A friend told me that Chinese writing follows a logic and just as you write strokes in a certain order. You may remember how you learned to write English from left to right right. I vividly recall learning to write on a straight line with another faint line on top to contain or limit the upward verticals on h or l. A faint line below was the limit for lower loops on g or y.
In Chinese, he told me, the lower line of a character is like the English (Roman) L or l, and has a base which is wide like the ground beneath a tree.
From Chinesasy book I learned that characters fit into boxes, so that when you put two characters side by side they are squashed up as if you were still writing them inside a box as you would when learning to write in primary school.
In Wikipedia I stambled across Chinese writing. I saw that characters could be divided into single stroke characters, two stroke characters, three stroke characters.
For me the easiest characters to learn at a glance were one, two three, written as single, double and triple horizontal lines. Just like the roman l ll lll but turned sideways. What I had not noticed was that in two in Chinese the lower line is slightly wider.
My latest discovery, whilst hunting for the flashcards with the names of countries, was a list of the basic strokes, showing them in freuqently seen and used words.
The words you often see on doorways and railway timetable are the characters for day and month and the numbers one to ten.
The lines with the little hooks at the end are not merely decorative like serifs in the font Times. They are essential. The two cubes piled on top of each other for day and night or sun and moon are distinguished by the curve on the moon. At first I muddled up sun and moon. then I larned to look for the curve, like a curned moon, on the left hand downward stroke.
Instead of viewing Chinese as a huge mystery, view it like those puzzles of spot the difference. Add a little spot the difference puzzle each day, or re-do a set of puzzles so they gradually become easier. You get a sense of achievement.
From Simplified wiki I find this handy chart:
Useful Websites
Learn Chinese Writing——Stroke - Chinese Writing Chinese Time Courses Chinese Language - Page 1 - chinesetimeschool.com
https://quizlet.com/35569456/country-names-in-chinese-flash-cards/
https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b05605/getting-started-with-kanji.html
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.
Please share links to your favourite posts.
In Chinese, he told me, the lower line of a character is like the English (Roman) L or l, and has a base which is wide like the ground beneath a tree.
From Chinesasy book I learned that characters fit into boxes, so that when you put two characters side by side they are squashed up as if you were still writing them inside a box as you would when learning to write in primary school.
In Wikipedia I stambled across Chinese writing. I saw that characters could be divided into single stroke characters, two stroke characters, three stroke characters.
For me the easiest characters to learn at a glance were one, two three, written as single, double and triple horizontal lines. Just like the roman l ll lll but turned sideways. What I had not noticed was that in two in Chinese the lower line is slightly wider.
My latest discovery, whilst hunting for the flashcards with the names of countries, was a list of the basic strokes, showing them in freuqently seen and used words.
The words you often see on doorways and railway timetable are the characters for day and month and the numbers one to ten.
The lines with the little hooks at the end are not merely decorative like serifs in the font Times. They are essential. The two cubes piled on top of each other for day and night or sun and moon are distinguished by the curve on the moon. At first I muddled up sun and moon. then I larned to look for the curve, like a curned moon, on the left hand downward stroke.
Instead of viewing Chinese as a huge mystery, view it like those puzzles of spot the difference. Add a little spot the difference puzzle each day, or re-do a set of puzzles so they gradually become easier. You get a sense of achievement.
From Simplified wiki I find this handy chart:
| 山 | shān | mountain | 3 peaks |
| 人 | rén | person/people/humanity | a creature standing on 2 legs |
| 口 | kŏu | mouth | an open mouth |
| 刀 | dāo | sword/knife | a blade |
| 木 | mù | wood | a tree |
| 日 | rì | sun/day | a sun with a cloud in the middle |
| 月 | yuè | moon/month | same as 日, but in the shape of a crescent |
| 女 | nǚ | woman/girl/female | person with large breasts |
| 子 | zi/zĭ | child | a child wrapped in a blanket |
| 馬 / 马 | mǎ | horse | a horse with a head, a mane, a body, a tail, and 4 legs |
| 鳥 / 鸟 | niǎo | bird | a creature with a head and a wing with feathers |
| 目 | mù | eye | an eye with 2 eyelids |
| 水 | shuǐ | water | three streams of water |
- Simple ideograms, zhi shi (指事): characters that use one radical, to represent abstract nouns, such as ideas and abstractions. Examples include:
| Chinese
character
(traditional/
simplified)
| Pīnyīn
(Mandarin
pronunciation)
| Meaning | Looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| 一 | yī | one | 1 line |
| 二 | èr | two | 2 lines |
| 三 | sān | three | 3 lines |
| 大 | dà | big/large/great | a person 人 holding out his/her arms as wide as possible |
| 天 | tiān | heaven/sky/day | like 大, but one line above, so the greatest of the great |
| 小 | xiǎo | little/small | fingers holding onto a needle |
| 上 | shàng | up/above/previous | a plant's stem and leaf above the ground |
| 下 | xià | down/below/next | a plant's roots |
| 本 | běn | root | a tree 木 with its roots showing underground |
| 末 | mò | apex | a tree 木 with one extra line on the top, so the very top |
- Complex ideograms, hui yi (会意), or characters that use more than one radical to represent more complex ideas or abstractions. Examples include:
| Chinese
character
(traditional/
simplified)
| Pīnyīn
(Mandarin
pronunciation)
| Meaning | Looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| 明 | míng | bright/light/tomorrow | a sun 日 and a moon 月 next to each other, indicating that tomorrow happens after the sun and moon passes |
| 好 | hǎo | good | a woman 女 and a child 子 next to each other, indicating that a woman with a child is good |
| 休 | xiū | rest | a person 亻(人) next to a tree 木 |
| 林 | lín | woods | two trees 木 next to each other |
| 森 | sēn | forest | three trees 木 next to each othe |
Learn Chinese Writing——Stroke - Chinese Writing Chinese Time Courses Chinese Language - Page 1 - chinesetimeschool.com
https://quizlet.com/35569456/country-names-in-chinese-flash-cards/
https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b05605/getting-started-with-kanji.html
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.
Please share links to your favourite posts.
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