Vincent Xmas
What is your method for memorizing Chinese characters? are they worth memorizing really well if you can just recognize them as you use the pinyin on your phone?
Oct 24, 2018 3:05 AM
Answers · 10
3
Learn why they were written that way. Not only they serve as mnemonics but also to learn their culture, philosophy and history at the same time. For example, 人 is a pictogram with the head and arms removed from a stick figure. 大 is the same pictogram with his arms outstretched to mean "big". Adding one more stroke on top means "heaven, sky" to show that it is bigger/greater than man himself. 夫 means husband. China was a male oriented society and so from the viewpoint, the husband is even greater than heaven itself to her. He has life and death over her. If you put a mouth under heaven, it means a huge mouth to "swallow" heaven so we have 吞. Aruo has the correct idea for 香 (禾 wheat, grain, 日 sun)but not quite right. How can grains be grown without sunlight? As they are cooked, they smell great to the hungry. 仁 is the relationship ought to be between one and another - hence benevolence. 家 is a pig under a rooftop hence to mean family. The pig is an economic commodity for the Chinese. Without money, there can be no family! 豪 is a tall buidling with pigs reared on the ground level... Hence the meaning grand, rich etc. On the other hand, a woman under a roof 安 means peace because the woman does all the housework and the man is at peace! And yes the Chinese language is sexist but with 5,000 years of history, let's see how femininists change the language :) English is easier: chairman -> chairperson. So learn the basic meaning of the common radicals. They are like root words. Know them and you can guess the meaning of the word. Eg. Hydrophobia.
October 24, 2018
1
Well,in fact, there are several different rules to form a Chinese Character. It can be easier for learners to memorize characters if they know how the exact "rule" used to create them. For instance, "香“ ,”an associative compound" character, the top part "禾“ means grain seedings, and the lower part "曰” whose original shape is "日“, refers to the sun. Combined together, the whole character "香“ means (good)incense / fragrant, because people think that the grain seedings would give off a pleasant smell when bathed in the sunlight.
October 24, 2018
1
Hi ,vincent! I always prepare the picture for my students,they hold the pictographic character first. Then we learn the radical,at last some complicated character.Chinese Character like English,you know the "pencil"first,and then "pencil-box". Such as: 木(looks like a tree,then--林(forest,so many tree). Maybe you can try to start from some video .
October 24, 2018
1
The Skritter app is supposed to be really good, I plan on using it. Though it does costs money.
October 24, 2018
Well,in fact, there are several different rules to form a Chinese Character. It can be easier for learners to memorize characters if they know how the exact "rule" used to create them. For instance, "香“ ,”an associative compound" character, the top part "禾“ means grain seedings, and the lower part "曰” whose original shape is "日“, refers to the sun. Combined together, the whole character "香“ means (good)incense / fragrant, because people think that the grain seedings would give off a pleasant smell when bathed in the sunlight.
October 24, 2018
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