The best tricks to learn the Chinese language
BlogLanguagesChineseThe Basics of Learning Chinese: The best tricks to learn the Chinese language
How to learn Chinese characters?
How to learn to write in Chinese?
How to learn to read Chinese?
How to learn Chinese vocabulary?
Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken mother tongue in the world, it’s no wonder that it arouses so much enthusiasm!
Are you the next to start learning Chinese?
How to learn Chinese characters?: The best tricks to learn the Chinese language
Learning Chinese is first of all learning the Chinese alphabet , which makes learning Mandarin more difficult for a student whose mother tongue is of Latin or Germanic origin.
Do not worry! To successfully navigate Chinese, it is enough to know “only” 2,000 characters out of the 47,000 compiled by the Kangxi Chinese dictionary.
Of course, there is an alternative for the less enthusiastic: pinyin.
This is a Latin character transcription of Chinese characters.
Learn the keys: the-best-tricks-to-learn-the-chinese-language
Before jumping into character learning, it is essential to master what are called the keys.
In Chinese writing, characters are written using strokes. There are 8 fundamental strokes that can give rise to 29 various variants that we call complex strokes. Thanks to the fundamental lines, the keys can be elaborated.
In Mandarin Chinese, there are 214 different keys that will serve as the basis for the formation of the 47,000 characters.
Starting character learning directly is much more complicated without mastering the keys first.
Writing rules
After having understood the operation of the keys well, let’s see what the writing rules are :
You have to start writing a character from left to right and top to bottom.
The characters are inscribed in a square, it is important to write their content before closing it.
For characters with intersecting horizontal and vertical strokes, the horizontal strokes must first be rendered .
When writing multiple characters in succession, also consider doing them one after the other, starting with the one furthest to the right.
To learn the characters, think about breaking them down . Thanks to your mastery of keys and strokes, it will be easier to understand a complex character.
For example, someone who has never seen the Chinese pictogram药, “medicine”, if he knows the keys, he will be able to recognize:
The key of the herb above, symbol of Chinese medicine艹,
The key of the silk to the left纟, to wrap the whole,
The teaspoon symbol勺, for powdered medicines.
The student will be able to determine the global idea of this character with the universe of medicine and medicinal plants , thanks to the mastery of the keys.
When is a character mastered?
All up to you! It is difficult to predict how long it will take you to master Chinese characters (not all, of course).
In any case, to consider that we perfectly control a certain character, it is necessary to be able to:
Recognize it by its shape,
Know your pronunciation , which includes different tones or intonations, depending on the context,
Know how to write it and know the order of the strokes, which can be different for each character.
