大家好,
Chinese characters are fascinating and beautiful, but they can also be daunting and confusing for beginners. Today I’ll show you the skill I learned to make learning characters easier.
If you have ever tried to learn Chinese characters from scratch, you might have felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of strokes, shapes, and meanings. You might have even given up on learning characters altogether and focused only on listening and speaking skills.
The key to learning characters is to break them down into smaller components. Just like we break English words down into letters we can do something similar with Chinese characters.
There are different ways to deconstruct characters into smaller “chunks” but a common way is radicals or 部首(bùshǒu).
Although not perfect, radicals are a convenient and easy-to-understand way to dissect characters into building blocks. This makes learning characters more digestable and they can also give hints about the meaning or pronunciation of a character.
Let’s dive in.
PS This month I’m helping a few students 1-on-1 get conversational in Chinese. If you want help message me or email me at danyopang@gmail.com.
What are Chinese Radicals?
A Chinese radical is a graphical component of a Chinese character that was created to aid in looking up characters in traditional Chinese dictionaries.
As learners, we can take advantage of this indexing system to break down characters and draw patterns that can make learning characters easier.
There are 214 radicals in total, each with its shape and meaning. Some common examples of radicals are also characters such as “人” (rén - person), “木” (mù - tree), “水” (shuǐ - water), and “口” (kǒu - mouth).
By combining different radicals, you can create thousands of different characters. For example, the character “休” (xiū - rest) is made of two radicals: “人” (rén - person) and “木” (mù - tree). It means a person resting by a tree.
How to Recognize More Characters with Radicals
One of the benefits of learning radicals is that they help you recognize more characters, even if you have never seen them before.
Many radicals have meanings related to specific themes or categories. For example, the radical “水” (shuǐ - water) is often found in characters that have something to do with water or liquid. By identifying the radical, you can make educated guesses about the meaning of unfamiliar characters.
The radical “水” (shuǐ - water) sometimes changes its shape when it appears as part of a character. It becomes “氵”. So whenever you see “氵” in a character, you know it is related to water or liquid.
For example, look at these characters that all contain the radical “氵”:
河 (hé - river)
汗 (hàn - sweat)
泡 (pào - bubble)
海 (hǎi - sea)
Can you see how they are all connected to water or liquid?
By learning radicals, you can significantly increase the number of characters you can potentially recognize.
How to Learn Vocabulary Faster with Radicals
Another benefit of learning radicals is that they help you learn vocabulary faster.
Once you recognize a radical in a character, you can easily recognize the same radical in other characters. This helps you build connections between similar characters, memorize them faster, and expand your vocabulary more efficiently.
For example, if you know that the radical “心” (xīn - heart) means emotion or feeling, you can easily remember these characters that contain it:
快 (kuài - happy)
怕 (pà - afraid)
想 (xiǎng - think)
愛 (ài - love)
Can you see how they are all related to emotion or feeling?
By learning radicals, you can speed up your vocabulary acquisition and improve your retention.
Download 214 Radical Guide
Now that you know how important and useful radicals are, you might be wondering how to learn them all.
Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.
I’ve created a free guide for all 214 radicals with their meanings, pinyin, example characters, and flashcards. You can download it here.
The page is hosted in Notion, a free and powerful notetaking app. Sign up for a free Notion account if you haven't already yet. Click “Duplicate” in the top right corner of the page to copy the guide into your database.
Exercise:
Use this guide as a reference and a tool to help you learn radicals effectively. You don’t have to memorize all 214 radicals at once. The goal is to become familiar with them and recognize them when you encounter new characters.
Browse through the radicals and their associated characters in the guide. Do you see any that you already know? Do you see any patterns or similarities? Review this guide regularly to strengthen your radical knowledge and recognition.
Moving Forward
Before I learned radicals, characters seemed like random and complicated symbols without any logic or order. Learning radicals is what changed my perspective and made me appreciate the beauty and wisdom of Chinese characters.
Once you see the patterns, you will never forget them.
But learning characters in isolation is just the first step to mastering Chinese. For a holistic approach, I recommend learning Chinese phrases from real-life material and conversations. I show you how to do that in the Copy Paste Speaking Course.
If you want more personal help, this month I’m helping a few students with a case study to get you conversational with personalized feedback. If you want help message me or email me at danyopang@gmail.com.
精益求精,
Danyo
PS Here are some other ways I can help you level up your Chinese:
Copy Paste Speaking Course: The self-directed system I used to learn to get conversational, improve my listening and pronunciation and speak Chinese like native speakers
Language Learner OS: This is a digital system to help organize your language studies, track vocabulary, build connections, stay productive, and learn faster!
Refer friends, get free rewards!
If you’re enjoying The Mando Press, will you take 6 seconds and forward this edition to a friend?