Preface
Put this book down
if you are hoping to learn pronunciation, reading, vocabulary ... because you are not going to learn all these in this book! This book just wants to share with you how to ‘see’ to learn Chinese.
​
Seeing
When we fall in love with something or somebody, often sight has a role to play initially. Seeing could be about aesthetics ... appreciating the beauty or more importantly ... seeing is about developing our sense of something so we can understand it better.
Many underestimated the fact that Chinese is very different from other languages and requires a radical approach to learn it, especially when it is learnt as a foreign language. Learners without a stimulating learning environment where exposure to Chinese characters sensitise them to the intricacies of Chinese characters, may lag behind in characters recognition. They are in need of guidance on what to look out for, where to focus their attention and how to distinguish these characters.
​
Perceptual Learning
Have you ever wondered why experts are able to quickly and effortlessly sift out what is critical and relevant? This is the result of perceptual learning. Experts are able to deal with information more efficiently and effectively than novices because they are able to see patterns and underlying structure in the information. Novices are essentially blind to patterns that the experts have come to see immediately.
​
Native Chinese are able to extract meaningful clues from characters instantaneously. They seem to have radar eyes that can scan for the right information. Such visual acuity is one of the more challenging hurdles non-native learners face.
​
​
​
​
What is Novel in this Book
​
1. Applying Geometry to Chinese
Despite the capability to 'see', natives have trouble describing how they manage to recognise and differentiate so many characters instantaneously. Not all perceptual skills lend themselves to verbal description. Hence, it was a challenge to describe the perceptual skills required to decipher Chinese characters. This book boldly applied concepts used in an unrelated field— geometry to introduce new terminologies to describe features of characters.
​
Similar to constructing a building, Chinese characters are created with balance, symmetry and coordination between different components in mind. A stroke is tilted at a particular angle, fitted into a precise position and adjusted to different lengths with the aim to create a masterpiece. Geometrical jargons are perfect descriptors of these unnamed features. Such a connection between two unrelated subjects is an unconventional and groundbreaking way to view Chinese characters in new light.
​
​
2. What-You-See-Is-What-You-Name: 35 Basic Strokes
This book fills the missing gap that other books hardly paid attention to. It focuses on the most basic component—strokes. Skipping this fundamental learning is like learning English vocabularies without learning how to write the alphabets. It is easy to figure out the 26 English alphabets on your own but this is not the case for Chinese characters ... only 35 basic strokes but there are a myraid of possible combinations of these strokes.
​
In this book, the 35 strokes are given names that describe their appearances ... what you see is what you name! For instance, '7-Bend' looks like the number '7' and 'L-Bend' looks like the alphabet 'L'. This is an improvement to the current way of naming these strokes, which can be confusing. They are named according to these features vertical (shu), horizontal (heng), slashes (pie, na), hook (gou, ti), tick (ti), dot (dian), sharp bend (zhe), round bend/curve (wan) and a combination of these features. For instance, 'L7-Bends' is called 'shu zhe zhe'; '7L-Bends' is called 'heng zhe zhe' and 'Double-7 Hook' is called 'heng zhe zhe zhe gou'.
​
​
3. Visual Learning
Usually Chinese characters are shown in black and have stick-like appearance. It is very difficult to look for differences in this kind of presentation. In this book, a lot of effort is spent on showcasing Chinese characters in a different light —supersizing them, using multi-colours, choosing fonts that show their 'shapely figures', highlighting prominent characteristics and extracting featured strokes ... This improved presentation makes differences and compositions of characters easily visible. To help you learn systematically and know where to focus on, the visual activities zoom in on specific features of Chinese characters one at a time.
​
​
4. Creative Problem Solving
Instead of receiving the knowledge passively, you will need to actively search for multiple ways to solve some of the activities. At the end of each learning session, you will be prompted with questions to help you reflect on what you have learnt.
​
​
​
​
For Those Who Prefer A Different Experience
If you have been struggling with Chinese, perhaps one of the reasons is that you are starting at too high a level ... learning characters ... you need to first learn the most basic component —strokes. This book provides an alternative way to learn Chinese characters! If writing by hand is a hurdle to your learning, reduce the time spent on it, skip this process and re-introduce it at a more appropriate stage ... but do not give up.
​
This book is designed for anyone—with or without any knowledge of Chinese. Beginners will build a strong foundation while intermediate and advanced learners will be enlightened by new perspectives gained from the book. Visual and kinesthetic learners will love this book as you will need to doodle, use geometric tools, colour, do paper-cutting, solve puzzles ...
​
For those who are used to reading alphabets arranged from left to right only, Chinese characters will open you up to see the world in a different way. For those who gave up learning Chinese halfway because you got more confused the more characters you learnt ... Restart here!
​
​
Simplified Chinese Characters
This book is created for those learning simplified Chinese characters, currently used in China, Singapore and countries that have introduced HSK (an international Chinese proficiency test administered by authorities in China). The whole series of books are created with application to a few thousands frequently-used simplified Chinese characters in mind.
​
​
See with Magic Lenses
This book will serve as an important complement to other forms of curriculum and instruction. You will enjoy learning Chinese more as you will be equipped with a pair of magic lenses to see Chinese characters differently.
​
This is the first book of a series of radically innovative books to guide you to learn Chinese characters systematically. It elicits the tacit knowledge that native speakers have internalised but have difficulty verbalising. You will benefit a lot from this book as such knowledge and skills require years of learning and honing.
​
​
Next: Introduction
Prev: LCWW1
​
​
​
​
