Confusing character traps - A collection

Thanks gesang, Here some more: http://forum.chinesepod.com/viewtopic.php?t=302&highlight=character

奇 [qi2] –odd, strange, wonderful (ex. 奇怪－ strange, odd) 奇 [ji1] - odd (number) 寄 [ji4] – send, mail, rely on (寄信－ mail a letter) 真 [zhen1] – real, true (ex. 认真 – serious, earnest) 直 [zhi2] – straight (ex. 一直 – always, continuosly) 平 [ping2] – flat, even, level (ex. 公平 －fair) 乎 [hu1] – interrogative particle (ex. 几乎 － almost, nearly)

took this from hennings list... 爪 [zhua3] – claw (ex. 爪子 － animals claw) 瓜 [gua1] – melon (ex. 黄瓜－ cucumber) (爬 [pa2] – crawl )

I do not want to stifle your enthusiasm, but I don't consider similar characters together to be a good idea. It might make you even more likely to confuse them due to an effect called Ranschburg Inhibition. Learning contents (学习内容) with many similarities may interfere, causing you to forget the distinction between them.

wow, never heard of that... don’t want to do any harm...think for my brain noting them is helpful... maybe i share it on request then... 格桑

I wouldn't worry that much if I were you.. I didn't want to disturb you. To elaborate on this issue a little further: This interference often happens in the case of homonyms/phones. I take it your mother tongue is German, so I'll take an example from that language - Contrasting the old orthography and the reformed variety, the student is bound to wonder which rules apply for the example at hand, e.g. whether "Rad fahren" or "radfahren" is correct. Soon after that, he encounters a similar case which doesn't abide by the same logic, but because of the similarity of the learning content, he reaches a wrong conclusion and might end up getting both examples wrong. Another example would be the distinction between the usage of the "will"- and "going to"-future, explained in one lesson. Or first learning Spanish and directly after that French vocabulary. Or those lovely words that even native speakers get wrong: their - there - their... That's the point where mnemonics are most efficient.

Here the case is different, as gesang is about to uncover phonetic groups - and thereby patterns that help wrestling down large blocks of characters. It does not disturb remembering, it much rather supports it, if you know that 蓝 and 篮 only differ by one radical that hints at the meaning while the rest tells you how it might be pronounced. [Bad conscience creeping up - yes, I know, and, yes, the character points will continue as soon as I am done with working through 88news].

BTW: I never felt confused with "radfahren". For esthetic reasons I kept it together. With most of the rest of this "reform" I obeyed the MS Word spell check. Now after the reform of the reform of the reform anything is possible, so I can go for beauty instead of for rule. :)

i think i am that bad in german grammar i dont even think about the difference between "radfahren" and "Rad fahren", at least everyone will understand both... and i mean the written one... writing 篮 instead of 蓝 causes more confusion..or maybe native chinese have similar problems? do you think whey would read 篮 as "blue" automatically if it fits in the context? i started this because i often think..oh, isnt this the blabla character also in the word blabla..and then i look it up and see its somethink close to it... so i started noting them..i am beginner..knowing there ARE two characters as similar as 篮 and 蓝 is therefore helpful to be allarmend next time i read something containing one of them... as i think you are far advanced in chinese, henning, it might not be that interesting for you... but as a thanks i post for you what i collected ( i got used to study chinese-english so i went on like this in my private notes): 咸 [xian2] - salty (ex. 咸水 - salt water) 成 [cheng2] – finish, complete (ex. 成立 -to establish) 行 [xing2]- go, walk, travel (ex.: 送行－ to see sb. off) 行 [hang2]- go, walk, travel (ex. 银行－ bank) 宫 [gao1] high, tall 高 [gong1] palace

gesang, I think what you are doing it *is* definately worth the time. Forget about that Ranschburg inhibition - this is about discovering patterns. And flaws in them. The similarities in characters are a downside of this language that we all fight with, and grouping them is the best way of attacking it. I would therefore definately recommend that you continue with your collection. It will pay off later. I am collecting myself. Besides: Any contribution here helps us all to piece that puzzle together, so thanks for your posts. Sidenote: 行 [xing2]- go, walk, travel (ex.: 送行－ to see sb. off) 行 [hang2]- go, walk, travel (ex. 银行－ bank) does not fit in that scheme, however, as it is indeed one character. It is a so called 多音字 (duōyīnzì) - a character with different pronounciations. Just like 了 which can become the dreaded le or the liǎo like in 了不起 (liǎobuqǐ - terrific). Or 长 that can be cháng (long) or zhǎng (grow, chief,...). In the lesson on the subject http://chinesepod.com/lessons/%E5%A4%9A%E9%9F%B3%E5%AD%97/ you find the play on words 长长长长长，长长长长长长长 which needs to be pronounced as cháng zhǎng cháng zhǎng chángcháng zhǎng ，zhǎng cháng zhǎng cháng zhǎngzhang cháng BTW: Unfortunately I am not as advanced as you suggest.

Thanks Henning, let's go on here anyway...pinyin is missing in your list ;-)! I thing putting pinyin and translation is quite useful for a summery, isn't it? 蓝 [lan2] – blue (ex. 蓝色 － blue) 篮 [lan2] – basket (ex. 篮球 － basketball) 盐 [yan2] - salt

i will come to that lesson you linked later...much later ;-)!

好【hao3】 good,nice,ok 好【hao4】 be fond of,like,interested in 舍【she3 】give up,to renounce,to abandon 舍【she4】 shack,hut,cabin 朝【chao2】 orientate,direction,head for 朝【zhao1】 morning,dawn 大【da4 】big,large,wide 大【dai4】 doctor 发【fa1】 give ,grant,hand out 发【fa4 】hair,hair-cutting 奇【qi2 】odd,strange 奇【ji1 】odd number 间【jian】1 room,space 间【jian4】 spy,or interval ,compartment I‘m afraid too many would be not fit for memorizing at a time，so I just post these words，sincerely hope you'll get much fun at learning chinese ，have a good day！ just post these words，

谢谢你们！这样学习真可以帮我记清楚这些字。

李[li3/5] – plum (ex. 行李 －luggage) 季[ji4] – season (ex. 夏季－ summer) 实 [shi2] – real, honest (ex. 实在－ really) 买 [mai3] - buy 究 [jiu1] – after all, investigate (ex. 研究－research) 穷[qiong2]- exhausted, poor 为[wei4] – because (ex. 为什么？－ why?) 办[ban4] – manage, handle (ex. 办法 – method, way) 永[yong3] – always, forever (ex. 永志不忘－ unvorgettable) 水[shui3]- water 祥 [xiang2] – happiness (ex.吉祥- lucky) 样 [yang2]- shape, form (ex. 一样 – same)

This one caught me today: 感 [găn] /to feel/to move/to touch/to affect/ 惑 [huò] /confuse/

你们好？ 我也刚刚学中文。 我觉得有点难。你们有没有办法呢。

還/还-ㄏㄞˊ/hai2(still/also/in addition/more/still) 讓/让-ㄖㄤˋ /rang4 (to let[someone do something]/to ask/permit/to yield/to allow) 壞/坏-ㄏㄨㄞˋ/ huai4(bad/spoiled) Hope this helps.:)

Jwosmun, That's funny cause I had the same problem this week with 蛊惑仔 when I was reading it as 蛊感仔 (which doesn't make any sense of course).

yes, those "多音字 (duōyīnzì) - a character with different pronounciations" are the worst ;-)!