Why and How to Start Learning to Read Chinese - Signs: toilet, exit and more

Let's start with why learn Chinese. I shall tell you how later in this blog post.

 Why learn Chinese signs?

You might visit Hong Kong or China, as I did. I was on a trip from Hong Kong to Guilin, those mountains I had first seen on film in Disney in the USA. Going up and down the Guilin mountain I wanted to find the ladies toilet. 

We were a group of men and women of different nationalities following paths up and down a mountain. Easy to lose the guide, or arrive at a toilet and not know whether it was for men and women.

Later, we were living in Singapore where we went because my husband needed a new job and an opportunity arose in Singapore. The languages are four. English is widely spoken as a way of communicating with other residents who speak another language, as well as to overseas visitors. However, when you are at a meeting and rush to the toilet, or even in a shopping mall, it helps to be able to recognize the Chinese words.asie

It is easy or difficult?

It is easy to learn the numbers one to ten, the signs for day and month, the signs for men and women for the toilet.

The  

Which System To Start With?

Advantages of Chineasy

I like the Chineasy flashcards. I keep them by my bed and look at them last thing at night and sometimes first thing in the morning if I wake up early. I also keep them on the dining table to read if I am waiting for food or coffee or for somebody to arrive. 

Today I made two breakthroughs.

Magnifying Glass

1 I placed a magnifying glass next to the flashcard pack so I could easily read the teeny numbers 1,2,3 and 4 to indicate the tones.

Memory Aids

2 I looked for more memory aids for each picture.

For example:

The sign like a letter Seven means Son or offspring. S for seven and S for son.

Double son sign means twins. Two sevens is two sons.

From Simplified Wikipedia

Numbers And Common Words

Chinese character (traditional/ simplified)	Pīnyīn (Mandarin pronunciation)	Meaning	Looks like
一	yī	one	1 line
二	èr	two	2 lines
三	sān	three	3 lines
大	dà	big/large/great	a person 人 holding out his/her arms as wide as possible
天	tiān	heaven/sky/day	like 大, but one line above, so the greatest of the great
小	xiǎo	little/small	fingers holding onto a needle
上	shàng	up/above/previous	a plant's stem and leaf above the ground
下	xià	down/below/next	a plant's roots
本	běn	root	a tree 木 with its roots showing underground
末	mò	apex	a tree 木 with one extra line on the top, so the very top

Mountain, mouth, month, day, person, woman (toilet)

Chinese character (traditional/ simplified)	Pīnyīn (Mandarin pronunciation)	Meaning	Looks like
山	shān	mountain	3 peaks
人	rén	person/people/humanity	a creature standing on 2 legs
口	kŏu	mouth	an open mouth
刀	dāo	sword/knife	a blade
木	mù	wood	a tree
日	rì	sun/day	a sun with a cloud in the middle
月	yuè	moon/month	same as 日, but in the shape of a crescent
女	nǚ	woman/girl/female	person with large breasts
子	zi/zĭ	child	a child wrapped in a blanket
馬 / 马	mǎ	horse	a horse with a head, a mane, a body, a tail, and 4 legs
鳥 / 鸟	niǎo	bird	a creature with a head and a wing with feathers
目	mù	eye	an eye with 2 eyelids
水	shuǐ	water	three streams of water

Question Word

Chinese character (traditional/ simplified)	Pīnyīn (Mandarin pronunciation)	Meaning	Semantic radical	Phonetic radical (meaning)
清	qīng	clear	氵(水) water	青 qīng (greenish-blue)
睛	jīng	eye	目eye	青 qīng (greenish-blue)
菜	cài	vegetable/food dish	艹 (艸) grass/plant	采 cǎi (harvest)
沐	mù	to wash oneself	氵(水) water	木 mù (wood)
淋	lín	to pour	氵(水) water	林 lín (woods)
嗎 / 吗	ma	yes-no question marker (word that ends the sentence of a yes-no question)	口 mouth (interjections and particles often have this radical)	馬/马 mǎ (horse )

Animals, Eating and Drinking, and Other Words

Simplified	Traditional	Pinyin	Meaning
马	馬	mǎ	horse
鸟	鳥	niǎo	bird
鸡	鶏	jī	chicken
华	華	huá	magnificent / China
国	國	guó	country / nation / state / kingdom
听	聽	tīng	listen / hear
强	強	qiáng	strong
无	無	wǔ	nothing
面	麵	miàn	noodles
话	話	huà	speak / speech / talk
银	銀	yín	silver
饮	飮	yĭn	drink
狗	豿	gŏu	dog
杀	殺	shā	kill
长	長	cháng	long / length
云	雲	yùn	cloud

There are several ways to simplify characters.

Useful Websites

chineasy.com

https://l-lingo.com/free-lessons/en/learn-chinese-mandarin/numbers-1-10.html

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Chinese_characters

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a teacher, tutor (in person and online) and workshop leader, specialising in English and other languages.

Please contact angela if you need an English language workshop for a Toastmasters Club or a business.