This unique and authoritative guide describes more than 400 important Chinese symbols, explaining their esoteric meanings and connections. Their use and development in Chinese literature and in Chinese customs and attitudes to life are traced lucidly and precisely. `An ideal reference book to help one learn and explore further, while simultaneously giving greater insight into many other aspects of Chinese life ... the most authoritative guide to Chinese symbolism available to the general reader today ... a well-researched, informative and entertaining guide to the treasure trove of Chinese symbols.' - South China Morning Post

By arranging frequently used characters under the phonetic element they have in common, rather than only under their radical, the Dictionary encourages the student to link characters according to their phonetic. The system of cross-referencing then allows the student to find easily all the characters in the dictionary which have the same phonetic element, thus helping to fix in the memory the link between a character and its sound and meaning. This innovative resource will be an excellent study-aid for students with a basic grasp of Chinese, whether they are studying with a teacher or learning on their own.

Learning Chinese can be frustrating and difficult, partly because it's very different from European languages. Following a teacher, textbook or language course is not enough. They show you the characters, words and grammar you need to become proficient in Chinese, but they don't teach you how to learn them! Regardless of what program you're in (if any), you need to take responsibility for your own learning. If you don't, you will miss many important things that aren't included in the course you're taking. If you study on your own, you need to be even more aware of what you need to do, what you're doing at the moment and the difference between them. Here are some of the questions I have asked and have since been asked many times by students: How do I learn characters efficiently? How do I get the most out of my course or teacher? Which are the best learning tools and resources? How can I become fluent in Mandarin? How can I improve my pronunciation? How do I learn successfully on my own? How can I motivate myself to study more? How can I fit learning Chinese into a busy schedule? The answers I've found to these questions and many others form the core of this book. It took eight years of learning, researching, teaching and writing to figure these things out. Not everybody has the time to do that! I can't go back in time and help myself learn in a better way, but I can help you! This book is meant for normal students and independent language learners alike. While it covers all major areas of learning, you won't learn Chinese just by reading this book. It's like when someone on TV teaches you how to cook: you won't get to eat the delicious dish just by watching the program; you have to do the cooking yourself. That's true for this book as well. When you apply what you learn, it will boost your learning, making every hour you spend count for more, but you still have to do the learning yourself. This is what a few readers have said about the book: "The book had me nodding at a heap of things I'd learnt the hard way, wishing I knew them when I started, as well as highlighting areas that I'm currently missing in my study." - Geoff van der Meer, VP engineering "This publication is like a bible for anyone serious about Chinese proficiency. It's easy for anyone to read and written with scientific precision." - Zachary Danz, foreign teacher, children's theatre artist About me I started learning Chinese when I was 23 (that's more than eight years ago now) and have since studied in many different situations, including serious immersion programs abroad, high-intensity programs in Sweden, online courses, as well as on the side while working or studying other things. I have also successfully used my Chinese in a graduate program for teaching Chinese as a second language, taught entirely in Chinese mostly for native speakers (the Graduate Institute for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University). All these parts have contributed to my website, Hacking Chinese, where I write regularly about how to learn Mandarin.

This is a complete and easy–to–use guide for reading and writing Chinese characters. Learning written Chinese is an essential part of mastering the Chinese language. Used as a standard by students and teachers learning to read Chinese and write Chinese for more than three decades, the bestselling Reading & Writing Chinese has been thoroughly revised and updated. Reading & Writing Chinese places at your fingertips the essential 1,725 Chinese characters' current definitions, derivations, pronunciations, and examples of correct usage by utilizing cleverly condensed grids. This guide also focuses on Pinyin, which is the official system to transcribe Hanzi, Chinese characters, into Latin script, now universally used in mainland China and Singapore. Traditional characters (still used in Taiwan and Hong Kong) are also included, making this a complete reference. Newly updated and revised, these characters are the ones officially prescribed by the Chinese government for the internationally recognized test of proficiency in Chinese, the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK). The student's ability to read and write Chinese are reinforced throughout the text. Key features of this newly-expanded edition include: The 1,725 most frequently used characters in both Simplified and Traditional forms. All 2,633 characters and 5,000+ compounds required for the HSK Exam. Standard Hanyu Pinyin romanizations. More mnemonic phrases and etymologies to help you remember the characters. An extensive introduction, alphabetical index, and index according to stroke count and stroke order. Completely updated/expanded English definitions. Convenient quick-reference tables of radicals. Updated and revised compounds, plus 25% more vocabulary now offered. Codes to assist those who are preparing for the AP exam or the HSK exam.

Do you often have difficulty finding a particular character in a standard Chinese dictionary? Do you often fail to remember characters, though you have seen and looked them up several times? Don't you think one of the reasons could be that characters that look similar to others are not grouped together? And don't you think that the etymological background of characters (their historical development) could and should be explained better in order to understand the reason for all those dots and strokes? If your answer to these questions is 'yes', then help could be on its way within seconds. The Simplified Chinese Character Dictionary and its 'parent', the Chinese Character Dictionary, both contain several new features that make looking up, learning and remembering Chinese characters more effective and more fun:* characters are arranged by the phonetic part that in most characters is relatively easy to distinguish; by grouping characters that have the same phonetic into series, characters that look almost similar can be compared and studied together;* any character can be found by stripping it first of its radicals, and then splitting the remaining phonetic into components. Phonetic and character can then be found under one of these components;* more than 5,700 different character shapes can be found using the same 3-step method. Examples are given of their usage in daily or literary Chinese, and many pinyin transliterations are given;* counting strokes is not necessary; most characters can be found within seconds;* almost all phonetics are supplied with an etymological explanation, which are helpful for better understanding of the historical background of phonetics and characters. Moreover, they are very effective in helping with remembering characters and distinguishing them from others that look similar;* a 30-page introduction is included, in which the method used for looking up characters is explained step by step, and illustrated with many examples. It also explains how to distinguish radicals, and explains the different kinds of radicals. Moreover, the introduction contains a brief overview of the historical development of Chinese characters in general.The Simplified Chinese Character Dictionary is based on the Chinese Character Dictionary (CCD). It differs from the latter in that it only contains simplified character entries. If a character has a different traditional version, then that is only given in brackets behind its simplified counterpart. In contrast, the CCD contains both simplified and traditional character entries, which can be searched for independently. Another difference is that the example words and phrases in the Simplified CCD are entirely in simplified Chinese, while in the CCD these are primarily in traditional Chinese.The Simplified Chinese Character Dictionary is primarily for students of Chinese in the beginning years of their study, who want to focus on learning simplified characters as quickly as possible. In contrast, the CCD can be used by people who use traditional and/or simplified script.

Do you often have difficulty finding a particular character in a standard Chinese dictionary? Do you often fail to remember characters, though you have seen and looked them up several times? Don't you think one of the reasons could be that characters that look similar to others are not grouped together? And don't you think that the etymological background of characters (their historical development) could and should be explained better in order to understand the reason for all those dots and strokes? If your answer to these questions is 'yes', then help could be on its way within seconds. The Simplified Chinese Character Dictionary and its 'parent', the Chinese Character Dictionary, both contain several new features that make looking up, learning and remembering Chinese characters more effective and more fun:* characters are arranged by the phonetic part that in most characters is relatively easy to distinguish; by grouping characters that have the same phonetic into series, characters that look almost similar can be compared and studied together;* any character can be found by stripping it first of its radicals, and then splitting the remaining phonetic into components. Phonetic and character can then be found under one of these components;* more than 5,700 different character shapes can be found using the same 3-step method. Examples are given of their usage in daily or literary Chinese, and many pinyin transliterations are given;* counting strokes is not necessary; most characters can be found within seconds;* almost all phonetics are supplied with an etymological explanation, which are helpful for better understanding of the historical background of phonetics and characters. Moreover, they are very effective in helping with remembering characters and distinguishing them from others that look similar;* a 30-page introduction is included, in which the method used for looking up characters is explained step by step, and illustrated with many examples. It also explains how to distinguish radicals, and explains the different kinds of radicals. Moreover, the introduction contains a brief overview of the historical development of Chinese characters in general.The Simplified Chinese Character Dictionary is based on the Chinese Character Dictionary (CCD). It differs from the latter in that it only contains simplified character entries. If a character has a different traditional version, then that is only given in brackets behind its simplified counterpart. In contrast, the CCD contains both simplified and traditional character entries, which can be searched for independently. Another difference is that the example words and phrases in the Simplified CCD are entirely in simplified Chinese, while in the CCD these are primarily in traditional Chinese.The Simplified Chinese Character Dictionary is primarily for students of Chinese in the beginning years of their study, who want to focus on learning simplified characters as quickly as possible. In contrast, the CCD can be used by people who use traditional and/or simplified script.