Kendall C
How do you go about learning new characters?

Hello, everyone! I've decided at this point I want to start learning traditional characters (don't try to convince me that simplified is better! My significant other's mother would kill me if I went that route. :p ) However, since I am learning Cantonese, I want to learn the Cantonese pronunciation for each character. Does anyone have a good resource for learning traditional characters and their Cantonese pronunciation? 

 

I know that a lot of people like to use Skritter for learning characters, but as far as I know, this is only useful for Mandarin learners. I'm not sure if they teach traditional characters on there or if it's at all useful for those who are learning Cantonese. But if anyone knows more about that particular site or has a different resource they find very useful, please let me know!

Mar 9, 2015 2:42 AM
Comments · 17
1

You can try out Greenwood Press' Learn Chinese Using Cantonese. They use traditional characters and they point out the differences between spoken and written Cantonese - of course it does more than just that. Though I'm not sure if this would or should be your main resource for learning traditional characters (though I honestly don't know what would be <em>the </em>resource for traditional character learning). But this book does come in handy since it's Canto-centric in its teaching of using traditional characters. Hope this helps :)

March 11, 2015
1

Lol, that sucks people do that. I know no Cantonese, but the method that I prefer for learning Chinese characters in general is to first learn the radicals really well. I assign each radical with a one word meaning. When I encounter a character, I also give it a one word meaning. To memorize the character, I create a simple story tying the names of the radicals to the name of the character.

After I've done that, I make flashcards with the (character) name and pronunciation on one side, and the character on the other. I see the name, recall the story, and write the character. On the flip side, I see the character, pronounce it, and think of the name (meaning).

Sounds complicated, but it's easily the best method I've found. All other ways I tried, I felt like I was just building a house of cards - they just don't stick.

March 10, 2015
1

Yes, I am learning Cantonese, but you'd be surprised how many people have suggested I learn simplified characters instead. It's usually followed by, "And also, how about learning Mandarin instead?" :)

 

If anyone has any resources I should check out, it would be greatly appreciated!

March 9, 2015

just for your information, there are few types of phonetic system developed for Cantonese. To save time, just choose one of them that fit you. this is a good site for referece. http://cpime.hk

there are quite a lot of other online resources for learning cantonese, such as this one. http://cantonese.ca/

 

March 30, 2015

Chineaay: http://chineasy.org/ maybe useful for you as it's sort of like how I learn Chinese when I was a kid (Hong Kong). Both traditional and simplified are mixed-used in the book but it does provide a great base concept on how chinese character form in general. For more advanced charachaters you might need to find another to learn them.

March 29, 2015
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