Museum of Knowledge is often asked what is the best way to learn Chinese characters? There is no shortcut for time and effort, but the following considerations offer a useful way for any learner to understand the Chinese writing system.
Regular Practise of Strokes
Repetition of characters by following stroke patterns can help students to learn Chinese characters more quickly.
Learning Chinese Characters Alongside the Spoken Language
If one is learnt without the other, this could generate a disconnect between the learner’s spoken Chinese and written Chinese. Learning Chinese characters and speaking the language at the same time improves the learner’s tones and pronunciation.
Learning Radicals
Chinese characters are composed of radicals, which connote the meaning of a word, as well as its pronunciation. For instance, the character ‘切’, which means ‘cut’, is composed of two radicals: ‘七’ or ‘qī’ and ‘刀’. The former denotes the pronunciation of the word, while the latter signals its meaning. Together, they are pronounced as ‘qiē’. Radicals for the basic principles of Chinese characters; hence, Chinese language learners need to be familiar with some of the basic characters in order to master the language.
With Chinese now an important language for business, it is important for language students to learn Chinese characters, as this could be of great advantage in the pursuit of a prosperous international business career.
