Can Chinese characters be formed like English words?
Traditionally and till now students are taught characters 'Stroke-by-Stroke' (SBS). This makes learning Chinese characters very tedious, requiring large memory space.
What if Chinese characters can be learned 'Part-by-Part' (PBP), that is like how English alphabets are formed (alphabet by alphabet).
The difference between the formation of English words and Chinese characters is English words are formed from left to right while Chinese characters have dozens of ways of forming.
How to extract the common elements in Chinese characters?
This is what we did to decode 5,000 to 6,000 simplified Chinese characters and get 240 qTRAILS Alphabets. How to remember these alphabets quickly? These alphabets are grouped according to their 'Stroke Order' (the order that the strokes are to be written). There are only 32 stroke patterns classified into the following categories:
1. Parallel
2. Dots
3. Perpendiculars
4. Intersections
5. Split & Cross
6. Marching & Tick
7. Flag, Frame & Skewer
8. Enclosure
Why it is easier to learn with qTRAILS Alphabets
Knowing that there are recurring patterns in Chinese characters relieves some of the stress non-native learners experience. The task of learning characters seems less daunting and more manageable. This learning experience is similar to what they experienced when learning English words. They learnt the 26 alphabets first and they knew that new vocabulary are always formed with this fixed set of alphabets. When the pattern of forming characters is known in advance, then students can do self-directed learning with little guidance.
Read more on 3 Easy Steps to Learn Chinese Characters Visually
Find out more in Learn Chinese Without Writing 2: The Chinese Alphabets Book.
