How does Mandarin sound to you?

Definitely sing-songi, I think an equivalent to other languages to me is similar to Italian or Minnesota accent where it's just a lovely note. But my ear is very rough and I can't distinguish between regional accents.

I find it extremely pleasant-sounding along with Japanese, but my mom doesn't like the sound of Mandarin and thinks it's too... shh... tz... ch.. Does that make sense 😂

It's sing songy to me and sometimes a little harsh but I think I just haven't listened enough yet to start recognizing the sound of it

I like Chinese opera, I think it sounds really awesome, first time I heard it was Genshin

I'm Chinese myself and my native language is Mandarin, so this might sound a bit weird coming from me.

I really dislike how Mandarin sounds.

Overall it just sounds so harsh. The retroflex consonants like zh ch sh and the rapid change in pitch due the tones really prove this. In comparison Cantonese sounds a lot softer and much more elegant. Even angrily swearing in Cantonese sounds more pleasant than normal Madarin

Also it's definitely the most "alien" of the Chinese tongues. It ditched all the final consonants like -m -t -k -b all together, and greatly reduced the number of valid syllables, making many previously distinct characters sound the same.

HOWEVER, once you start reading classical Chinese or poetry in Mandarin... oh boy, complete 180º

Due to the fact that there are no final consonants other than -n and -ng, each syllable just flows into the next. The rise and falls turns into a music-like melody. imo the sound of reading old texts in Mandarin completely beats all other dialects, past and present

TV media presenters and voiceovers sound hilarious to me. Especially male voices, they sound so theatrical and camp with over emphasizing every word. I don't know if this is a cultural thing because I've also noticed in formal public occasions (announcing best wishes to the couple at weddings) a similar voice style is used in an almost ritualistic monotone, very loud and forceful too. I'm sure there's a long history behind this which I'm fascinated to learn about.

Honestly wished they chose another southern chinese dialect to be official langauge of china instead. Mandarin is a pretty new dialect too, not as close to old/middle chinese. There are many ancient chinese dialects that are more closer to old/middle chinese. Dialects like Shanghainese, hokkien, hakka sound a little better, and they are more closer to old/middle chinese.

Mandarin originated from the North of China, and to be honest I think Northern chinese dialects and accents sound very annoying. Southern Chinese dialects and accents sound much better. Taiwanese accent also originates from Southern China(derived from the Quanzhou-Zhangzhou dialect of the Minnan dialect) because most taiwanese people came from southern china. And taiwanese and southern chinese talking sounds much better.

I love how it sounds but I'm very bias and I've been living around Asia for 11 years 😂 I've always been interested in languages and culture (not limited to Asia). it's very... I don't know. sing songy? I wish I could do it! the music makes me feel very calm and sooth (mandopop)

I like it a lot. The tones are sutil. I speak spanish as a first language, so really hard "r" sounds. The r sounds in mandarin sound more like english speakers to me

It’s very different depending on who is speaking. Northerners in Beijing sound totally different from the Mandarin spoken in Guilin and Canton. It’s like the USA California Vs Boston Vs Louisiana twang. It’s interesting but sometimes it takes a couple seconds to understand something that didn’t sound like what I’m familiar to.

Depends on the speaker. Overall it sounds sophisticated and quick. The tones give a sense of cool indifference. Like the intonation is not governed by emotion as it is in English, but something more reserved.