–81. DOI: 10.1075/csl.18022.che | So & Best (2010), Language and Speech 53(2), 273–293. DOI: 10.1177/0023830909357156 | Yang et al. (2020), Interspeech 2020
Group averages tell you where to look, not what you actually do. Two speakers of the same first language can differ a lot. The only way to know is to record yourself and compare.
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