How to Learn Chinese Characters Simply and Efficiently
Chinese language is a new territory for many whose first language use an alphabetic system such as English. Instead of combining letters to form words, Chinese language uses strokes to form characters. The commonly used Chinese characters alone contain 3000 keywords and phrases. Not only that, Chinese is one more tonal language with four different tones, commonly marked with accent marks, proper unmarked represents the neutral tone. The accent marks are only available getting eco-friendly furniture helps PinYin to represent the pronunciation. The word sh for instance, can have different meanings depending on its tone. The first tone sh can mean poetry or wet or teacher. The second tone sh can mean ten or time or a fact. The third tone sh can mean history or to start or to cause. Last tone sh can mean yes or room or matter. In essence, there are many similar sounds unique meanings. As a couple of fact, a Chinese linguist in the 20th century Zhao Yuanren composed a 10-line classical Chinese poem using only the sound shi.
Next, it isn’t always possible to guess the pronunciation of a mother nature herself. The character for wood, for instance, is pronounced mu. The character for forest, that is composed of two-character for wood, is pronounced lin. Although in this example the pronunciation cannot be related, the concept of the characters may possibly. On the contrary, when the pronunciation can be related due to similar root character, the meanings aren’t necessarily related.
PinYin itself, although alphabetized, is not pronounced the same manner as the alphabetic sounds. There are unfamiliar sounds for example u with an umlaut () that sounds like a program of I and u. Like all things unfamiliar, it leads to uncertainty and are worried. Thus, knowing the challenges learners face is the initial step in devising effective learning strategies that directly affect their language becoming successful.
The Strategies Used to Learn Chinese Characters
Prof Ko-Yin Sung of Chinese Language Study from Utah State university conducted a groundwork amongst non-heritage, non-Asian Chinese language learners and uncovered interesting results could be help future learners in forming a helpful study procedure. Her study revolves all through most used Chinese character learning strategies and how those strategies affect the learners’ ability in understanding and producing the sound and the writing within the Chinese personas.
The study finds that among the top twenty most frequently used strategies, eight regarding are springing out of when a character is first introduced to learners. These include:
1. Repeating the character several times aloud or silently.
2. Writing the character down.
3. Noting how the character is utilized for context.
4. Noting the tone and associating it with pinyin.
5. Observing the character and stroke order.
6. Visualising the character.
7. Listening to the explanation of the smoothness.
8. Associating the character with previously learned nature.
The next six strategies are familiar with increase learners’ understanding from the newly introduced character.
9. Converting the character into native language and finding a similar.
10. Looking in the textbook or dictionary.
11. Checking if the character already been used a long time ago.
12. Learning how they are used in conversation.
13. Utilizing the character in sentences orally.
14. Asking how to say hello in chinese the could be utilized in sentences.
However, learning strategies commence to diminish beyond those two learning stages. There are only three strategies implemented in memorising newly learned avatar.
15. Saying and writing the character at duration.
16. Saying and picturing the character in your head.
17. With the sound, visualising the character shape and meaning.
And there is only one strategy discovered practising new characters.
18. Making sentences and writing them out.
And new characters are reviewed truly worth two strategies only.
19. Writing the characters many years.
20. Reading over notes, example sentences and the textbook.
Of the twenty strategies mentioned above, four are found to be most significant in increasing learner’s skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing of fresh characters. Normal strategies are:
Writing the characters down
Observing the stroke order
Making association with a similar character
Saying and writing the repeatedly
Discussion
A research by Stice in 1987 showed that students only retained 10% of the things learned from what they read, 26% from whatever hear, and 30% from what they see. When studying modes are combined, a considerable improvement to learn retention is noted. Learning retention jumped to 50% when seeing and hearing are combined, and even higher at 70% when students the materials are generally learning, and learning retention is in the highest at 90% when students the materials built learning as they quite do anything. Simply reading the characters are not enough. Learners must associate the sound with the characters, make a connection that isn’t characters come up with them memorable, and practice recalling the newly learned characters.
Study means that recalling new characters learned improves learning retention and reinforces comprehending. One way learn the correct this is actually using an app such as The Intelligent Flashcards. Amounts . flashcard app is designed for the New Practical Chinese Reader textbooks, making it convenient evaluation characters created from chapters. Just does it show stroke order animation, it one more accompanied by native speaker sound files, making this app the more convenient that another app with regard to Anki. With Anki, although user can also add personal notes on it, the sound file isn’t available and should be imported through another app.
Another important learning strategy to incorporate is observing how a characters are usually employed in context. This can be done by observing real-life conversations to add to the textbook and audio tracks conversation. It is interesting to notice that pupils studied the particular abovementioned research were often unwilling to adopt the educational strategies recommended by the instructors, because watching Chinese TV shows or listening Chinese popular music. There could be many reasons why you are this. The fashion of the shows or songs cannot appeal on the learners.
Access to this program is quite a bit less convenient. And additionally if the shows could possibly be accessed online, rarely are they subtitled in both both Chinese and English which would make the shows more necessary to beginner learners in acquiring the language. Also, most of this very popular Chinese Tv fall in the historical genre, which is a favourite on the list of Chinese, for instance The Empress of China’s websites. However, the language spoken in this particular type of TV show is a great deal complex compared contemporary spoken Chinese.
