The right way 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 also a tonal language with four different tones, commonly marked with accent marks, and when unmarked represents the neutral tone. The accent marks are only available using furniture that is 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. hello in mandarin chinese essence, couple options many similar sounds with different 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 is not 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 simply can’t be related, the concise explaination the characters would be 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 unique way as the alphabetic sounds. There are unfamiliar sounds with regard to u with an umlaut () that sounds like a mix of I and u. Like every item and fixture unfamiliar, it leads to uncertainty and issue. Thus, knowing the challenges learners face is the most important step in devising effective learning strategies that directly affect their language accomplishments.
The Strategies Usually Learn Chinese Characters
Prof Ko-Yin Sung of Chinese Language Study from Utah State university conducted a search amongst non-heritage, non-Asian Far east learners and uncovered interesting results may be help future learners in forming an effective study procedure. Her study revolves all through most regularly employed Chinese character learning strategies and how those strategies affect the learners’ ability in understanding and producing the sound and the writing on the Chinese characters.
The study finds that among the top twenty most regularly used strategies, eight regarding are most typically associated with 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 in context.
4. Noting the tone and associating it with pinyin.
5. Observing the character and stroke order.
6. Visualising the letter.
7. Listening to the explanation of the smoothness.
8. Associating the character with previously learned nature.
The next six strategies are often increase learners’ understanding for this newly introduced character.
9. Converting the character into native language and finding an equivalent.
10. Looking in the textbook or dictionary.
11. Checking if brand new character is used a long time ago.
12. Trying to discover how intensive testing . used in conversation.
13. Using the character in sentences by mouth.
14. Asking how the smoothness could double in content.
However, learning strategies tossing the second diminish beyond those two learning stages. There are only three strategies implemented in memorising newly learned nature herself.
15. Saying and writing the character at one time.
16. Saying and picturing the character in your head.
17. Imply sound, visualising the character shape and meaning.
And presently there only one strategy applied in practising new characters.
18. Making sentences and writing them out.
And new characters are reviewed overall performance 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 are only to be most significant in increasing learner’s skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing of brand new characters. The four strategies are:
Writing the characters down
Observing the stroke order
Making association with a similar character
Saying and writing the smoothness repeatedly
Discussion
A research by Stice in 1987 showed that students only retained 10% of what they learned from what they read, 26% from the things they hear, and 30% from what they see. While studying modes are combined, a significant improvement in mastering retention is noted. Learning retention jumped to 50% when seeing and hearing are combined, and even higher at 70% when students say the materials these kind of are learning, and learning retention is at the highest at 90% when students say the materials these kinds of are learning as they do something. Simply reading the characters are not enough. Learners must associate the sound with the characters, develop a connection that isn’t characters come up with them memorable, and practice recalling the newly learned characters.
Study demonstrates that recalling new characters learned improves learning retention and reinforces understanding. One way allow your this will be by using an app with regard to example The Intelligent Flashcards. This particular flashcard app is suited for the New Practical Chinese Reader textbooks, making it convenient to review characters created from chapters. Not necessarily does it show stroke order animation, it one other accompanied by native speaker sound files, making this app so significantly more convenient that another app such as Anki. With Anki, although user can add personal notes on it, the sound file is not available and should be imported through another app.
Another important learning answer to incorporate is observing how the characters tend to be in framework. This can finished by observing real-life conversations to add to the textbook and audio files conversation. The time interesting to that individuals studied the particular abovementioned research were not wanting to adopt the training strategies recommended by the instructors, because watching Chinese TV shows or listening Chinese popular music. There could be many reasons that generate this. The fashion of the shows or songs cannot appeal to the learners.
To be able to this program is quite a bit less convenient. And even if the shows might accessed online, rarely a tick subtitled either in both Chinese and English which makes the shows more beneficial to beginner learners in acquiring the language. Also, most on the very popular Chinese Tv fall in the historical genre, which is really a favourite on the list of Chinese, with regard to The Empress of Asia. However, the language spoken in this type of TV show is a bit more complex compared to a contemporary spoken Chinese.
