What's in a Chinese Character?

Pictogram and Radical

Many people skip the Chinese characters when they learn Chinese.

They would use Mandarin pinyin as notations, and learn only to speak and listen.

This is no doubt a good way to begin learning and using language. It is convenient, as you can put whatever that you have learned into practice immediately.

Unfortunately, pinyin is only a notation system for the Mandarin phonetics, and has a great limitation. Many Chinese words share same pronunciations. Sooner or later you would get confused, if you rely only on sound to learn the language.

Same sound, different words

For example, the word lì can be pronounced as

利 – profit, benefit
立 – to stand up
丽 – being beautiful
力 - energy

If you are serious about learning Chinese, you'd have to learn the Chinese character sooner or later. So learn to appreciate them now, even if your intention is only to speak at this stage.

Learn to appreciate Chinese characters

Chinese characters are beautiful.

If you take a closer look, you will realize that each of them is a piece of art, a wonderful painting.

Some learner of the Chinese language are daunted by their complexity. This could partly due to the fact that they cannot find any hint of pronunciation in them.

The fact is: the Chinese characters function in the different way. Unlike the alphabet based languages, they are based not on sound, but visual.

If you would jump out from the habitual way of learning new words by alphabet and sound, you would be able to appreciate the beauty of the Chinese characters more, and thereby mastering the characters quicker.

Here, we would like to draw your attention to the following features of the Chinese characters:

Read about simplified and traditional Chinese.