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There must be an 'easy' systematic method of learning to read and write Mandarin?
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Chinese Learner -

Hi,

I've just started teaching myself Mandarin before I go there next year.

I've been trawling then net and bookshops looking for a systematic logical method to learn to read
and write Mandarin - is there. The closest I have come is:

Cracking the Chinese Puzzles: Primer and Singletons
by T. K. Ann (Author)

a book I came across in a bookshop and some kids videos:

edit: link removed

that talks about a system devised by BaiShuangfa? Anyone heard of this person - I can't find
details about him on the net - maybe I'm not spelling his name properly?

Anyone have any ideas about an 'easy system' that I can find in any medium i.e. book, CD-ROM or
DVD to learn how to read and write?

If I had the money I would buy the kids videos!

Thanks!!



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Chinese Learner -

I presume you are not allowed to put links on this forum?










myrhlyn -

it is boubtful you will learn to read and write much mandarin in one year. however here are three
books to assist you to read pinyin, pronounce the four tones, and english way to prononce the
words.
1) chinese in 10 minutes a day, author kershul, bilingual books inc. isbn-13: 978-0-944502-10-5
800 488 5068
2) chinese in plain english, boyle lafayette de mente, mcgraw-hill, isbn-13: 978-0-8442-8481-1
3) the everything speaking mandarin chinese book, john-francis grasso, adams media, isbn-13:
978-1-59337-723-6
also when you arrive china go to the retain electronics area and spend the apx. $300USD to buy a
pocket translator that will translate both english and mandarin. it will be the most useful money
you will spend.
china is better away from the major cities along the coast. you will rarely not find someone who
wants to practice their english. remember to be slow and patient. the two languages are not
compatible.
good luck and enjoy.










kmmorr -

There's no "easy" way to learn Chinese characters, unless you have a photographic memory, or just,
I guess, a really really really good memory.

While there is nothing particularly difficult about learning an individual character, there are,
you know, thousands of them. The main issue with learning characters then is not the ease with
which you learn them, but the time which you need to spend in order to learn all the necessary
ones.

Devoting a certain amount of time everyday to studying (using both flashcards and repetitive
writing by hand) is the only real, tried-and-true way to learn hanzi. I'd suggest using a
flashcard program like mnemosyne. You can also buy this book, which has all the most commonly used
characters. Just make sure you get either the simplified or traditional character edition,
depending on where you plan on going.

Also, generally speaking, I wouldn't trust anything, anywhere, that suggests it provides an easy
path to learning hanzi or, for that matter Chinese (or, for that matter, any language).










imron -



Quote:

I presume you are not allowed to put links on this forum?

Links from new members, especially in their first post, and especially to sites promoting/selling
systems for learning Chinese are treated with suspicion, and usually removed. Once a member has
made several posts and admin can see that they're not just a sock-puppet, links are no problem
(remembering of course that disclosure is recommended if you link to a website/product you are
associated with).










Chinese Learner -

Hi,

I know that it will take a long time but what I mean is:

Is there a 'method' that teaches the reason why characters are constructed the way they are and
therefore makes it more efficient to learn to read and write.

In other words rather than learning characters in a random manner is there a 'logical system'
behind why characters are written the way they are? And to learning?

The book I came across in the bookshop: 'Cracking the Chinese Puzzles: Primer and Singletons by T.
K. Ann' stated that there was a 'logic' behind why characters were written the way they were
therefore the book was saying it had a more efficient method to learn how to read and write.

I'm not looking for miracles as I know it takes a long time (7-10 years I've been told) but I am
just trying to see if there is a 'method' as opposed to just having to collect characters one by
one.










Chinese Learner -

Is there any particular brand of '$300USD pocket translator' you would recommend?

Do you mean a talking translator or do you mean a Palm Pilot or such like?

Thanks










myrhlyn -

i bought the "besta" model S703-uses the oxfordking of translation-has the key board as well as
touch screen, and write tool so others can write characters on screen. it is an mazing little
machine and is internet capable, comes with white plastic hard case and cloth soft cover-paid just
under $300 USD










CheukMo -

I have two books that I think will help you with learning characters and their "logic". The logic
is based on what are called "radicals" which are the base (or bases) of characters and words.

The first one is: Read and Write Chinese: ISBN 0-941340-11-2. It deals with single characters and
their radicals.
The second one is: Understanding Chinese: ISBN 0-941340-10-4. It deals with characters and how
they are combined to make words.

It has both Mandarin PinYin romanization and Cantonese Yale romanization to help you to pronounce
them. I'm learning, or trying to learn, Cantonese which is much less rational and logical than
Mandarin. I would say they would help a great deal with Mandarin. However, I would buy the
"Chinese in 10 minutes a day" as suggested by myrhlyn to get a basic grasp before I bought any
other materials. Just to "get my feet wet" so to speak

Good luck!

卓武










simonlaing -

Hi Learner,

It seemed from your title you were looking for tools to learn how to write CHinese. And in my
experience write chinese means write characters which normal chinese people use not the pinyin
that learners use solely for pronunciation purposes.

Most characters have two parts , one part is usually the sound part that other the meaning. Then
in addition these parts and others in the characters are radicals. (You could think of them as
letters, there are about 150-200 radicals that make up almost all characters. And of those 50 are
very, very common.

There are a couple of books that teach using this radical method.
The most popular is the New Practical Chinese Reader . It has 4 levels but just the first 2 use
radicals in teaching the writing. It the one used in most Universities in the US I think.

http://www.chinesetutor.net/Books/BK...nyukeben1.html

Another one that is also good, but harder to find is the "A key to Chinese spech and Writing"
By the french guy bellassen. He uses the radical method much more.
http://www.chinesetutor.net/Books/Bk...ndwriting.html

If you're in China these books should be easy to find in the local foreign language book store. If
you're abroad you might have to look around more.
These links you can buy the books, but don't as Amazon.com will have them cheaper and have shorter
shipping time as you won't be shipping from China. (Fair notice I run the website, but get all my
revenue from the Tutoring side of the website. I don't make much money on the books, but think
they are useful in teaching and learning. )

There are a few other books around, that occasionally talk about it Urban Chinese is one. Most
Chinese simpliy write the characters out 50 at a time because they are at such a young age that is
the way they learn. Most people use this rote method but I prefer learn the radiacals and learn
the characters as 3 radicals instead of 8 strokes (8 lines).

Good luck,
Simon

P.S. A friend told me a good saying about learning Chinese. Learning Chinese is a 5 year lesson in
patience. After 5 years you haven't quite learned Chinese, but you sure have learned patience. (It
only takes 3 years to get to a decent level so don't be worried)












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