Learning Chinese Characters - by Alison Matthews & Laurence Matthews (Paperback)

About the Book

"All 800 characters in Level A of the official 'Outline of HSK Vocabulary' and all 1,033 Level A compounds are covered"--P. [4] of cover.

Book Synopsis

This user-friendly book is aimed at helping students of Mandarin Chinese learn and remember Chinese characters.

At last--there is a truly efficient and enjoyable way to learn Chinese characters! This book helps students to learn and remember both the meanings and the pronunciations of over 800 characters. This otherwise daunting task is made more accessible by the use of techniques based on the psychology of learning and memory. Fundamental principles include the use of visual imagery, the visualization of short "stories," and the systematic building up of more complicated characters from basic building blocks.

Although Learning Chinese Characters is a comprehensive book intended for students, it can be used by anyone with an interest in Chinese characters, without any prior knowledge of Chinese. It can be used alongside (or after, or even before) a course in the Chinese language. All characters are simplified (as in mainland China) but traditional characters are also given, when available.

Key features:

• Specially designed pictures and stories are used in a structured way to make the learning process more enjoyable and effective, reducing the need for rote learning to the absolute minimum.
• The emphasis throughout is on learning and remembering the meanings and pronunciations of the characters. Tips are also included on learning techniques and how to avoid common problems.
• Characters are introduced in a logical sequence, which also gives priority to learning the most common characters first.
• Modern simplified characters are used, with pronunciations given in pinyin. Key information is given for each character, including radical, stroke-count, traditional form, compounds, and guidance on writing the character.

This is a practical guide with a clear, concise and appealing layout, and it is well-indexed with clear lookup methods. The 800 Chinese characters and 1,033 compounds specified for the original HSK 1-3 proficiency tests are covered.

Review Quotes

"Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters by Alison Matthews and Laurence Matthews is an excellent beginners book! I really wanted to learn this for making some fun and beautiful cards and messages on scrapbook pages! Plus, the bonus of learning characters in Chinese! I know how popular characters are for tattooing and always wondered how about making some decorative cards with a character or few to design it!" --Test Try Results blog

"A great Memorization Tool for Characters." --Virginialynn.hubpages.com blog

"I highly recommend this approach to learning Chinese characters, especially for those who aren't native speakers and need motivation in the learning process." --8Asians.com blog

"Outstanding approach for mnemonics to learn the Chinese characters. Easy and well structured, it builds on itself. Generally, I can read about half the Chinese characters I see now, and I have a framework for learning the remainder. A great place to start Mandarin studies." --Goodreads

"Studying Chinese characters is an exercise in getting individual masses of strokes to form meaning in one's mind. Learning Chinese Characters: A Revolutionary New Way to Learn and Remember the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters, published by Tuttle, helps this process with a comprehensive method using story and image." --Vision Times blog

"The teaching strategy of this book uses mnemonics for Chinese character learning. It introduces the formation methods of Chinese characters and breaks down the characters to basic parts (radicals). This is a good teaching resource and reference for non-native speaking parents." --Miss Panda Chinese

"When I got Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters, I immediately knew that I had found the answers to all those years of searching. This book is everything I would have wished for learning basic Chinese." --Hanban.com blog

About the Author

Alison Matthews is a statistician who has worked in the oil, aviation, tourism, medical and software industries.

Laurence Matthews is the author of the Kanji Fast Finder and Chinese Character Fast Finder books.