Learning Chinese is hard and there are no shortcuts. But there are several tools and resources available for those who want to learn. Character writing was something that I really struggled with when I first started learning, especially having to memorize all those words. Below are 5 strategies that have been extremely helpful to me and I hope that they work for you as well.
1. Learn the most common radicals.
If you have taken a Chinese language course before then you know that most characters are composed of smaller, basic characters called 'radicals'. Radicals very commonly appear in other characters and act as components giving either sound or meaning to a more complicated character. Memorizing the most common, basic radicals will make your life easier when trying to remember both the meaning of a character AND how to write it. Doing so is a really good start to improving your memory of Chinese characters.
2. Follow the proper stroke order and direction.
Something that you may not realize is that the order and direction of each stroke is meant to build a bridge from one stroke to the next, creating a deliberate flow. Another important fact is that learning to write isn't all about memorization of images, it's about muscle memory as well. If you write often and keep the order, your body will remember the characters, you will eventually reach the point when your hand begins to write is the words come into your mind, without hesitation.
3. DON'T RELY ON PINYIN!
Once you have learned Pinyin well, it becomes an excellent tool to help you produce fluent and proper Chinese syllables and words, but don't use it for more than that. If you make a habit of reading using only Pinyin, or read with Pinyin too close to the characters, you will automatically be attracted to it. With Pinyin around, you will always be distracted from reading the actual words and you will eventually forget them.
4 and 5 go hand in hand: READ... and... WRITE... EVERYDAY, or as close to it as possible. "If you don't use it, you'll lose it" This saying holds true for every language, probably even more so for Chinese. Again, there are no shortcuts. READ READ READ WRITE WRITE WRITE until the new characters become a part of your being.
These ideas and practices have helped me greatly, now I seldom forget a character that I have encountered in detail. I hope these practices will help you as much as they helped me.
Again, thanks to all for reading.
祝
学业进步
-Mike Redus
睿达思
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Mike, you hit the nail on the head with the radicals. I didn't study them properly till I'd been in China for a while, but once I did my character retention rate went up considerably. Also stare at all the Chinese signs you can, and even start surfing Chinese websites - it will seem like a jumble at first, but will help. Also get your hands on a cell phone with Chinese (maybe you or a 'Chinese' friend will know how to flash the OS with the Chinese version - that way you can send and receive txt messages in Chinese with your Chinese buddies - helps a lot.
ReplyDeleteBTW are you learning traditional or simplified?
I focus on simplified but I do my best to make sure I recognize the traditional equivalents as well. That may end up the other way around if I go to Taiwan to study.
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