Chinese Characters

Overview

A step-by-step program for understanding Chinese symbols

A systematic, building block-style plan for mastering the most daunting aspect of learning Chinese—how to remember the meaning of more than 2,000 of the most common characters—is provided in this handbook. Beginning with the simplest of strokes, such as those for numbers, scepter, and earth, and progressing to the extremely complex, such as destroy, insert, and mouse, this manual presents a methodology employing memory techniques to associate meanings with the characters’ visual components. A sequence of numbered panels displays each character in two font styles, and a notation in the adjacent margin describes the character’s pinyin pronunciation. Graphics that identify the components or characters from which the featured characters are drawn, and a listing of both the names of these root components, and the panel numbers that cite their location in the book augment the presentation. Beginners will be best served by using this guide in conjunction with the development of language skills, while those who are familiar with the language will find this book to be a comprehensive reference and refresher.

Author Biography

Alan Hoenig is a professor of mathematics at the John Jay College of the City University of New York. He is the author of Finite Mathematics and TeX Unbound. He lives in New York City.