Caratteri cinesi : dal disegno all'idea, 214 caratteri per comprendere la Cina

by Edoardo Fazzioli, Eileen Chan Mei Ling, Rebecca Hon Ko

Scoprire la ricchezza di significati nascosta nei 214 caratteri radicali -tanti sono i segni fondamentali della scrittura cinese - è il gioco che inquesto libro ci propongono gli autori guidandoci attraverso i meccanismi diuna lingua viva di seimila anni, parlata da oltre un miliardo di uomini.Questi 214 segni di raffinata eleganza, che ancor oggi trattengono nelle loroforme il riflesso dei primitivi pittogrammi, sono la chiave di lettura deicinquemila caratteri del dizionario cinese e soprattutto l'espressionetangibile di una civiltà millenaria. In ciascuno di essi è racchiuso unmessaggio, un brano di storia, una briciola di saggezza, una nota di costume.

Genres: Language, China, Nonfiction, History, Linguistics, Reference, Cultural

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

You cannot learn calligraphy from this book and while amusing, it's not really reference material either. I used to own a copy.

[Kam Sova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çince karakterlerin tarihsel gelişimini öğrenmek için güzel bir kaynak.

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hanzi - or Chinese characters take their meanings from shapes in the world, like shen [body:] that looks like a pregnant woman, or signify sounds or states of being. A character can have more than one part. The first part may indicate a general meaning [like the 'hand' radical:] followed by the sound character [bao:] Put them together and you have 'to read the newspaper'

My teacher Wu Hong, Jiaoshou was member of the Faculty Foreign Languages at the Beijing Language College. When Fazzioli's book came out it was a revelation to Chinese scholars who had forever taken their written language for granted - just as we almost never question the letter origin of the letter "S" and why an 'F' was substituted for it when printed for hundreds of years- they hadn't the distance to study the origin of their characters. Since this groundbreaking book, there are many scholars in China who have added to the field. It took a Westerner to shine a light on the most beautiful written system in the world. I do recommend this book if you are learning characters. There are so many and this book gives you ones most in use. It's a wonderful study tool. Knowing something about the history of what I am studying makes it so much easier to remember.

[Thieluar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing I didn't like was that it doesn't have the japanese pronunciation of the kanji even though it says "chinese/japanese characters". It doesn't mention anything about japanese in the book, it should have just said "chinese characters". The chinese/japanese aren't the only ones who have used those characters, It might as well have said "chinese/japanese/vietnamese/korean/mongolian/taiwanese characters".

Anyway, great book, I'm just adding the japanese pronuciation myself. Anyone studying japanese who liked this book should combine it with "The key to Kanji" which also has etymological explanations of the characters.

[Craig Kiessling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome look at written language of Chinese/Japanese. A look at radicals. If you've ever had trouble getting into the written language - this most definitely helps to bridge a big gap of understanding. If you've ever had to look at a Chinese-English dictionary and gotten lost - this also helps....I LOVE this book.

Although I read this years ago - I think some of the content will really sink in now.

I've only just checked it out of the library, but plan on getting my own copy - just way too valuable.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely gift from an old friend many years ago, and I used it as I learned Chinese and again as I taught Chinese at the University of Oregon. The book profiles the major Chinese characters and their evolution. It provides some character combinations, an illustration and explanation how some characters evolved from pictograph to written word, and a step-by-step guide to how to write the characters. I highly recommend it to students and educators of Chinese.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great beginning Chinese calligraphy, this book also gives the order of the strokes and the background behind 214 characters. It is a great introduction.

[Silvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selbst ohne Chinesisch-Kenntnisse sind mir kleinere Fehler aufgefallen und einige Zeichen, die vorkommen, werden nicht erklärt, ansonsten aber ein gutes Buch.

[Sienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like looking at all of the characters and what the meant and like other Hanzi using that character but I wasn’t interested in it’s history

[Horst Walther · Rating 5 out of 5]

FA good start to understand how chinese characters are constructed and a wonderful book as well.
It is truely fun to read it.
I am not sure if it is available in English too.