Hi!! Everyone so I was searching a random word on the dictionary and then 2 same words with different meaning came and the only difference is in their pronunciation. I know there is a. Small note on the pitch is in renshuu . But I can't understand it.
Can anyone pls explain it?
My summer holidays are going on so I think this is the best time to make a progress .
電気 and 伝記 are two different words, not "a word with a different meaning". That distinction is for kanji itself.
They just happen to have the same spelling. There are similar other words with the same spelling, in this particular case that either have to do with electronics or literature, depending on which version it is.
They are all separately their own word. You just need to look at the kanji to tell the difference.
Basically, it's just about the... pitch. How low or high a sound is =p The horizontal line indicate whether a part of the word is high or low. If it's above the kana, it should be higher. If it's under the kana, it should be lower.
So 電気 should high-low-low and 伝記 should be low-high-high. I don't recommend paying too much attention to that when you start because it's quite hard to hear it. But you can try to be conscious of it when you listen to a word. Just activate the "Play the pronounciation after answering a question" and try to perceive it first (it can take quite a while but eventually, you will be able to perceive after some time).
If you want to pratice, don't try to pronounce it normally first. Just exagerate as much as you can, like で with the highest pitch you can produce and the rest with the lowest pitch. And then reduce the gap until you're not able to tell the difference and stop there for now. Repeat that from time to time and it should help in the long term.
Also でんき is not the easiest one because of the ん. Try 雨 and 飴 first for example (one of the most infamous one for beginner =p). Or 橋 and 箸.
Also, there is this site if you want to practice :コツ
Heiban, Atamadaka, etc, are just the name of different patterns. You don't need to remember them except if you want. And don't be discouraged if you can't hear the difference or get it wrong all the time. It just hard. And I'm still not can get 100% (but at the same, I'm not the most diligent when it comes to pitch accent xD).
Here's the real secret - even if you cannot hear those differences, you're still ok 99% of the time.
When you are looking up these words, you're seeing them as individual words, but you never hear or speak them that way.
Using あめ (candy/sweet and rain), try and think of a natural sentence using either of those where it could be contextually mistaken for the other. Just shy of impossible :)
It's just like if I were to say
"I bare my soul to you"
or
"I see a bear over there"
You're not going to ask yourself "Wait, is it bear or bare?"
