-:: Project Abandoned : Apparently, my planned teaching strategy is unhelpful and would take too long to learn. As such, I will have to re-think the approach. Sorry ::-
I don't actually read or speak Chinese. My interest here is to find a universal written language which everyone can understand. I wanted something symbolic or pictographic or logographic which works regardless of spoken language; something which is not spelling out what we are saying phonetically. Chinese characters, sign-language and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics would work. We already have a lot of symbols which we regularly use which fulfills this. Example: writing down "2 + 3 = 5" instead of "two plus three equals five".
Written Chinese uses logograms to convey information. In China, the people spoke different dialects, like Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and Shanghainese; which are actually almost different languages. But receiving a written message saying "Attack East at Dawn" in written chinese, it doesn't matter what language you speak.
Written Chinese is usually made up of a pair of "radicals" or which there are 214 radicals only. These radicals (single chinese characters) have meanings on their own. When used in pairs, they give us a quite massive number of combinations, which then represent a the entire vocabulary. Most pairs of radicals are written side-by-side but a few are one-atop-another. And some words use more than a few radicals.
Written Chinese is taught by just doing the easy books and then moving on. Basically learning to recognise words through encounter. There are many very good courses on learning chinese.
YouTube : [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] / WebSites : [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ]
Referencing of chinese caracters is usually by the "number of strokes" to write out. This is needed for chinese dictionaries .
WebSites : [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
I will attempt a more pictorial approach and my focus is learning to read Chinese; not to write in chinese; not to speak a chinese dialect.
So let's learn some radicals. The period full-stop "." is just a separator. The comma "," separates an alternative chinese character. The semicolon ";" separates a traditional chinese character (just for historical reference).
Day 1: MARKINGS - Chinese words are represented by "characters". These characters are usually made up of a pair of "radicals". These radicals sometimes have "markings" which have been standardised to make reading chinese easier.
a . 一
b . 丨
c . 丶
d . 丿 , 乀 , 乁
e . 乙 , 乚 , 乛
f . 亅
g . 人 , 亻
h . 入
i . 厶
a. 一 One (the number). A horizontal line (in the centre).
b. 丨 Line(-mark). A vertical line (in the centre).
c. 丶 Dot(-mark), Stroke.
d. 丿 Slash(-mark), Oblique. Looks like "J"
e. 乚 Secondary, Sickle(-mark). Looks like "L"
f. 亅 Hook.
g. 人 Human Being, Person, Man
h. 入 to Enter (verb)
i. 厶 Private, Secret, Personal
Day 2: Let's look at some of the above markings combined as radicals. Take your time going through this section to get into the idea of how the markings combine.
a . 儿
b . 几
c . 尢
d . 力
e . 刂 , 刀 , 刁 , ク
f . 卩
g . 大
h . 亠
i . 冖
j . 宀
k . 方
a. Minor, Child, Legs. 儿 is made of "slash" 丿 & "sickle" 乚. Looks like "JL"
b. Table (small), Several. 几 is made of "legs/minor" 儿 & joined at the top.
c. Weak, Lame. 尢 is made of "minor" 儿 with "one" 一 across it.
d. Power, Force. 力 is similar to "weak" but uses "hook" 亅 (not "sickle" 乚)
e. Knife. 刂 is made of a short "line" 丨 with "hook" 亅.
f. Seal (stamp). 卩 is made of a "line" 丨 with short "hook" 亅 & joined at the top.
g. Big, Very. 大 is made of "human" 人 with "one" 一 across it.
h. Lid. 亠 is made of "one" 一 with "dot" 丶 above it.
i. to Cover. 冖 is made of "one" 一 with two "dots" 丶 on the sides below it.
j. Roof. 宀 is a mix of "lid" 亠 & "cover" 冖.
k. Square, Direction. 方 looks like "power" 力 with "lid" 亠 over it.
Day 3: NUMBERS - Let's look at numbers. On the left, we have our arabic numerals "1,2,3" with their corresponding chinese equivalents.
0 . 〇
1 . 一
2 . 二
3 . 三
4 . 四
5 . 五
6 . 六
7 . 七
8 . 八 , 丷
9 . 九
10 . 十
Okay, 0, 1, 2 & 3 are really easy. 〇, 一, 二, 三.
4 四 is a box with "minor" 儿 inside it. So 4 四 is a weak box.
5 五 is made of 3 三 with two vertical lines. 5 五 looks like you can draw a number 5 inside it.
6 六 looks a bit like "big" 大 but the curves are not joined.
7 七 is made of "sickle" 乚 with a dash. Looks like a handwritten seven, upside-down.
8 八 is made of "slash" 丿 & "reverse 丿". Looks like "human" 人 but the curves are not joined. Alternate version is smaller upside-down.
9 九 looks like "weak" 尢 but abrupt. Think of 9 九 as a weakened 10 十.
10 十 is made of "one" 一 and "line" 丨. Looks like a plus or cross.
Further to this: 19 is 十九, while 29 is 二十九 and so 79 is 七十九.
Hopefully you are starting to get the hang of looking for recognisable bits so it all doesn't seem so alien. Some numbers are radicals (1, 2, 8, 10) while the rest are considered to be characters (made up of radicals).
We already know a few important words like minor 儿, weak 尢, strong 力, big 大 and man 人. So let's get to know a few more.
Day 4: Frequently used words
a . 己
b . 自
c . 女
d . 子
e . 小 , ⺌ , ⺍
f . 而
g . 无
h . 非
i .
a. Oneself, personal. 己
b. Oneself, personal. 自
c. Woman 女
d. Child 子
e. Small 小
f. And 而
g. Not, without 无
h. Wrong, false. 非
i.
Now we continue with radicals by pattern for easier learning.
Day 5: Boxes
a . 囗
b . 口
c . 日
d . 月
e . 曰
f . 白
g . 臼
h . 甘
a. Enclosure, Boundary. 囗 is a box
b. Mouth, opening. 口 is smaller than "enclosure" 囗
c. Sun, Day, time. 日 in ancient China was a circle with a dot.
d. Moon, Month. 月 is a "hook" 亅 version of the "sun" 日.
e. to Say. 曰 Think of a mouth with a tongue.
f. White. 白 Think of the colour of the sun.
g. Mortar (cement). 臼 looks like a box with unfinished bits.
h. Sweet. 甘 looks like a food-carry basket with rod.
Day 6: More Boxes
a . 田
b . 用
c . 皿
d . 血
e . 目
f . 耳
g . 自
a. Field. 田 is earth 土 (see below) enclosed by a fence.
b. to Use. 用
c. Dish, Container 皿
d. Blood 血
e. Eye 目
f. Ear 耳
g. Oneself, Personal. 自 (done on day 4)
Day 7: Open Boxes
a . 凵
b . 匚
c . 匸
d . 冂
e . 贝 ; 貝
f . 见 ; 見
g .
a. Receptacle, Container, 凵
b. Open Box, Basket. 匚
c. to Hide, Conceal. 匸
d. Wide, Scope, Down Box. 冂
e. Shell, Money 贝
f. to See. 见
g.
Day 8:
a . 土
b . 士
c . 干
d . 山
e . 屮
f . 巾
g . 川 , 巛
h . 缶
a. Earth. 土 Think of a something growing out of the ground.
b. Scholar. 士 Think of scholars as wearing big hats.
c. Dry. 干
d. Mountain. 山 Think of giant rocks coming out of the ground
e. Sprout, Germ. 屮
f. Towel, Scarf, Turban. 巾
g. River. 川
h. Jar. 缶 is a "dry" 干 "container" 凵
Day 9:
a . 木 , 朩
b . 禾
c . 米
d . 耒
e . 釆
f . 水 , 氵 , 氺
g . 火 , 灬
h . 欠
i . 穴
j . 矢
a. Tree 木
b. Grain 禾
c. Rice 米
d. Plough 耒
e. Distinguish 釆
f. Water. 水
g. Fire. 火
h. Lack, tired. 欠
i. Cave, swing. 穴
j. Arrow 矢
Day 10:
a . 厂
b . 广
c . 疒
d . 勹
e . 匕
f . 尸
g . 戶 , 户
h . 门 ; 門
a. Cliff, factory 厂
b. Shelter 广
c. Disease, Ill 疒
d. Wrap 勹
e. Spoon, Ladle 匕
f. Dead corpse 尸
g. Door. 戶 户
h. Gate. 门
Day 11:
a . 又 , ヌ
b . 文
c . 支
d . 皮
e . 夂
f . 夊
g . 攴 , 攵
h . 殳
i . 麦
a. Again, Also, Both. 又 looks like "X" with "one" 一 on top.
b. Writing, Script. 文 looks like "X" with "lid" 亠 on top. Think of also 又 with a stroke (of a pen).
c. Branch. 支 looks like "X" with "scholar" 士 on top. Think of also 又 of the earth 土.
d. Skin. 皮
e. to Go, 夂
f. to Go Slowly. 夊
g. to Tap, to Rap, to Bump. 攴 is a also 又 hit by a tool.
h. Weapon. 殳 is a also 又 under a table 几.
i. Wheat, Corn. 麦
Day 12 : A few quirky characters
a . 己
b . 弓
c . 廾
d . 艹
e . 幺
f . 玄
g . 纟 , 糸
h . 彡
i . 彳
j . 夕
k . 歹
a. Oneself, personal. 己 (done on day 4)
b. to bow down, prostrate. 弓 is "oneself" 己 with a "hook" 亅.
c. Joined hands. 廾
d. Vegetable, grass. 艹
e. Tiny, thread. 幺
f. Profound, deep. 玄 is something "tiny" 幺 with a "lid" 亠 on it.
g. Silk. 纟is produced from "tiny" 幺 thread.
h. Hair, beard. 彡
i. to walk around, step. 彳
j. Evening, Night. 夕
k. Wicked, Death. 歹
Day 13:
a . 面
b . 首
c. 身
d. 里
e. 邑 , 阝
f . 西 , 覀
g . 酉
h . 角
i .
j . 鹵
k . 香
l . 音
m . 青
a. Face, 面
b. Head, 首
c. Body 身
d. Village, neighbourhood 里
e. City 邑
f. West, Lid, 西
g. Wine, Alcohol. 酉
h. Horn, 角
i.
j. Salty, 鹵
k. Perfume 香
l. Sound, 音
m. Blue 青
Day 14:
a . 禸
b . 肉
c . 网 , 罒 , 罓
d . 页 ; 頁
e . 风 ; 風
f . 雨
g .
h .
i .
a. Get Away, Track, 禸
b. Meat 肉
c. Net 网
d. Page, Leaf, Head 页
e. Wind, 风
f. Rain, 雨
g.
h.
i.
Day 15:
a . 王 , 玉
b . 生
c . 手 , 扌 , 才
d . 车
e . 至
f . 毛
g . 韦
h . 革
i . 辛
j . 聿
a. Jade. 王
b. Life 生
c. Hand. 手
d. Car, cart. 车
e. To arrive, reach. 至
f. Fur. 毛
g. Soft Leather. 韦
h. Leather 革
i. Bitter 辛
j. Brush 聿
Day 16:
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Day 19:
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