5 Best Tips & 3 Apps for Learning Chinese Characters

Below we will introduce the 5 best tips for learning Chinese characters and 3 apps to teach you how to learn Chinese characters quickly. Learning Chinese characters is considered the most difficult challenge for language learners. Whether you are a native or non-native student, you will have difficulties learning Chinese characters.

Because the writing style of these words is complicated and the number of words is also long. Most Chinese dictionaries have 20,000 Chinese characters, which makes it difficult for students to remember all the characters. But we’ve found some tips to help you learn Traditional Chinese characters and remember them. Let us show you these techniques and their impact on your learning.

Part 1. 5 Best Tips to Learn Chinese Characters

Tip 1. Understand Radicals & Chinese Characters Meanings

If you are a Chinese student and learning this language, you must be aware of the radicals. In Chinese, radicals are the simplest characters that can’t be divided further. You can say that every word is combined by joining radicals. For learning Chinese characters, you should have a strong grip on radicals.

Most common Chinese radicals

You must learn the basic radicals and understand their meanings too. It will help you go ahead with your learning and have a strong basic. For example, “木 (mù)” and “斤 (jīn)” are two radical meanings of “wood” and “axe” that combine to form a new Chinese word, “析 (xī)” that means “to separate”. By memorizing the radicals, you can create multiple words and understand the combination of characters. 

Tip 2. Use Visual Memorizing Technique To Learn Chinese Character

Being a student, you must have an idea that visual content can be memorized quickly as compared to written content. It is an undeniable fact that the visual representation of anything leaves a deep impact. Instead of struggling with a long Chinese character list, you can also use visual memorizing techniques.

It can be done easily as you have to associate a character/word with something visual in your mind. For example, you can memorize the above-mentioned words easily when you keep them with their meanings in your mind as you can create an image for wood and axes. Similarly, the Chinese language has direct characters to name humans, trees, and other objects for which you can have a visual image in your mind. With this technique, you can easily learn Chinese characters and keep them in your memory.

Tip 3. Write & Read to Learn Chinese Character

In many institutes, the students are encouraged to read and write to memorize something repeatedly. Most Chinese schools adopt this technique to let their students learn the list of Chinese characters. A prominent proportion of people criticize this technique as it is considered an old-fashioned approach.

Be mindful that this technique can still be beneficial for learning Chinese characters. It is because you will be able to have experience in writing, reading, and memorizing the characters at the same time. You only need to learn to write Chinese characters to write them properly and read to memorize them. If you have no one in your surroundings, you can also read the words aloud to have an indirect impact on your memory.

Tip 4. Disjoint Words & Understand Radicals Of Chinese Character

As mentioned earlier, Chinese words are written by joining radicals. It means that you can disjoint the words into their radicals to understand what is written there and memorize those words. By doing so, you will not only be able to learn the most used characters but also other ones that are used in the common words.

For example, when you see the Chinese word “晰” meaning clear, you will be able to see that it is made up of two basic radicals. By splitting this word into its characters, you can extend your learning. It will be easy for you to memorize those radicals and then the word by joining them. Simply, it is right to say that you can disjoint words to enhance the library of radicals in your memory and the words too by joining them.

Part 5. Read Newspapers & Magazines to Learn Chinese Character

For many students, it is impossible to read newspapers and magazines or other forms of content written in Chinese unless they are proficient in this language. If you have this concept in your mind, you are wrong as it can help you in learning Chinese characters.

Keep in mind that not even a literate Chinese person knows 20,000 characters shared in the dictionaries. So, you don’t need to compare yourself with them and feel low if you know even 2000 characters. This library is enough to read the newspapers and then your learning will keep improving when you use smart moves to read from such papers.

Reading Chinese newspaper

The only thing you should care about is understanding the writing pattern of Chinese characters. It may be easy to understand if you keep on reading magazines regularly and try to use this approach for learning Chinese characters.

Part 2. 3 Best Platforms/Apps for Learning Chinese Characters

As mentioned earlier, learning Chinese characters isn’t an easy fate. You need proper guidance and instructions from well-qualified professionals. Here we have hand-picked a few best platforms from where you can learn and be a master of this language.

Wukong Education

On the top of the list, Wukong Education stands because of its effective teaching approaches and higher success ratio. This online platform has made the learning of Chinese language easier for everyone. You can start learning from anywhere in the world regardless of your location. The best thing about this platform is its effective teaching method that encourages students to learn from unique approaches. It doesn’t only encourage you to memorize characters but also instructs you through a visual learning approach. It is right to say that this online platform has made learning Chinese characters easier for everyone.

Mandarin Matrix

Another online platform for learning Chinese characters is the Mandarin Matrix. This online platform doesn’t only provide education in online classrooms. But you can also explore its library to extend your vocabulary. It means that you can learn the basics of this language from its classes and then go ahead with the book reading. You don’t need to get additional books or papers from the market. To let you analyze your progress, the platform also offers you tests yourself to test your learning progress and make sure you are getting better. If you are a dedicated learner, you can say learning Chinese characters from this platform will be more effective.

Lingbe

Have you ever thought about how it would be if you got a chance to speak to native speakers for learning Chinese characters? It will be great for sure because you will learn the characters, style, and pronunciation at the same time. Lingbe is a mobile application that offers a chance for learners to have this unique experience. Using this application, you can start real-time calls, join the Chinese community, and make friends to communicate with them. In short, it offers a fun way for learning Chinese characters instead of following the traditional way of teaching. 

Lingbe mobile application interface

Part 2. Can Writing Help Learn Chinese Characters?

Undoubtedly, writing can help you in learning Chinese characters. The most important point to consider in this regard is understanding the rules to write this language. Chinese characters are written using a specific rule called “Stroke Order” that demands the writer to write them in different ways.

Writing Chinese characters

It is right to say that the characters are written in every direction from left to right, top to bottom, and others. So, you should first understand the stroke order properly and write the words accurately. You will only be able to use this approach for learning Chinese and understanding how to write them if you know this order.

Part 8. FAQs About Learn Chinese characters

Q1. What is the easiest way to learn Chinese characters?

The easiest way of learning Chinese characters is by writing and reading them repeatedly.

Q2. How to memorize the Chinese characters?

You can follow multiple ways to learn Chinese characters but we recommend starting from radicals as it can help understand basic characters and their meanings.

Q3. How do people learn all the Chinese characters?

It is almost impossible to learn all Chinese characters for a literate person too. Mostly, Chinese people know only 5000 to 8000 characters but you can try learning Chinese characters by following the above tips.

Q4. Is 500 Chinese characters enough?

No, having a library of 500 Chinese characters in your memory isn’t enough. You should try learning more characters with the help of radicals you already know and have memorized.

Part 9. Summary

By reading this blog about learning Chinese characters, you must have an idea to proceed ahead. We have discussed the most effective approaches for easily learning Chinese characters.

You can follow these tips easily and understand as many characters as you want to extend your library of characters related to this language. Being a student, we recommend you to follow these tips strictly as they can be beneficial for you.