Keys of Japanese characters. Hieroglyph structure: features, graphemes, complex characters
Let's start learning Chinese
About how popular and widespread the Chinese language is in our time, I have said more than once and I will not dwell on this. Let's talk today about how to learn chinese. This article is primarily aimed at beginner sinologists and those who are just thinking about becoming one. The Chinese language is difficult, it is a fact, but it is quite possible to master it. The main thing in this good deed is patience and perseverance.
Many books and articles have been written about how to learn Chinese. I believe that there are several main points that are worth paying attention to in order to clearly draw up a plan for learning this language.
First, you need to clearly understand for yourself what the Chinese language is. In principle, this is a collective concept, because in every corner of China they speak their own dialects, which can be so different that people simply do not understand each other. The only way to understand what it is about is to write it down, the hieroglyphs are the same throughout the country. Then how to learn Chinese when there are so many dialects, you ask. Don't worry, putonghua was developed on the basis of the most common dialects, which is used as the state language, which is what you need to learn.
Tonality of the Chinese language
The main specificity of the Chinese language is its tonality. It is with her that I advise you to start your training, because the sound components of the Chinese language are significantly different from ours. In Chinese, there are no letters familiar to us; the smallest unit is a syllable, which consists of several sounds. The Putonghua language has 414 syllables. Before you learn Chinese, you need to review all these syllables and learn their pronunciation. Pinyin facilitates this task - this is the Latin spelling of syllables.
After you understand the syllables, move on to studying tones. Tone is a characteristic of a syllable that determines its meaning. There are only four tones in Chinese. Thus, each syllable in Chinese has four pronunciation variations, and the meaning of what you say will depend on what intonation you pronounce it with, either rising or even.
Hieroglyphs and keys in Chinese
Since we have letters, characters in Chinese serve as a written unit. Their main difference from letters is that each hieroglyph carries a particular meaning. Basically, all words in Chinese writing are made up of just two characters. Until now, linguists cannot come to a common opinion regarding the number of hieroglyphs, they name numbers and 40-50 thousand, and sometimes even 80 thousand. But it is not necessary to know such a number of characters. For normal communication, it will be enough to own up to 5 thousand hieroglyphs.
Key table
Each character in Chinese consists of a certain set of keys and features. All keys have a meaning and sometimes can even be used as the simplest independent hieroglyph, but this is rare. Basically, they are used only as a component of the hieroglyph. In order to learn hieroglyphs in the future, you will need to learn all the keys and their meaning, otherwise you simply will not be able to understand the meaning of what you are studying.
So, how to learn Chinese, I think you at least understand a little. In the end, I want to summarize what has been said, highlighting the main points:
- be patient and tune in to serious work, most likely you will have to devote all your free time to studying Chinese;
- Get to know the syllables, remember how to pronounce each of them. I advise you to do this with an experienced teacher or even a native speaker;
- learning tonality;
- memorize the meaning and spelling of all the keys of Chinese writing. At the same time, the pronunciation can not be memorized, the only exceptions are those keys that can be used as independent hieroglyphs.
If you have a desire to start learning Chinese in China, then write to us by mail, call by phone or Skype. We are always in touch!
“Hieroglyphs?!? Oh no! How can you even remember them? Chinese is not for me!” Olga.
We get this kind of feedback all the time from our readers.
Here's another one, for example: “All my life I wanted to learn Chinese, but the hieroglyphs are remembered very badly […] I gave up everything…” Alexey L.
It's a pity when people give up on their dreams, simply because they face difficulties that seem insurmountable to them.
Do you have such thoughts? If yes, then be sure to read on!
Is it possible to easily learn and memorize hieroglyphs?
Yes, I do not argue, hieroglyphs are one of the biggest stumbling blocks in mastering Chinese. But consider: Over a billion Chinese have been able to master them. Use them every day! And believe me, not all of them are seven spans in the forehead. If they can do it, you definitely can!
I have 2 news for you: one is good, the other too.
1. If you use the right approach, Chinese writing will no longer seem so inaccessible. Main understand the basic principles: how hieroglyphs are built, where they get their meaning from and how they are pronounced. Deal with it - half the battle is done.
2. The more hieroglyphs you know, the easier it will be to memorize new ones.
Where to begin?
Ideally, learn the principles of hieroglyphics and at the same time gain vocabulary.
And today we will study the first principle, on the basis of which many basic hieroglyphs were formed: “The principle of the picture”. According to him, the hieroglyph is as similar as possible to the object that it depicts.
And to illustrate this principle, today we will study with you 10 easiest Chinese characters.
They are easy to remember and learn to write, and most importantly, they will often appear in various Chinese texts and will help you master even more characters in the future.
1. 一 yī
What does it mean: It is, without a doubt, the simplest character in Chinese. It is not difficult to guess that it means the number "one".
How to remember: in this hieroglyph, the logic is obvious: the Chinese put one stick on the ground, which means one.
Here we add two more obvious hieroglyphs:
Two sticks, that's two 二 èr;
Three sticks, that's three 三 sān.
Example: Of course, hieroglyphs by themselves are useless to us if we don't know how to use them. Therefore, let's immediately make a couple of words and expressions, and start talking little by little.
十一 shí yī eleven (ten + one);
十三 shí sān thirteen;
二十 èr shí twenty (two dozen);
我要一个。wǒ yào yī gè I want one piece (use when shopping).
2. 人 ren
What does it mean: This hieroglyph means Human.
How to remember: Imagine that a head is drawn above the hieroglyph, and add 2 feet to the legs, and voila, you get a person.
How do you spell: First write the line to the left, and then from its center to the right. Remember that we write all hieroglyphs from top to bottom.
Example:
一个人 yī gè rén one person.
他是什么人? tā shì shénme rén - who is he?
3. 入 ru
What does it mean: Very similar to the person 人, but in no case should they be confused. 入 rù means enter.
How to remember: This hieroglyph originally had the meaning "outside - inside" and depicted the tip of a knife or arrow blade, which pierced or ENTERed into some object.
How do you spell: First, write a small dash to the left, and then starting a little higher, write a dash to the right. We write from top to bottom.
Example:
入口 rùkǒu entrance;
入大学 rù dàxué to go to university.
4. 日 rì
What does it mean: This is the Sun. And when we see the sun, what time of day is it? That's right, day. So this Sun or day.
How to remember: There were times when this hieroglyph was written as a circle, with a dot in the center. With the development of writing, it acquired a modern look and ceased to be so obvious. And yet, we look at the square with a line and see the sun disk with a halo around it.
How do you spell: First, we write a left vertical line from top to bottom. Then the top and right lines from left to right and down without taking your hands off. Last we write horizontal lines in the center and below. Both strokes are written from left to right.
Example:
一月一日 yī yuè yī rì the first of January (first day of the first month).
By the way, how will the third of March be?
5. 山 shān
What does it mean: in its form, this hieroglyph is also similar to what it means: mountain.
How to remember: We see three mountain peaks on the horizon.
How do you spell: First, write a short left stroke from top to bottom and continue it from bottom to right. Then write the highest stroke in the middle and the right stroke a little lower. All vertical lines are written from top to bottom.
Example:
山口 shānkǒu pass, entrance to the gorge;
上山 shàng shān to climb mountains.
6. 口 kǒu
What does it mean: This character has different meanings, the most common are mouth And entrance.
How to remember: A very simple hieroglyph - like many basic hieroglyphs, it was a direct image of an object, so it is easy to remember it. We look at the square, we see an open mouth.
How do you spell: Same as 日 rì, only without the dash in the middle. By the way, a little check, what is 日？
Example:
大口 dà kǒu big mouth, big mouth;
出口 chū kǒu exit. By the way, do you remember what the "entrance" will be? – 入口;
人口 rén kǒu population.
7. 中zhōng
What does it mean: This is a hieroglyph center, inside, middle.
How to remember: Its meaning is indicated by a line that is located exactly in the center.
How do you spell: Same as 口 kǒu, only more rectangular. Why add a middle bar from top to bottom.
Example:
中午 zhōngwǔ noon (midday);
中国人 zhōng guó rén Chinese (a person from the middle state, i.e. from China);
中医 Chinese medicine.
8. 火 hǔo
What does it mean: You may have thought that this is a man who waves his arms? But no, this fire.
How to remember: Remember what a fire looks like from small logs and with flames rising up? Now look at this hieroglyph - one to one!
How do you spell: First left, then right "tongues of flame", and then as 人 rén.
Example:
大火 dà hǔo fire;
火山 hǔo shān volcano;
火车 hǔo chē train (fire wagon).
9. 女nǚ
What does it mean: This woman.
How to remember: Initially, a woman was depicted on her knees. Now we can see in this hieroglyph a head, hands, two legs and an elegant “back” part.
How do you spell: There are 3 lines in this hieroglyph: the first line from the head smoothly passes into the leg to the right, then we write the second leg to the left. And finally, hands - from left to right.
Example:
女人 nǚ rén woman;
女厕所 nǚ cèsuŏ female toilet.
10. 门men
What does it mean: This door.
How to remember: This character, especially in the traditional spelling 門, is very similar to the doorway in old Chinese houses. If you don’t know what the doors looked like in China, then remember the doors to the saloons in cowboy films.
And this hieroglyph often becomes a phonetic, i.e. helps us to learn the reading of the hieroglyph without looking into the dictionary (but we will talk about this in more detail another time).
How do you spell: first, a small dot-line in the upper left corner, then a vertical line down from it, and finally, the third line - horizontally and down, without taking your hands off.
Example:
门口 mén kǒu entrance, exit, gate;
开门 kāi mén to open the door;
入门 rù mén to enter the door (it can also be used figuratively: to start, to start).
Successful practice!
Svetlana Khludneva
P.S. Take care of yourself!
Let's see what they are made of. Traits and Chinese character keys- the main components of hieroglyphs that will help you unravel the mystery of this mysterious script.
Features of Chinese characters
Take a closer look at the hieroglyphs: 如何写象形文字.
Each hieroglyph consists of separate lines, which are called traits. The number of lines in hieroglyphs can be from one to 20-30 pieces. For example, the character 一 - yī - one consists of one horizontal line.
But there are hieroglyphs-record holders for the number of features. For example, a hieroglyph consisting of 84 lines means "a kind of dragon in flight." It is composed of three hieroglyphs for "cloud", and three hieroglyphs for "dragon".
Each stroke is written in a certain direction - from top to bottom or (and) from left to right.
In total there are several main features (see figure).
When several lines are written together (without taking the pen off the paper), complex lines are obtained, which are called ligatures.
Ligatures may begin with horizontal or other strokes. When counting strokes in a character, the ligature is counted as one stroke. Below are the tables of ligatures.
Now you can distinguish individual features in each character: 如何写象形文字.
Graphemes and keys of Chinese characters
There is another element of the hieroglyph - grapheme. A grapheme is a kind of mini-hieroglyph. A grapheme can itself be an independent hieroglyph (but not always), or it can be part of a hieroglyph. An example is 妈 = 女 + 马.
There are graphs keys- these are graphemes that are associated with the meaning of the hieroglyph. The rest of the character is called phonetician- that is, the defining sound.
So, the hieroglyph consists of graphemes and individual features.
You also need to take into account that there are traditional hieroglyphs (operating in Taiwan, Korea), and simplified ones (operating in the PRC).
For traditional characters, a table of 214 keys is usually given. For simplified ones, tables of 170-180 keys were compiled.
You can download for yourself a table of 214 hieroglyphs (the table consists of 2 parts).
Keymap (continued)
Structure of hieroglyphs.
According to the method of formation, hieroglyphs are of the following types:
pictographic, ideographic, phonographic.
Pictographic hieroglyphs are the simplest hieroglyphs. In them we can find an echo of the form of the denoting object, for example, 口， 心，日 。
Ideographic characters are made up of two simple characters, such as 信.
Phonographic hieroglyphs consist of a key and a phonetic. The key conveys the distant meaning of the hieroglyph (rather, even the group to which the hieroglyph is related), and the phonetic conveys the sound of the hieroglyph and does not carry a meaning.
Most often, the key is located on the left, above and below the hieroglyph, and the phonetic is on the right, but options are possible.
For example, the character 枝 branch consists of the key "tree" and the phonetic "zhi".
About 80% of Chinese characters are phonographic.
In total, there are 214 keys in Chinese. Knowing them all by heart is completely optional, but it is advisable to remember the most common ones.
List of the most common Chinese character keys:
List of some phonetics:
possible readings: cun
小 possible readings: sun, xiao
每 possible readings: mei
羊 possible readings: yang, xian
银 possible readings: yan, yin, hen, gen.
重 possible readings: tuan, zhong
谁 possible readings: shei, shui, tui
Why do we need to know the main keys and phonetics?
Keys are necessary for at least an approximate understanding of the meaning, which makes it possible to guess the meaning of the word.
We may need phonetics in situations where we need to guess the pronunciation of a word. It may also come in handy when we need to look up a word in the dictionary, but we can't use the search by style. For example, we need to know the meaning of the character: 银. By the key, you can understand that the word has something to do with metal. The phonetic can be read as yan, yin, hen, gen. Looking through these combinations, we can easily find the word 银 - yín silver.
EXERCISES
1) Name the meaning of the key and, accordingly, guess the semantic category of the hieroglyph
- 洋
key is water, value is ocean
- 钱
the key is metal, the meaning is "money"
- 惊
the key is the heart, the meaning is to be afraid
- 热
the key is fire, the meaning is "hot"
- 筷
Key - Bamboo, Meaning - "Chopsticks"
- 馆
key is food, meaning is "restaurant"
- 让
key - speech, meaning - "yield"
2) Guess about the possible pronunciation of the hieroglyph by phonetics:
- 跟
possible phonetic pronunciations: yan, yin, hen, gen. Character pronunciation: gēn
- 鲜
possible phonetic pronunciations: yang, xian. Character pronunciation: xiān
- 畽
possible phonetic pronunciations: tuan, zhong. Character pronunciation: tuǎn
- 梅
possible pronunciations phonetics: mei. Character pronunciation: mei
- 脽
possible phonetic pronunciations: shei, shui, tui. Character pronunciation: tuǐ
- 忖
possible pronunciations phonetics: cun. Character pronunciation: cǔn
- 锺
possible phonetic pronunciations: tuan, zhong. Character pronunciation: zhōng
- 洋
possible phonetic pronunciations: yang, xian. Character pronunciation: yang
- 推
possible phonetic pronunciations: shei, shui, tui. Character pronunciation: tuī
There is a strong opinion that learning Chinese is extremely difficult or almost impossible. Nevertheless, most linguists and experts specializing in China agree that for full communication, reading major newspapers and even many books, knowing just 3,000 characters is enough.
Each Chinese character is a separate syllable that can be pronounced in one of five keys. It is the tones of the Chinese language that are the most difficult to learn, because, as a rule, there are no analogues in the native language. Nevertheless, after a certain, sometimes short, practice, depending on the hearing of the student, there comes a moment when the tones begin to differ by ear. To write Chinese syllables taking into account tones, there is a Pinyin system based on the Latin alphabet.
First tone- pronounced high and even, like the squeak of a Morse code. Denoted by a straight line above the letter mā or simply ma1.
Second tone- ascending from medium to high, sounds like a peculiar question. Denoted má or ma2.
Third tone- low falling, and then rising to the average level. The tone is more like the Russian interjection "Well!?". Denoted mă or ma3.
fourth tone- falling from high to low, sounds like a kind of statement. Denoted by mà or ma4.
A syllable without a tone- is not indicated in any way and is pronounced without tonality.
But the specificity of China and its inhabitants is such that the reference pronunciation of syllables is not widespread everywhere, and even after driving 500 kilometers to another point in the country or talking with a representative of Chinese nationality anywhere else in the world, you risk being misunderstood. That is why the hieroglyphic record for the Chinese is as important, both within the country and abroad, as any common language of international communication in the world plays for people from other countries.
To learn Chinese, you need to know 214 key characters, according to which Chinese and Japanese characters are most often located in dictionaries. These 214 keys will help you easily navigate new and still unfamiliar hieroglyphs, quickly find their meaning in dictionaries and reference books, and even approximately guess the meaning and pronunciation of hieroglyphs.
Key signs refer to the following areas of knowledge:
Several key hieroglyphs.