Ways to Learn Chinese Characters Simply and Efficiently
Chinese language is an unfamiliar 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 also a 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, couple options many similar sounds with assorted meanings. As a question 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 role. The character for wood, for instance, is pronounced mu. The character for forest, can be composed of two-character for wood, is pronounced lin. Although in this example the pronunciation can not related, the concept the characters are able to. On the contrary, when the pronunciation can be related due to similar root character, the meanings are not necessarily related.
PinYin itself, although alphabetized, is not pronounced the in an identical way as the alphabetic sounds. There are unfamiliar sounds because u with an umlaut () that sounds like a compounding of I and u. Like every item and fixture unfamiliar, it typically causes uncertainty and are worried. Thus, knowing the challenges learners face is the first step in devising effective learning strategies that directly affect their language becoming successful.
The Strategies Would once Learn Chinese Characters
Prof Ko-Yin Sung of Chinese Language Study from Utah State university conducted a groundwork amongst non-heritage, non-Asian Offshore learners and uncovered interesting results may help future learners in forming a helpful study technique. Her study revolves all through most frequently employed Chinese character learning strategies and how those strategies affect the learners’ ability in understanding and producing the sound and the writing within the Chinese character types.
The study finds that among very best twenty usually used strategies, eight of them are involved in 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 is found in context.
4. Noting the tone and associating it with pinyin.
5. Observing the character and stroke order.
6. Visualising the letter.
7. Learning the explanation of the character.
8. Associating the character with previously learned design.
The next six strategies are which is used to increase learners’ understanding for this 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 been recently used a long time ago.
12. Learning how they are used in conversation.
13. Using the character in sentences by mouth.
14. Asking how to say hi in mandarin the type could double in lines.
However, learning strategies start to diminish beyond those two learning portions. There are only three strategies played with memorising newly learned temperament.
15. Saying and writing the character at duration.
16. Saying and picturing the character in mindset.
17. Due to sound, visualising the character shape and meaning.
And hard work only one strategy applied in 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 instances.
20. Reading over notes, example sentences and the textbook.
Of the twenty strategies mentioned above, four tend to be found to be most significant in increasing learner’s skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing of the new characters. The 4 strategies are:
Writing the characters down
Observing the stroke order
Making connection to a similar character
Saying and writing the smoothness repeatedly
Discussion
A research by Stice in 1987 showed that students only retained 10% of back as they learned from what they read, 26% from anything they hear, and 30% from what they see. When learning modes are combined, a significant 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 considerable learning as they quite simply do a single. Simply reading the characters are not enough. Learners must associate the sound with the characters, make a connection is not characters to create them memorable, and practice recalling the newly learned characters.
Study means that recalling new characters learned improves learning retention and reinforces understanding the concepts of. One way learn the correct this can be using an app for instance The Intelligent Flashcards. This specific unit flashcard app is manufactured for the New Practical Chinese Reader textbooks, making it convenient to review characters based on chapters. Simply does it show stroke order animation, it one more accompanied by native speaker sound files, making this app the more convenient that another app regarding example Anki. With Anki, although user will 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 widely used in context. This can performed by observing real-life conversations to supplement the textbook and audio tracks conversation. It is interesting to remember that pupils studied in the abovementioned research were often unwilling to adopt the educational strategies recommended by the instructors, because watching Chinese TV shows or listening Chinese songs. There could be many reasons why you are this. The style of the shows or songs can not appeal to your learners.
To be able to this program is considerably less convenient. And even if the shows might be accessed online, rarely are they subtitled in either both Chinese and English which would make the shows more employed to beginner learners in getting the language. Also, most on the very popular Chinese Tv fall in the historical genre, which can be a favourite among the Chinese, for instance The Empress of Singapore. However, the language spoken in this type of TV show is somewhat more complex than the contemporary spoken Chinese.
