Cantonese Tones: Explanation

Having searched the Internet for an easy-to-understand explanation, I've taken the following table and excerpts from Wikipedia.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Cantonese

[Excerpt begins here]

Syllable type	Open syllables						Stopped syllables
Tone name	Upper Level (陰平)	Upper Rising (陰上)	Upper Departing (陰去)	Lower Level (陽平)	Lower Rising (陽上)	Lower Departing (陽去)	Upper Entering #1 (上陰入)	Upper Entering #2 (下陰入)	Lower Entering (陽入)
Pinyin tone number	1	2	3	4	5	6	7 (or 1)	8 (or 3)	9 (or 6)
Examples	詩	史	試	時	市	是	識	錫	食
Tone letters	si˥, si˥˧	si˧˥	si˧	si˨˩, si˩	si˩˧	si˨	sik˥	sik˧	sik˨
Tone diacritics	sí, sî	sǐ	sī	si̖, sı̏	si̗	sì	sík	sīk	sìk
Description	high level, high falling	medium rising	medium level	low falling, very low level	low rising	low level	high level	medium level	low level
Yale Romanization	sī, sì	sí	si	sīh, sìh	síh	sih	sīk	sik	sihk

Joe's note: For some reason the table is not being displayed completely in this blog. It only shows the first six tones on screen. To see the complete table please visit the source page at the URL above.

The first tone can be either high level or high falling without affecting the meaning of the words being spoken. Most speakers are in general not consciously aware of when they use and when to use high level and high falling. In Hong Kong, the high level is more usual. In Guangzhou, the high falling tone is more usual.

The numbers "394052786" when pronounced in Standard Cantonese, will give the nine tones in order (Romanisation (Yale) saam1, gau2, sei3, ling4, ng5, yi6, chat7, baat8, luk9), thus giving a good mnemonic for remembering the nine tones.

[Excerpt ends here]

Joe says:

Personally I can only distinguish four tones: 1, 2, 3 or 5, 4 or 6. When I hear a Cantonese word, I can tell for sure whether it's Tone 1 or Tone 2, but Tone 3 & Tone 5 sound the same to me, and same goes for Tone 4 & Tone 6. In other words I can't tell the difference between Tone 3 & Tone 5, and between Tone 4 & Tone 6.