Welcome to writing practice. This book is a companion to Encounters Student Book One, and it will help you learn the Chinese characters required for writing. Note that many other characters are presented in the Readings section of Encounters, but these are not practiced here. We practice here only those required for writing recall. Keep in mind that writing and learning go hand in hand, so practice in one leads to increased proficiency in the other. What's more, writing is also just plain fun. So give some time to developing a decent handwriting. You'II be proud of yourself and of your Chinese. As you proceed, keep in mind the following tips.
Tactics and strategies for Learning Characters
Characters may seem, at first glance, an unorganized jumble of pen strokes, but, in fact, each character has one or more components and each component contributes to the character. Although the total Chinese characters number in the tens of thousands, all characters are constructed from about 600 components in varying combinations. When you learn a character, it will be helpful if you pay close attention to components rather than look at the character as an isolated, haphazard collection of strokes. This manual will help you in that effort.
When you write a character, you do write it with individual strokes. Each stroke must be written in a prescribed sequence, such as left to right, top to bottom, and so on, and learning the proper order will be important to the rest of your study of Chinese. For example, if you see a character that you don't know, you will need to consult a Chinese dictionary. To do so successfully, you need to be able to count the strokes properly. Improper stroke order often leads to an incorrect stroke count, and missing a stroke here and there will lead you astray.
Writing practice will help you understand the'structure of Chinese characters, which helps retention. Writing will enable you to see the inner logic of characters, how they are built from two, three, or more components-which, again, will assist memory. Most Chinese characters are made up of one or more of these components, and these components are not haphazardly placed together but have definite, helpful-to-the-learner relationships. Learning the relationship of the parts leads to learning and better remembering the whole. Information contained on these sheets will help in that analysis.
Table of Contents
Read This First!
Tactics and Strategies for Learning Characters
Questions Often Asked About Writing Chinese Characters
The Eight Basic Strokes
Introductory Unit
Chinese Characters: Pictographs
Stroke Order: Basic Guidelines
A Guide to the Information on Each Character
Unit Characters:
一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八、九、十、火、口、木、人、山、水
Unit 1
Some Basic Terms
Unit Characters:
好、吗/嗎、请/請、你、是、我、再、见/見、对/對、不、起、姓、谢/謝、他、们/們、叫、什/甚、么/麼、名、字
Unit 2
More on Chinese Character Building
Unit Characters:
您、大、小、多、位、这/這、那、哪、儿/兒、几/幾、号/號、了、年、月、日、岁/歲、生、的、地、址
Unit 3
Practice with Radicals
Unit Characters:
上、下、今、天、早、晚、午、现/現、在、半、分、点/點、星、期、时/時、候、等、有、事
Unit 4
Five Useful Phonetics
Unit Characters:
中、国/國、家、关、英、文、喜、欢/歡、说/說、话/話、会/會、都、得、没、去、过/過、出
Unit 5
Review of Selected Characters and Their Radicals
Unit Characters:
父、爸、母、亲/親、妈/媽、姐、妹、兄、哥、弟、男、女、两/兩、个/個、和、才、里/裡
Unit 6
It All Started with Oracle Bones
Unit Characters:
也、她、还/還、想、要、将/將、来/來、赚/賺、钱/錢、因、为/為、帮/幫、知、道、当/當、做、别、或、者、念、级/級、意、思
Unit 7
Can You Construct a Chinese Character?
Unit Characters:
坐、走、回、吃、东/東、西、吧、怎、样/樣、高、兴/興、着/著、急、热/熱、冷、累、忙、饿/餓、饭/飯、饱/飽
Unit 8
Further Practice with Radicals
Unit Characters:
周/週、末、睡、觉/覺、看、电/電、视/視、影、玩、网/網、门/門、以、前、后/後、洗、手、每、班
Unit 9
Yes, You Can Type Chinese!
Unit Characters:
黑、红/紅、白、金、银/銀、元、买/買、卖/賣、贵/貴、便、宜、比、跟、少、太、能、够/夠、给/給
Unit 10
Matching Exercise
Unit Characters:
用、心、开/開、车/車、到、百、货/货、商、场/場、店、路、左、右、南、北、面、边/邊、近、远/速、离/離
Index Ⅰ: Characters Arranged by Pinyin
Index Ⅱ: Characters Arranged by Number of Strokes
Index Ⅲ: Comparison of Simplified and Traditional Characters
Some Useful References
Character Writing Sheets (for student reproduction)