Discover Chinese Characters is an app specialized in Chinese character learning and handwriting practice from the perspective of radicals(部首).
This app was developed by Clark Xie, a high school student in China. With the experience as an exchange student to the United States, I found many foreigners interested in Chinese language and culture, especially the "mysterious" Chinese characters. Most of the Chinese learning materials and methods available use "character" as the basic unit of learning, while this is not how 3-year-olds in China grasp the language.
In fact, "characters"(字) are composed of "radicals"(部首, or parts of character), and "radicals" are composites of "strokes"(笔划). Each radical has distinct meanings, and the characters formed by a certain radical are often related to a common idea, similar to the notion that English words with similar roots are connected. Thus, understanding the radicals are critical to understanding the Chinese language. Moreover, many Chinese characters could be traced back to 1300 BC-1000 BC, when people invented a language system in which things were represented by the abstract of their shapes --- we now call them carapace-bone-scripts. Identifying this link and recognizing the transition would not only help the memorization of characters, but also the understanding of Chinese culture.
Therefore, this app was born as a little effort by me to help foreigners better their understanding of Chinese characters and Chinese culture as well, with the following distinguishing features:
- Covering 50 common radicals and thousands of common words in Chinese
- Introduction of characters by radicals (parts of characters)
- Description of common usage and contexts of radicals
- Calligraphy copyboard integrated to practice handwriting for each character
- Order of strokes for each character included as a reference
- Pictures of character/radical revolution from carapace-bone-script to current day style included
- Extended vocabulary for each radical with English explanations
- A knowledge base with fundamentals of rules in character formation and order of strokes etc.
- All characters and words come with phonetic symbols to help practice pronunciation
And I plan to make the following improvements in the months ahead:
- Include the standard pronunciation for each character and word
- A flashcard function for users to memorize characters and words anywhere and anytime
- A vocab list for users to mark unfamiliar or important characters and words
- Practice questions and games with result and feedback to assist the learning
- Further expand the volume of vocabulary in the app
Enjoy!
Ill be happy to hear any comment or advice. Please email: [email protected]