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Using a Dictionary

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IN THIS LESSON
ID: 0220 Intermediate
With 80,000 total characters (and the majority of words needing at least 2), you might enlist some help along the way. Yes, ChinesePod will be with you (always), but for those times that we’re enjoying the Shanghai life and can’t be reached, a dictionary might come in handy. So handy, in fact, that we made a lesson on it. In this podcast, you will learn about the different parts of the Chinese character, and how to talk about them in Mandarin Chinese.
Sun Aug 20 2006 | Jenny, John
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Detailed Vocabulary
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SIMPLIFIED PINYIN ENGLISH  
查 chá to look up
字典 zìdiǎn dictionary
根据 gēnjù according to
部首 bùshǒu character radical
我现在正在学习查中文字典，可是我觉得好难。
wǒ xiànzài zhèngzài xuéxí chá zhōngwén zìdiǎn ，kěshì wǒ juéde hǎo nán 。
I am learning how to look up Chinese characters in a dictionary, but it's really tough.
别担心，根据字的部首来查字典，一定要先弄清楚字的结构和部首。
bié dānxīn ，gēnjù zì de bùshǒu lái chá zìdiǎn ，yīdìng yào xiān nòng qīngchu zì de jiégòu hé bùshǒu 。
Don't worry. You look up a character according to its radical, but first you have to be clear about the character's structure and radical.
我就是这样做的呀。我首先分析这个字是左右结构还是上下结构，然后再查找它的部首，可还是经常找不到。
wǒ jiùshì zhèyàng zuò de yā 。wǒ shǒuxiān fēnxī zhège zì shì zuǒyòu jiégòu háishi shàngxià jiégòu ，ránhòu zài cházhǎo tā de bùshǒu ，kě hái shì jīngcháng zhǎobudào 。
That's exactly the way I do it. I start by analyzing whether a character is structured left/right or top/bottom, then look for its radical. Still, I often can't find the character.
是吗？你一定要先确定正确的部首，数清部首的笔画数。如果笔画数错了，就找不到了。
shì ma ？nǐ yīdìng yào xiān quèdìng zhèngquè de bùshǒu ，shǔ qīng bùshǒu de bǐhuà shù 。rúguǒ bǐhuà shǔ cuò le ，jiù zhǎobudào le 。
Really? You have to determine the correct radical, and count the number of strokes in the radical. If the number of the strokes is wrong, you won’t be able to find it.
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