Description
This book introduces to non-Chinese background students the basics of how to write and learn the Chinese characters in the most efficient way.
Chinese characters developed from pictographs which were formed in a regular way with a certain number of components that are comparable to the 26 letters in the English alphabet. However these components are different from the letters in the English alphabet in that 1) the components are much larger in number, about 300 in which over 100 are in common use; 2) the components are not arranged in a horizontal line but in the upper-lower, left-right, inside-outside and other forms; 3) the components are combined in a logical or meaningful way. Therefore, once one knows these basic components and the rules for arranging them, one can write almost all the Chinese characters. This is not only a time-saving approach, it is also an easy way to remember the form and meaning of a character.
The format of the lessons is as follows:
1. Starting from the most basic strokes
All the components are formed of strokes, and before one can learn the components, one has to be familiar with these strokes. The book introduces the eight basic types of strokes, with the variant forms, stroke names and rules for forming them.
2. Learning the characters through the radicals
Structurally Chinese characters can be classified into tow kinds: one-component characters and compound characters. The first kind can be further categorized into pictograms and indicative characters and the second kind, into associative characters and picto-phonograms. The compound characters are composed of one-component characters or components evolved from them, and the two kinds generally constitute the radicals. Therefore, radicals can be taken as the most basic components of Chinese characters. In addition, radicals also appear as meaningful components in the associative characters and picto-phonograms. Thus, teaching the characters through the radicals makes it easier to analyze the structure and meaning of the picto-phonograms and the associative characters. As almost all Chinese dictionaries use radical indexing systems for characters, it is essential to prepare the students for the use of dictionaries.
Introduced in this book are the 108 most commonly used radicals, sequenced from the simple to the more complicated according to the number of their strokes. Each radical is accompanied by its name, meaning, function, origin, way of writing and number of strokes.
3. Focusing on the combination of components
Under each radical there are several compound characters containing it. Each compound character is given its pronunciation and meaning. Emphasis is placed on the logical relationship between its components, its meaning ad the structure type of its components.
