Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Fun with Chinese Characters


December 15, 2009


I've been thinking about sharing these interesting books with you:
Fun with Chinese Characters Vol. 1, 2 and 3.
These are the most interesting books for Chinese characters I have ever seen.
Click on the book covers below for detail:



Here are sample pages of each book, click on them for larger images:

There are 10 pages in-depth introduction on the genesis of the characters in Vol 1:



Vol 2 page 65, :


CLICK HERE for Chinese idiom: 老馬識途 Lǎomǎshìtú

Vol 3 page 139, :



Vol 1 page 7, :


CLICK HERE for Chinese love song, 回家 Huí Jiā

At the end of vol 3, there's index of all 480 characters in the 3 books and their location:



Here's an awesome video about 12 Chinese Zodiac Animals. You will find out why
* the rat is the first place in the 12, 
* the rat is afraid of the cat,
* 豕 is pig.



The character for the sheep 羊 is messed up with the pig 豕 @ 04:36, thanks to Cyrano for pointing that out. CLICK HERE to see etymology of 羊 (remember to scroll down to see all the different forms).

Practice the 12 animals:

CLICK HERE and hit the brushes next to each character to see the stroke orders. Grab a piece of paper and write them down.

I hope you find them fun and help you understand more characters.
Please post comment below to let me know. ^_^


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23 comments:

Kelvin said...

Evolution of words^^

Cyrano said...

This animation video is really cool. As one of the comments on Youtube, the character for the sheep is mess up with the pig @ 04:36. The creator Yuji seems to be very creative! Thanks for sharing this.

இ Baŋäŋaz இ said...

The cat supposedly was on board but cos of the rat which kicked it down haha. Nice video and love the origin of the characters and nice song too. Xiexie

foongpc said...

I think I've seen these books before! Yes, very interesting!

Gin said...

Kelvin, thanks for stopping by.

Cyrano, appreciate your love and comment. I've updated a link for "羊" the sheep in my post.

Bananaz, Yea, that's why cats want to kill and eat rats now...lol.

Foongpc, right, the definitions of the characters make it easy to remember and the cartoons make me laugh...

Cinnamon said...

Hello:
Another wonderful post from you. I love the you tube video clip on the Chinese characters.

Cinnamon said...

Hello:
I really enjoy the video clip on the animal characters.

CheaHSan said...

That's the way how the Chinese characters came into being, think the cow, goat, rabbit , chicken, horse were quite close. Sad that the new simplified version "kills" the originality especially the word 'horse' as the mane and the four dots representing the four legs are missing in the new version.

Gin said...

Thanks a lot, Cinnamon and CheaHS@n!

And yea...sad that simplified characters don't have the original beauty and meanings. But good that a lot people are still using and supporting traditional characters!

இ Baŋäŋaz இ said...

Hi Jeannie appreciate your expertise as to what are proverbs, idioms, or poems in Chinese? Eg:
1. AN OLD HORSE KNOWS THE WAY ~ 老馬識途 {Lǎomǎ shìtú} [Idiom?]
2. 色 字 頭 上 一 把 刀 sè zì tóu shàng yī bà dāo [Proverb?]
3. What are those with four words and in pairs and rhymes?
4. What is 文言文 wényánwén?

Xiexie

Gin said...

Bananaz, I'm just a gal from Taiwan with passion in Chinese. Still far away from expert. ^_^ Believe or not, I'm still learning from you and other readers as well.

1. 老馬識途 is an idiom, please see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_idiom

2. 色字頭上一把刀 is just a sentence used by some people since the head of 色 is not really a knife. Please see the link below for proverbs:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chinese_proverbs

3. Can you give me an example of that?

4. 文言文 is classical Chinese, ancient Chinese language, please see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Chinese

இ Baŋäŋaz இ said...

You are just being very humble.:) Xiexie

sweetromance said...

Love your video, great song.

இ Baŋäŋaz இ said...

Happy Winter Solstice 冬至快乐 Happy Dong Zhi!

Gin said...

Xiexie ni, Sweetromance.

Dong Zhi Kuaile, Bananaz! Do you eat tangyuan? I wish I could have some. I like tangyuan especially my mom's tangyuan.
Speaking of that, maybe I should post something about that...lol

இ Baŋäŋaz இ said...

Have not being eating tangyuan for many many years, not my fave though. There is also one particular song about "Selling tangyuan".

Gin said...

Thanks for the reminder, Bananaz~~~

Simple said...

Hello!

M and V here. We own all three books you've featured, and enjoy learning from them. Although not all will appreciate the fact that many are in the simplified form, it sure helps us a lot.

Keep up the good work on the site.

xiexie.

Gin said...

Epimetheus, are you Mike and Valarie?

I tried to go to your profile but it's not available. Thanks for commenting and I'm glad that the books help you a lot. Hope to see you here often.

Happy learning!

Generic Viagra said...

Thanks for your recommendation of this book. They will be very useful to practice my Chinese. I will purchase them when I get the money. Buy Viagra Viagra

Kamagra said...

Wow, it is a great way to learn them and it is pretty original. I think that most of the people won't forget those characters.

Gin said...

Yes, thank you, Kamagra.

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