The amounts of success people experience when studying Chinese characters depends largely on how they structure their learning. When studying this topic, it is imperative that you break everything down into specific components. This text is going to describe three significant components you must understand to enjoy a successful learning experience.
Comprehending Radicals
To beginning students, each one of the thousands of Chinese characters seems to be unique and different. This, however, is not the truth. The majority of characters are, in fact, compilations of recycled parts, parts that can be recognized and simplified. These reoccurring elements are known as radicals. Radicals are categories of thought developed by the ancient Chinese to describe the physical environment around them. While some characters are radicals alone, most contemporary Chinese characters are combinations of radical and phonetic elements. According to the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press in Beijing, there are 189 radicals used to organize Chinese Characters, fifty of which are thought to be essential for comprehending fundamental communication. Get acquainted with these Chinese radicals, and you'll open the floodgate of success and understanding.
Slow and Steady Wins the Race
This is old news, so to speak, in the education field--it does not matter if you're learning Chinese characters or Chilean cooking. The bit of advice warrants repeating here, however, since it is so important, yet so often disregarded. For those who fall into a pattern of sitting down, studying lots of characters, and then putting your book away for a week or perhaps a couple, you will definitely be dissatisfied with your development. Inevitably, you will become aggravated and give up studying altogether. If you master a few characters regularly, on the other hand, without skipping days, you'll slowly but surely understand the patterns inherent in Chinese writing. You will start to see how the radicals function, how they repeat, and how you can use them to group and categorize characters in accordance with their meanings. This sort of understanding will only come to you if you work gradually and persistently, so do yourself a favor and be the tortoise, not the hare.
Practice Writing
As mentioned above, Chinese characters are made of individual elements, as well as strokes. In order to understand the meaning of the characters, you need to be capable of identify its components. Due to this, it is crucial that you practice writing the characters, even if your objective is to be capable of, for instance, understand a Chinese magazine.
To understand how to compose Chinese characters, you should get yourself a book; internet products are usually lacking in regards to teaching writing skills. You need to get a book that describes, in detail, the 8 basic strokes used to make Chinese characters. Make sure that it also explains the proper order in which the strokes have to be composed. Finally, when practicing how to compose the characters, use paper specifically made for the task--it has quadrants that help you in writing correctly.
Summary
Getting to know Chinese characters can be an fascinating and fun learning experience, or it can be a lesson in aggravation and failure. To ensure you have an enjoyable and successful learning experience, obtain a good understanding of Chinese radicals, study at a slow and steady pace, and get lots of writing practice.
Good luck with this and all of your upcoming learning endeavors.
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