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Lightning Mandarin: -- Learn Chinese Characters 6+ Times Faster to Reach 90% Coverage
This book presents a “mind map” approach to Chinese character recognition and learning, using the most authoritative Chinese dictionary.
This is a journey to decode the stories behind each Chinese character by analyzing how the different components make up a character.
If you are familiar with or currently learning Chinese, we challenge you on how much you know about the Chinese language and culture behind the characters.
If you are curious about Chinese characters, this book will be a gateway to the linguistic and spiritual world of China and the East Asia.
*****************
Facts about Chinese Characters: Part I
1. Chinese Characters are among the most adopted writing systems in the whole world.
2. Chinese Characters hold the record for longest continuous use in main languages of human history. They are dated since 1300 B.C..
3. Chinese Characters are key to the culture of East Asia, which is slightly bigger than Europe and has 1.5 billion people (i.e. one out of five people on earth).
4. It is believed that Chinese Characters are among the key factors in maintaining the unity of China.
5. Chinese Characters are adapted and widely used in Japanese, Korea, and Vietnamese.
6. Chinese Characters are known as “Square” Characters (方块字 fang kuai zi), with little circular shapes.
7. Simplified Chinese Characters are used in China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Traditional Chinese Characters are used in Taiwan, Hongkong and Macau, as well as in old Chinese books.
*****************
Facts about Chinese Characters: Part II
1. There are only about 3000 most frequently used Chinese Characters.
2. Chinese Characters are made up of ~200 graphical components, also known as Radicals.
3. The total number of Chinese Characters in dictionaries are beyond 20k.
4. The Chinese text coverage by high-frequency Chinese characters:
The first 100 cover ~40%.
The first 300 cover ~60%.
The first 600 cover ~76%.
The first 1000 cover ~86%.
The first 1300 cover ~90%.
The first 2000 cover ~95%.
The first 3500 cover ~99%.
*****************
Facts about this book:
1. Shuowen Jieji (说文解字) was used as a basis for analyzing character origins. This is an authoritative Chinese dictionary compiled in the Han Dynasty ( 100A.D.) by Xu Shen (许慎), revealing the origins of Chinese characters based on their shape evolution throughout the years.
2. Ancient versions of Chinese characters 篆体 (zhuan ti) are used to facilitate the understanding of modern Chinese characters.
3. In case the ancient versions have changed significantly and/or lost its eminent influence on the modern writings, we will not follow its evolution here for simplicity.
4. Although the main focus of the book is on simplified characters, the traditional version are given in smaller font nearby.
The layout of this book series is as follows:
Part I (Core):
The 48 most often used radicals, and most of them are also common characters.
Part II (Component):
Additional 100+ radicals/ characters
Part III (Compound):
Additional 600 high frequency characters generated from the 48 Core Radicals from Part 1
Additional 300 high frequency characters generated from the 100-or-so Radicals from Part 2
High frequency phrases (HSK Level 1-3) are given in Part III.
Book 1 covers the whole Part I (Core) and some of Part II (Component) and Part III (Compound).
This is a journey to decode the stories behind each Chinese character by analyzing how the different components make up a character.
If you are familiar with or currently learning Chinese, we challenge you on how much you know about the Chinese language and culture behind the characters.
If you are curious about Chinese characters, this book will be a gateway to the linguistic and spiritual world of China and the East Asia.
*****************
Facts about Chinese Characters: Part I
1. Chinese Characters are among the most adopted writing systems in the whole world.
2. Chinese Characters hold the record for longest continuous use in main languages of human history. They are dated since 1300 B.C..
3. Chinese Characters are key to the culture of East Asia, which is slightly bigger than Europe and has 1.5 billion people (i.e. one out of five people on earth).
4. It is believed that Chinese Characters are among the key factors in maintaining the unity of China.
5. Chinese Characters are adapted and widely used in Japanese, Korea, and Vietnamese.
6. Chinese Characters are known as “Square” Characters (方块字 fang kuai zi), with little circular shapes.
7. Simplified Chinese Characters are used in China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Traditional Chinese Characters are used in Taiwan, Hongkong and Macau, as well as in old Chinese books.
*****************
Facts about Chinese Characters: Part II
1. There are only about 3000 most frequently used Chinese Characters.
2. Chinese Characters are made up of ~200 graphical components, also known as Radicals.
3. The total number of Chinese Characters in dictionaries are beyond 20k.
4. The Chinese text coverage by high-frequency Chinese characters:
The first 100 cover ~40%.
The first 300 cover ~60%.
The first 600 cover ~76%.
The first 1000 cover ~86%.
The first 1300 cover ~90%.
The first 2000 cover ~95%.
The first 3500 cover ~99%.
*****************
Facts about this book:
1. Shuowen Jieji (说文解字) was used as a basis for analyzing character origins. This is an authoritative Chinese dictionary compiled in the Han Dynasty ( 100A.D.) by Xu Shen (许慎), revealing the origins of Chinese characters based on their shape evolution throughout the years.
2. Ancient versions of Chinese characters 篆体 (zhuan ti) are used to facilitate the understanding of modern Chinese characters.
3. In case the ancient versions have changed significantly and/or lost its eminent influence on the modern writings, we will not follow its evolution here for simplicity.
4. Although the main focus of the book is on simplified characters, the traditional version are given in smaller font nearby.
The layout of this book series is as follows:
Part I (Core):
The 48 most often used radicals, and most of them are also common characters.
Part II (Component):
Additional 100+ radicals/ characters
Part III (Compound):
Additional 600 high frequency characters generated from the 48 Core Radicals from Part 1
Additional 300 high frequency characters generated from the 100-or-so Radicals from Part 2
High frequency phrases (HSK Level 1-3) are given in Part III.
Book 1 covers the whole Part I (Core) and some of Part II (Component) and Part III (Compound).
90 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 11, 2016
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