reading & writing Hanzi

zhuang1lei3
 June 02, 2010, 07:37 PM posted in General Discussion

I just got this great book by Allison & Laurence Matthews, "Learning Chinese Characters."  It helps you learn/memorize the first 800 characters you need to get through HSK level A.  It uses mnemonic stories to help you remember the characters.  I'm through three chapters, about 40 characters, I am doing better remembering than I thought possible.  It is published by Tuttle and cost $20 from Amazon.

I wish I had it a year ago.

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pretzellogic
 June 03, 2010, 01:26 AM

I bought the same book about 8 months ago, and then just didn't follow through with completing it. I would agree that its a good book.  I'll be interested to hear what you think about it. I liked it, but I thought it's main weakness is that it doesn't do a good job of teaching the words that the characters are used in. But now that i've purchased another set of books, and have a teacher using the same method for teaching characters, I think that the Tuttle/Matthews book's unconventional methodology is worth the effort.

There was a thread a few months ago around this book, and another couple similar to it. As I recall, this book's methodology for teaching characters didn't work for everyone.  In fact, it seems to really annoy some people. Unfortunate.

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ouyangjun116
 June 03, 2010, 01:00 PM

这本书是非常好。我今年一月买了这本书。我买这本书的时候就认识100个汉字左右。四月左右我看书完了然后继续学习新的汉字。。。都用Matthews的学习方法。现在我认识1,200个汉字左右。对我来说，他们的学习方法最好的。

还有注意我一边用Matthew's方法一边用Anki SRS Tool。。。我觉得你需要用什么样的SRS Flashcard Program。

祝你学习顺利！

 

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zhuang1lei3
 June 04, 2010, 03:13 PM

I am up to 50 characters after only 3 days.  If I took a test right now I would score at least 40 but probably 45.  There are still a couple I can't keep the story in my head, others the story sticks easily.  I can honestly say that I have some of the characters down to the point I reconize them without needing the story already.

To ouyangjun116 point, I think that flash cards after you learn the characters will be invaluable.  I'm going to look into the Anki SRS flashcard program.

I'm leaving for China in 2 and half weeks and I am hoping to be able to navigate a tiny piece of a Chinese menu.

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pretzellogic

Good luck! Despite what few characters I learned, my main fiasco was always struggling with listening to Chinese speaking at normal speed, and with hearing non-standard accents.