How do I memorise Chinese Characters?

[hackinger]

Shi Tong wrote:

For example, while I use my own kind of memorisation skills to learn a word like "教", I still dont understand all the bits- I know the right hand side is someone holding a ...

Hi,

the Matthews book (Learning chinese characters) which has been already mentioned in this thread introduces the character 'teach' (教) as character #265 and the component filial piety (孝) is introduced just before as character #265a.

It is definitly helpful (I think) to study characters in the right order as it is done in the books by the two Matthews, Heisig et al. or Hoenig.

The mentioned web sites are great to get more information.

I am doing the Matthews book right now, currently at character 550 and adding 10 new ones per day. While the book is rather nicely organized it is still a lot of work and I have to review with Anki and Plecodict daily. Since I am a beginner learning Chinese on my own since mid May 2010 I will be able to give *my* final verdict on the method only in a few months.

Cheers

hackinger

[aristotle1990]

These three keep getting me: 宠庞宏. It's worse because of the words 庞大 and 宏大, which have similar meanings...

(It is easier in traditional, though: 寵龐宏.)

[roddy]

Reminds me, I used to think 宠物 was 笼物 - seemed to make perfect sense, a 动物 you keep in a 笼子. Oh, how we laughed. Well, I say 'we'. 'They', really.

[ironlady]

Why are you learning characters? To write (by hand), to write (by computer) or to read?

Your approach to "learning" them will differ depending on what your final goal(s) are, and in what order you prioritize your goals if there is more than one.

[prephil]

what does SRS mean?

[renzhe]

Spaced Repetition Software.

[Mai]

Repetition is important, though I don't think it will solve your issues. I think it will help you establish a bigger repertoire of characters to start off with, but in order to totally internalize the meanings of characters and to recognize them on-site, I think seeing them in context would help. Find resources where you can read the characters in context and you will soon not be AS troubled by the minor differences in characters.

Also, using characters to text or talk online is quite helpful. I suggest using online resources to build up how many characters you know (many of them have flashcard facilities) and then using them in context so that they become second nature. Chinese pod has flashcards, there are also lots of smart-phone apps that have the same, and Clavis Sinica has something called the Chinese voices project which has short articles with decent subject matter that can help solidify your knowledge.

[renzhe]

Repetition is important, though I don't think it will solve your issues. I think it will help you establish a bigger repertoire of characters to start off with, but in order to totally internalize the meanings of characters and to recognize them on-site, I think seeing them in context would help. Find resources where you can read the characters in context and you will soon not be AS troubled by the minor differences in characters.

This is very important and worth repeating.

Use flashcards and "dry" reviewing to keep vocabulary fresh in your mind, and then read, read, read.