How to Learn Chinese Characters

There are many ways to learn how to read Chinese. One of the more readily available options is through the use of a Chinese tuition provider. Engaging a tutor who is fluent in the Chinese language will significantly expedite your learning process. However, there are many different methods of providing Chinese tuition and they are not all equal. 

Some might believe that the easiest and quickest way to learn such a complex language would be by focusing your learning on the most common words, as those are the ones you will hear or see the most often. But since there are about 2,000 characters that you would need to be able to recognize before being truly ready to read Chinese, the proper order you choose to learn the Chinese language in will be a huge factor in your progress and in your success.

Be aware that there are between 4,000 and 5,000 total characters in the Chinese language. With a language this complex in both sound and meaning, learning Chinese is a tremendous undertaking and should be approached with a solid grasp on a proper and thorough method of absorption before beginning. 

The best tutors will suggest instead that you focus on learning the basic components of the Chinese language first. The basic structure of the Chinese language, from a written character standpoint, can look the same and cause confusion in your early learning days.

After spending some time learning the basic components of the Chinese characters, it would be wise to next focus on the phonetic similarities within the language. There are groups of words that sound phonetically alike in the Chinese language, and learning them together will help you to easily overcome their similarities early in the learning process so that you can avoid confusion later down the road.

Additionally it is extremely valuable to learn similar components at the same time to minimize confusion when a character looks too much like another one. The characters for ‘eye’ and ‘ear’ are very similar and are, therefore, frequently confused. More complex characters also have a tendency to look alike, such as the characters for ‘courage’ and ‘respect.’

Utilizing a Chinese tuition provider will streamline your learning curve and help you with both the written characters and the verbal component of this beautiful, yet complex language. It would be prudent to interview a potential tutor first to confirm their approach and methodology to learning the language. Should you hire a tutor who prefers to focus on the most common, or more frequently used, words then you may find that you end up with unavoidable confusion later in the learning process by not having learned similar characters together in groups.

There are also books available to assist you in your quest to learn the Chinese characters. Books such as Fun with Chinese Characters may serve you well as you study the meaning and the structure of each character. This book is well known for its stories and illustrations to help with overall retention of the information being absorbed.

Whether you hire a tutor, study on a website, take a class or purchase a book, learning the Chinese language is a lofty and worthy endeavor. Be sure that you are prepared for the number of hours of studying and the homework needed to learn the language properly. You’ll spend many, many hours learning but it will be a wondrous journey with a magnificent gift of knowledge at the end.