for 热腾腾　skritter shows the tones as 4th 2nd 2nd. However my textbook （高级汉语口语） and teacher say that it should be 4th 1st 1st.

Same text book has the piyin for
灌木林　 as guànmùlín however in skritter is shows up as guànmùlíng which seems a little odd, but maybe there is a reason for it.

These are very small issues I don't mean to complain. I love this serves and in less then a month there is a noticeable difference in my studies, both in writing an speaking as with the help of skritter my tone memory has improved. Thank you.

For 熱騰騰 I don't really think there is "proper" pronunciation. Different textbooks and different dictionaries will give you a different answer. Here in Taiwan the Ministry of Education says it is 4th 1st 1st, but when talking to people on the street I've heard both pronunciations.

MDGB, on the other hand, using CC-CEDICT has it listed as 4th 2nd 2nd.

I would say that both can be correct based on region. I would try using the word on the streets and find out how the locals are using it, and then just make a note that it might be said using the other version in other places, something I'm still adjusting to with my own Mandarin here in Taiwan after living in the Mainland.

As for 灌木林　 as guànmùlín, it looks like a good old fashion error. When you see something questionable just send in a comment to the team, and if it seems incorrect someone will fix it.

Adjectives in the form of ABB, like 热腾腾, 光秃秃, 绿油油, … , the BB part is usually read as a first tone. So the standard pronunciation for 热腾腾 is 4th 1st 1st.

The difficult part is that not every adjective in this form has to be transformed. Some of them, like 白茫茫, 喜洋洋, 黑沉沉 are not changed. One has to look them up one by one.

Edit: All occurrences of “word” have been replaced by “adjective”.

Thank you for your replies.

good points, pts. I didn't stop think about it as a pattern, just was looking at the individual adjective.

I think the issue still remains that people often ignore standard pronunciation, or never learned it to begin with.