This book presents the most comprehensive synthesis and analysis of major developments in reforming programs in modernizing the Chinese writing system. It traces the language policy and planning related developments for Chinese characters, with particular emphasis on post-1950 period in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the more recent challenges that technology, and particularly the World Wide Web, have posed for the language.
This book presents the most comprehensive synthesis and analysis of major developments in reforming programs in modernizing the Chinese writing system. It traces the language policy and planning related developments for Chinese characters, with particular emphasis on post-1950 period in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the more recent challenges that technology, and particularly the World Wide Web, have posed for the language.
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
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.
"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.
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.
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 is intended for self-study or classroom use and presents 135 high-frequency characters and over 405 prevalent words using these characters. These are the characters and words students need to know if they plan to take the official Chinese government HSK Level 2 Exam or the Advanced Placement (AP) Chinese Language and Culture Exam. Each character is presented in a straightforward way. 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 key 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 2 and AP exam prep Learn the 135 most written Chinese characters Example sentences and over 405 vocabulary items Step-by-step writing diagrams and practice boxes
Do you often have difficulty finding a particular character in a standard Chinese dictionary? Do you often fail to remember characters, though you have seen and looked them up several times? Don't you think one of the reasons could be that characters that look similar to others are not grouped together? And don't you think that the etymological background of characters (their historical development) could and should be explained better in order to understand the reason for all those dots and strokes? If your answer to these questions is 'yes', then help could be on its way within seconds. The Chinese Character Dictionary contains several new features that make looking up, learning and remembering Chinese characters more effective and more fun:* characters are arranged by the phonetic part that in most characters is relatively easy to distinguish. By grouping characters that have the same phonetic into series, it is now possible to study and compare characters that look almost similar;* any character can be found by stripping it first of its radicals, and then splitting the remaining phonetic into components. Phonetic and character can then be found under one of these components;* about 7,450 traditional and 1,450 simplified character shapes can be found using the same 3-step method. Examples are given of their usage in daily or literary Chinese, and many pinyin transliterations are given;* counting strokes is not necessary, and most characters can be found within seconds;* etymological explanations are included, which can help people to understand the historical background of phonetics and characters, moreover, they are very effective with helping to remember them and distinguishing them from others that look similar;* a 30-page introduction is included, in which the method used for looking up characters is explained step by step, and with many examples. It also explains how to distinguish radicals, besides explaining different kinds of radicals. Moreover, the introduction contains a brief overview of the historical development of Chinese characters in general.The Chinese Character Dictionary is meant for people who use traditional and/or simplified texts; no matter whether the character you are looking for is a simplified or traditional one, both can be found just as conveniently with the same method. The Chinese Character Dictionary can also be used by people who do not plan to study Chinese on a regular basis, but are interested in learning about Chinese characters, their history, and ancient Chinese culture. For example, the etymological description of the character for "wife" will inform you that it is composed of two pictographs, one for that of a woman, and the other depicting a hand holding a broom. These and other etymological descriptions are very insightful for understanding ancient Chinese culture.For students of Chinese who are in the beginning years of their study and are using simplified characters, an alternative version of the CCD is available. The Simplified Chinese Character Dictionary is based on the Chinese Character Dictionary, but differs from the latter in that it only contains simplified character entries. Another difference is that the example words and phrases in the simplified CCD are entirely in simplified Chinese, while in the CCD these are primarily in traditional Chinese.
This book is a quick and easy way to learn basic Chinese Characters. All beginning Chinese language learners struggle to memorize and learn to write Chinese characters. The First 100 Chinese Characters adopts a structural approach which helps students to quickly master the basic characters that are fundamental to this language. This character book is intended for beginning Chinese students. It presents characters that have been carefully selected for rapid and effective learning. The English meanings, pronunciations in hanyu pinyin and alternate forms (if any) for each Chinese character are presented along with a stroke order guide and spaces for writing practice. Printed with gray guidelines, the stroke order guides are designed to be traced over to teach students the standard sequence of strokes used to write the character. Related compounds and phrases are given to assist in vocabulary building. Three indexes at the back allow the characters to be looked up by their English meanings, hanyu pinyin pronunciations, or radicals. Extra practice sheets are also provided. This Chinese character book contains: Step-by-step stroke order diagrams show you how to write each character. Special boxes with grid lines help you practice writing them correctly. Compounds and sample sentences provide easy vocabulary building. Hanyu pinyin romanizations identify and help you pronounce every word.
Learn the essential Mandarin Chinese characters and words in everyday use in China! Anyone planning to learn Chinese knows that there are 300 primary characters they must learn to function in China. This systematic introduction to Mandarin is designed to help you learn them fast--along with how to pronounce, write, and remember 1,200 key vocabulary words and phrases. Essential for anyone wishing to pass the official Chinese government HSK Level 1 & 2 proficiency exam or the Advanced Placement (AP) Chinese Language and Culture Exam, Beginning Mandarin Chinese Characters presents these 300 characters in a series of very simple and easy lessons that: The characters are grouped into themes with a warm-up narrative for each character Each character's pronunciation and meanings in combination with other characters are presented Exercises to practice recognizing the characters and using the vocabulary are provided Writing guides show you how to write each correctly Includes easy access to online native speaker audio recordings and free, printable flashcards
