› › Learn Chinese Characters By Reading

Hacking Chinese

Author : Olle Linge

Publisher :

Page : 246 pages

File Size : 35,62 MB

Release : 2016-03-26

Category :

ISBN : 9781530334889

Get eBook

Book Description

Learning Chinese can be frustrating and difficult, partly because it's very different from European languages. Following a teacher, textbook or language course is not enough. They show you the characters, words and grammar you need to become proficient in Chinese, but they don't teach you how to learn them! Regardless of what program you're in (if any), you need to take responsibility for your own learning. If you don't, you will miss many important things that aren't included in the course you're taking. If you study on your own, you need to be even more aware of what you need to do, what you're doing at the moment and the difference between them. Here are some of the questions I have asked and have since been asked many times by students: How do I learn characters efficiently? How do I get the most out of my course or teacher? Which are the best learning tools and resources? How can I become fluent in Mandarin? How can I improve my pronunciation? How do I learn successfully on my own? How can I motivate myself to study more? How can I fit learning Chinese into a busy schedule? The answers I've found to these questions and many others form the core of this book. It took eight years of learning, researching, teaching and writing to figure these things out. Not everybody has the time to do that! I can't go back in time and help myself learn in a better way, but I can help you! This book is meant for normal students and independent language learners alike. While it covers all major areas of learning, you won't learn Chinese just by reading this book. It's like when someone on TV teaches you how to cook: you won't get to eat the delicious dish just by watching the program; you have to do the cooking yourself. That's true for this book as well. When you apply what you learn, it will boost your learning, making every hour you spend count for more, but you still have to do the learning yourself. This is what a few readers have said about the book: "The book had me nodding at a heap of things I'd learnt the hard way, wishing I knew them when I started, as well as highlighting areas that I'm currently missing in my study." - Geoff van der Meer, VP engineering "This publication is like a bible for anyone serious about Chinese proficiency. It's easy for anyone to read and written with scientific precision." - Zachary Danz, foreign teacher, children's theatre artist About me I started learning Chinese when I was 23 (that's more than eight years ago now) and have since studied in many different situations, including serious immersion programs abroad, high-intensity programs in Sweden, online courses, as well as on the side while working or studying other things. I have also successfully used my Chinese in a graduate program for teaching Chinese as a second language, taught entirely in Chinese mostly for native speakers (the Graduate Institute for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University). All these parts have contributed to my website, Hacking Chinese, where I write regularly about how to learn Mandarin.



Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters

Author : Alison Matthews

Publisher : Tuttle Publishing

Page : 388 pages

File Size : 48,84 MB

Release : 2011-12-20

Category : Foreign Language Study

ISBN : 146290128X

Get eBook

Book Description

This user-friendly book is aimed at helping students of Mandarin Chinese learn and remember Chinese characters. At last--there is a truly effective and enjoyable way to learn Chinese characters! This book helps students to learn and remember both the meanings and the pronunciations of over 800 characters. This otherwise daunting task is made easier by the use of techniques based on the psychology of learning and memory. key principles include the use of visual imagery, the visualization of short "stories," and the systematic building up of more complicated characters from basic building blocks. Although Learning Chinese Characters is primarily a book for serious learners of Mandarin Chinese, it can be used by anyone with interest in Chinese characters, without any prior knowledge of Chinese. It can be used alongside (or after, or even before) a course in the Chinese language. All characters are simplified (as in mainland China), but traditional characters are also given, when available. Key features: Specially designed pictures and stories are used in a structured way to make the learning process more enjoyable and effective, reducing the need for rote learning to the absolute minimum. The emphasis throughout is on learning and remembering the meanings and pronunciations of the characters. Tips are also included on learning techniques and how to avoid common problems. Characters are introduced in a logical sequence, which also gives priority to learning the most common characters first. Modern, simplified characters are used, with pronunciations given in pinyin. Key information is given for each character, including radical, stroke-count, traditional form, compounds, and guidance on writing the character. This is a practical guide with a clear, concise and appealing layout, and it is well-indexed with easy lookup methods. The 800 Chinese characters and 1,033 compounds specified for the original HSK Level A proficiency test are covered.



Learning Mandarin Chinese Characters Volume 1

Author : Yi Ren

Publisher : Tuttle Publishing

Page : 286 pages

File Size : 31,37 MB

Release : 2017-02-28

Category : Foreign Language Study

ISBN : 1462919138

Get eBook

Book Description

Reinforce your written Chinese with this practice book for the best-selling Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters. Learning Mandarin Chinese Characters helps students quickly learn the essential Chinese characters that are fundamental to the language. This character workbook presents 178 Chinese characters and over 534 standard words using these characters. It is intended for self-study and classroom use and includes the characters and words students need to know if they plan to take the official Chinese government HSK Level 1 Exam or the Advanced Placement (AP) Chinese Language and Culture Exam. Each character is presented plainly and transparently. A step-by-step diagram shows how to write the character, and boxes are provided for freehand writing practice. The meaning and pronunciation are given along with the critical vocabulary compounds and an example sentence. Review exercises reinforce the learning process, and an index at the back allows you to look up the characters according to their English meanings or romanized Hanyu Pinyin pronunciation. Key features of this Chinese workbook include: Designed for HSK Level 1 and AP exam prep Learn the 178 most essential Chinese characters Example sentences and over 534 vocabulary items Step-by-step writing diagrams and practice boxes



Reading and Writing Chinese

Author : William McNaughton

Publisher : Tuttle Publishing

Page : 336 pages

File Size : 16,74 MB

Release : 2013-07-23

Category : Foreign Language Study

ISBN : 9780804842990

Get eBook

Book Description

This is a complete and easy–to–use guide for reading and writing Chinese characters. Learning written Chinese is an essential part of mastering the Chinese language. Used as a standard by students and teachers learning to read Chinese and write Chinese for more than three decades, the bestselling Reading & Writing Chinese has been thoroughly revised and updated. Reading & Writing Chinese places at your fingertips the essential 1,725 Chinese characters' current definitions, derivations, pronunciations, and examples of correct usage by utilizing cleverly condensed grids. This guide also focuses on Pinyin, which is the official system to transcribe Hanzi, Chinese characters, into Latin script, now universally used in mainland China and Singapore. Traditional characters (still used in Taiwan and Hong Kong) are also included, making this a complete reference. Newly updated and revised, these characters are the ones officially prescribed by the Chinese government for the internationally recognized test of proficiency in Chinese, the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK). The student's ability to read and write Chinese are reinforced throughout the text. Key features of this newly-expanded edition include: The 1,725 most frequently used characters in both Simplified and Traditional forms. All 2,633 characters and 5,000+ compounds required for the HSK Exam. Standard Hanyu Pinyin romanizations. More mnemonic phrases and etymologies to help you remember the characters. An extensive introduction, alphabetical index, and index according to stroke count and stroke order. Completely updated/expanded English definitions. Convenient quick-reference tables of radicals. Updated and revised compounds, plus 25% more vocabulary now offered. Codes to assist those who are preparing for the AP exam or the HSK exam.



Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1

Author : James W. Heisig

Publisher :

Page : 438 pages

File Size : 19,54 MB

Release : 2008-10-31

Category : Foreign Language Study

ISBN :

Get eBook

Book Description

"The approach that has helped thousands of learners memorize Japanese kanji has been adapted to help students with Chinese characters. Remembering Simplified Hanzi covers the writing and meaning of the 1,000 most commonly used characters in the traditional Chinese writing system, plus another 500 that are best learned at an early stage." "Of critical importance to the approach found in these pages is the systematic arranging of characters in an order best suited to memory. In the Chinese writing system, strokes and simple components are nested within relatively simple characters, which can, in turn, serve as parts of more complicated characters and so on. Taking advantage of this allows a logical ordering, making it possible for students to approach most new characters with prior knowledge that can greatly facilitate the learning process."--BOOK JACKET.



Chinese Characters

Author : Alan Hoenig

Publisher : Dr. Alan Hoenig

Page : 507 pages

File Size : 34,32 MB

Release : 2009

Category : Foreign Language Study

ISBN : 0982232403

Get eBook

Book Description

A systematic, building block-style plan for mastering the most daunting aspect of learning Chinese--how to remember the meaning of more than 2,000 of the most common characters--is provided in this handbook. Beginning with the simplest of strokes, such as those for numbers, scepter, and earth, and progressing to the extremely complex, such as destroy, insert, and mouse, this manual presents a methodology employing memory techniques to associate meanings with the characters' visual components. A sequence of numbered panels displays each character in two font styles, and a notation in the adjacent margin describes the character's pinyin pronunciation. Graphics that identify the components or characters from which the featured characters are drawn, and a listing of both the names of these root components, and the panel numbers that cite their location in the book augment the presentation. Beginners will be best served by using this guide in conjunction with the development of language skills, while those who are familiar with the language will find this book to be a comprehensive reference and refresher.



Enjoy Learning Chinese Characters

Author : Kum Ho Park

Publisher : Kong & Park Llc

Page : 544 pages

File Size : 46,34 MB

Release : 2013-02-01

Category : Foreign Language Study

ISBN : 9788997134090

Get eBook

Book Description

Because Chinese characters are commonly known as pictograms, most Chinese learners wonder if they can possibly learn thousands of characters. Some give up altogether and choose to learn only Pinyin, the romanized form of Chinese characters and so their use of the language becomes very limited. However, considering that the people who devised the Chinese language and most of the people who write and speak it every day are not geniuses, we have found a shortcut, an easier way, that would help people appreciate and learn the Chinese characters. This book has been written to share that secret with you! Countries that still use Chinese characters in their vocabulary are China (including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore), Korea and Japan. China, for obvious reasons, uses it most often. The simplified characters are used in China and Singapore, whereas Taiwan and Hong Kong use the original complicated characters. Japan uses a mix of both. Korea has her own alphabet Hangul, but up to 60% of the vocabulary has borrowed meaning from Chinese characters. Therefore, if you don't know them, it is very hard for you to understand their true meanings. For these reasons, many researches on Chinese characters have been carried out mostly in China, Korea and Japan. We have taken into account the opinions of scholars from these three countries and shortlisted 3,500 characters, which outnumbers the 2,633 characters in the HSK Level 1-6 characters list. This book contains 1,160 characters that explain about the most frequently-used 856 characters including 623 characters in the HSK Level 1-3 list. Chinese characters are based on inscriptions found on bones and tortoise carapaces used in the 14th and 12th century B.C. centuries. In the 6th and 7th centuries, they were said to have been passed on to nations in the Korean peninsula at that time, and then passed on to Japan. All languages change with time and Chinese was no exception. The usage of Chinese characters in Korea and Japan retain the original form and meaning of when they were passed on, so it was very helpful to have the input of scholars from the three countries. This book is an attempt to compile the opinions of scholars from these three countries, and the authors' personal interpretations of the inscriptions on bronze, bones and tortoise carapaces to explain the origin of the characters. The authors' aim is to help our readers understand the characters, not to become scholars in their own right. But that does not mean this book is a pet project. It is intended to help readers further understand the meanings of all Chinese characters.



Reading & Writing Chinese Traditional Character Edition

Author : William McNaughton

Publisher : Tuttle Publishing

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 21,17 MB

Release : 2016-09-06

Category : Foreign Language Study

ISBN : 9780804847155

Get eBook

Book Description

This is a complete and easy–to–use guide for reading and writing traditional Chinese characters. Reading and Writing Chinese has been the leading text for foreign students and teachers of the Chinese writing system since it was first published. This completely revised edition draws on the lessons learnt from the use of the book in classrooms so as to provide a more convenient and up–to–date introduction to written Chinese. Over 1,100 new combinations of characters have been added, increasing the total vocabulary significantly to about 4,500 items. There are also new notes on usage to give students insight into the contemporary state of the Chinese language. The student's ability to read Chinese and write Chinese are reinforced throughout. For each of the basic 1,062 characters, the pronunciation, definition and derivation are given, with examples of the use of most words and a chart showing how to write each character. Memorization tips and cautionary cross–reference to look–alike characters are also provided, as well as notes to help clarify those overlooked aspects of the Chinese writing system. Key features of this book: The Student's 1,020 List and the Official 2,000 List. Over 2,000 characters and 4,500 vocabulary items. Pronunciations given in standard Hanyu Pinyin Ronamized form Memorization hints and stroke–order diagrams. Hong Kong/Taiwan and China/Singapore forms. Traditional and modern radical systems. The best-selling student's guide



Reading and Writing Chinese

Author : William McNaughton

Publisher :

Page : 348 pages

File Size : 30,74 MB

Release : 1999

Category : Chinese language

ISBN :

Get eBook

Book Description

Reading and Writing Chinese has been the standard text for foreign students and self-teachers of the Chinese Writing System since Tuttle first published it over 20 years ago. This new, completely revised edition offers students a more convenient, efficient, and up-to-date introduction to the writing system.



Korean Reader for Chinese Characters

Author : Choon-Hak Cho

Publisher : University of Hawaii Press

Page : 388 pages

File Size : 42,91 MB

Release : 2002-08-31

Category : Foreign Language Study

ISBN : 9780824824990

Get eBook

Book Description

Korean Reader for Chinese Characters will help students of Korean master basic Chinese characters that are frequently encountered in everyday situations. More than five hundred characters are targeted in exercises that aid in the efficient study of the forms, meanings, and sounds of individual characters and their compounds. Although the primary goal of the Reader is recognition of basic Chinese characters, students are encouraged to learn to write them properly by inclusion of a section on stroke order. The Reader is also designed to reinforce skills in reading and writing in Korean while studying Chinese characters. Forty lessons are preceded by an introductory chapter on the principles of Chinese character formation and reading and writing characters and followed by appendices on stroke order, English translations of the main reading text of each lesson, and an index of characters. The lessons are organized into seven parts: new characters, reading text, glossary, notes, new words in characters, more words in characters, and exercises. After every fifth lesson, there is a section reviewing all the characters introduced in the preceding five lessons.