來字哪裡 / Laizinali
One of the biggest obstacle for many Chinese learners is Chinese characters. Those square symbols seam so mysterious and intricate, so different from the alphabet system that many European languages share. I’m not discouraging you here but I have to say: yeah, you are right. It is quite difficult to memories the whole lot of them. Any practicing on a grid with a pencil is boooooring.
But here is something in our elephant store, to make learning Chinese characters much more fun: Laizinali character stamps. With only 6 pieces of transparent stamps, you can create any character that you come across with, simplified or traditional. You can also be creative and find the best composition and design.
Another tips for those who are just curious about the characters but not the language. You know it’s possible to learn the symbols without knowing anything about the language? That’s how Japanese adapted Chinese characters into their writing system thousands of years ago.
“ EXAMPLE ”
上 This is the symbol for up.
下 This is the symbol for down.
Now read this sentence: My home is 上 the mountain. My office is 下 the mountain. When I go to work I go 下 the mountain. Now I go home I go 上 the mountain.
You can understand right?
Now here is the character for mountain 山，try again :
My home is 山上. My office is 山下. When I go to work I go 下山. Now I go home I go 上山.
The positioning of the characters might not be logical according to your language but you still can understand the meaning of the sentence right? That’s how Chinese characters function. It’s not phonetical but visual. A bit like Arabic numerals. We use them now in any language and cultural context. Chinese characters used to be adapted to many languages the way they are kept in modern Japanese. In Vietnam, Korea, and other south and east Asian countries. It was not until recently that Chinese characters disappeared from Korean newspapers and school curriculums. So if you are good at visual learning, why not take the challenge and learn some characters? It will come in handy one day if you travel to China.
Do you still think learning Chinese characters is impossible?