Chinese alphabet with transcription and pronunciation. Do the Chinese have an alphabet?

Chinese writing is a well-established expression that we are used to denoting something that is completely incomprehensible. But in the modern world, learning the main language of the East, spoken by the most populous country in the world, is becoming the norm. Many states are “going east” in tourism, trade, manufacturing, and other areas. To relieve the fear of learning a speech that is so different from all European ones, let’s look at the Chinese alphabet in an accessible form.

Phonetics or alphabet?

Let's define the terminology. The Chinese did not know such concepts as the alphabet or alphabet. The written language of the Celestial Empire consists, according to various estimates, of 50-100 thousand hieroglyphs, each of which is assembled from keys - elements of writing (which cannot be called the word “alphabet”), they, in turn, can be used separately and have their own meaning. This writing is hieroglyphic, not alphabetic.

There is still an opinion that only a person born in the country can master the technique of Chinese writing. But foreigners are able, and there is plenty of evidence of this, to master the technique of reading, understanding, and speaking. In writing, with the current level of development of gadgets, many hours of exercises with paper, ink and a brush, which were previously used to study hieroglyphs, have been replaced.

Now about the “letters” - this system was invented specifically for foreigners seeking to master the Chinese alphabet. In order for people who are accustomed to reading and writing Latin or Cyrillic letters to be able to effectively learn the basics, what can be called the alphabet has been created. At its core, these are the rules for reading keys and hieroglyphs, that is, transcription, phonetics of the Chinese language. Its Europeanization greatly simplifies the knowledge of the Chinese alphabet.

Chinese has been and remains one of the most complex languages ​​on the planet, so for ease of understanding, we will include the terms “letters” and “alphabet” in our review and analyze it as clearly as possible.

What is "pinyin"?

The Celestial alphabet has a more correct name “pinyin” - it is a system of phonetic writing or transcribing keys using Latin letters. The “alphabet” was approved 60 years ago - in 1958. Today, this addition to classical writing is studied by Chinese children without fail, to say nothing of foreigners: without the Pinyin alphabet, few will be able to continue moving forward in mastering Chinese literacy.

• The first rule: if in Western languages ​​and in Russian one letter of the alphabet corresponds to one sound, in China a letter often sounds like a combination of several. Basic Pinyin Alphabet Table:

Chinese	Latin	Transcription
诶	A	ēi
比	B	bǐ
西	C	xī
迪	D	di
伊	E	yī
艾弗	F	ài fú
吉	G	jí
艾尺	H	ài chǐ
艾	I	ài
杰	J	jie
开	K	kāi
艾勒	L	ài lè
艾马	M	ài mǎ
艾娜	N	ài nà
哦	O	ó
屁	P	pì
吉吾	Q	jí wú
艾儿	R	ài er
艾丝	S	ài sī
提	T	tí
伊吾	U	yī wú
维	V	wei
豆贝尔维	W	dòu bèi ěr wéi
艾克斯	X	yī kè sī
吾艾	Y	wú ài
贼德	Z	zéi dé

• Second rule: there are more main and consonant sounds in the alphabet than Latin letters. We will present them later. This table is for informational purposes only.
• Third rule: the dashes above the letters of the transcription are tones. In Chinese there are 4+1, and the meaning of what is said in different tones changes dramatically depending on how you pronounce them. The sound of tones is the next stage in learning the alphabet. At the initial level, accessible even for children, it is enough to watch the video pronunciation lesson and find out what the “alphabet” sounds like.

• Fourth rule: each Chinese syllable is divided into two. Let's look at examples.

Initials

The beginning of a syllable is called an initial. Here and further we will consider the words that are the first in the lives of people around the world: “mom” and “dad”:

• 妈妈 māma (mother);
• 爸爸 bāba (father).

Both words are made up of repeating syllables, each of which has its own letter of the alphabet as an initial. For mā it is m, for bā it is b.

Fifth rule: initials are consonant sounds (letters of the alphabet and their combination). But there is a nuance: in the Chinese alphabet there are 22 consonants, and there are 21 initials. The exception is the sound ng (pronounced -pang, is an ending similar to the English -ing). Here is the table:

b	c	d	f	g	h	j	k
l	m	n	p	q	r	s	t
x	z	zh	сh	sh	ng (pang)

All syllables in the letter begin with 21 given sounds, there are exceptions when reading

Finals

The final is the ending of a syllable, and in addition to the consonant ng, the main sounds are used in these cases. For those familiar to us, ma and ba are the symbol a. The number of finals in Chinese phonetics is 35, and they have their own gradation:

• monophthongs - one letter;
• compound - a sequence of vowels or a vowel and a consonant (s).

This is what the table for studying the finals looks like:

monophthongs – 6 sounds
a	e	i	o	u	ü
compound – 29 sounds
ai	ei	ia	ou	ua	üe
ao	en	ie	ong	uo	ün
an	eng	in		ui(uei)	üan
ang		iu(iou)		un(uen)
		iao		uai
		ing		uan
		ian		uang
		iang		ueng
		iong

Learning syllables using the beginning-to-end principle is not a difficult task, and these are the basics of Chinese pronunciation.

Sixth rule: there are fewer real combinations of initials and finals than the mathematically probable ones for 57 characters; syllables are also connected to each other according to the rules given in tabular form:

Pinyin at its core is a phonetic constructor for those who are beginning to study literary Chinese. The system does not take into account dialects, but for the school curriculum of Chinese residents and especially for foreigners starting to learn the language, this linguistic lego greatly simplifies understanding.

Tones in Chinese phonetics

Having figured out the combinations of letters, sounds and syllables in the tables, you need to multiply them by four, and then add one more.

Seventh rule: meaning depends on tones. This will not be found in Russian or in any of the Romance or Celtic languages. The closest in meaning phenomena of the Russian language are:

• Homonyms are words with the same spelling and different meaning depending on the context. Example - key (tool or spring);
• Homographs are homonyms with different accents. Example: lock or padlock.

Now let's return to our first word in life and in the Chinese language: “mother”. It is such only in the first tone. The table shows how the value changes in the future:

As can be seen from the spelling, tones are indicated by dashes above the letter (in Russian there are only three such signs - an arc over Y, dots over Y and an accent mark). How to pronounce these dashes is determined by their shape. Pictures will help here. An enlarged view is shown in the figure:

Let us also give a simple and resourceful modern rule: the tones of Chinese can be easily remembered by the McDonald's emblem:

In original Chinese writing, different tones correspond to different characters:

As the pictures show, there are four main tones in the language. The fifth is the neutral pronunciation of short syllables, usually denoting particles.

How to read correctly?

The phonetic construct of initials, finals, and tones becomes more complex as you move on to actually reading Chinese. Here it is important to remember a number of rules and formulas that explain the sounds of the Chinese language.

Eighth rule: “invisible letters” are used when reading. These are y and w - many will notice their absence in the tables of syllables. These letters - y and w - are initials, but special ones. They are knocked out from their spelling by ü, u, i. But when reading, the “invisible” initials must take their places. Basic rules for how an exception syllable is written and sounds:

Tenth rule: the arrangement of tones has its own logic. Basic Rules:

• Vowels are marked with a special tone sign. When there are two or more of them in a row, the sign is given to the letter that is closer to the beginning of the sequence a→o→e→i→u→ü.
• with a tone above the letter i, the sign replaces the dot;
• with a sequence of two syllables, the third tone changes by -1. The first syllable is assigned a second tone, the second - a third;
• when combining syllables when the first of them is the third, and the second is any other, a change of -0.5 occurs and a semitone appears between the second and third. But only in pronunciation. The third tone sign remains in the writing;
• the exceptional word bù (negation: not or not) with the addition of a second four-tone word changes its to -2 and is pronounced with a second intonation.

These are just a few exceptions that confirm the general rules of the beautiful Chinese constructor Pinyin, which is a conductor between Western and Eastern languages.

What the alphabet looks like - table with transcription

We have given the basics of a unique alphabet in the basic version of translating Chinese characters into Latin letters. There is also a native Russian table with transcription - Slavic pinyin (used by computer translators). It will not help much in learning the language, since reading transcriptions will require knowledge of international rules, but it will be useful for your horizons and/or a tourist trip. Here is the Chinese alphabet in Russian in tabular form with international transcription and tones:

Russian	Chinese	transcription
A	阿	ā
B	贝	bèi
IN	非	fēi
G	给	gěi
D	得	děi
E	也	yě
Yo	用	yong
AND	热	rè
Z	赛	sài
AND	伊	yī
Y	伊可罗肯	yīkěluókěn
TO	卡	kǎ
L	艾了	àile
M	艾姆	àimǔ
N	恩	ēn
ABOUT	哦	ò
P	佩	pèi
R	艾和	àihe
WITH	艾斯	àisī
T	泰	tài
U	吴	wú
F	艾弗	àifú
X	哈	hā
C	册	cè
H	切	qiē
Sh	沙	shā
SCH	夏	xià
Kommersant	图路迪斯尼亚克	túlùdísīníyàkè
Y	俄	é
b	灭斯迪斯尼亚克	mièsīdísīníyàkè
E	诶	ēi
YU	哟	yō
I	亚	yà

The Russian transcription of the adapted alphabet can simplify the task even further - a kind of translation:

A a	A
B b	ba
C c	tskha
CH ch	chha
D d	Yes
E e	uh
F f	F
G g	ha
H h	Ha
-i	And
J j	ji
K k	haha
Ll	la
M m	m
Nn	n
O o	O
P p	pha
Q q	qi
R r	jan
Ss	sa
SH sh	sha
T t	tha
-u	at
- ü	Yu
W w	va
X x	si
Y y	I
Z z	tsa
ZH zh	zha

Important clarification: some are listed in lowercase only because they are never used at the beginning of words in Chinese. Therefore, there are no uppercase variants.

Conclusion

The Chinese language is rightfully one of the leaders in terms of inaccessibility for foreigners. But learning it at the everyday and even professional level is not as difficult as it seems. What is needed: attention, scrupulousness and time to study the phonetic constructor. For this, the Pinyin system is indispensable, which is actively used even by a translator. And when “Europeanized” writing, reading and pronunciation have been mastered, the Chinese language is ready to begin to reveal to you its original meaning in beautiful hieroglyphs.

Many people interested in the Chinese language ask what the Chinese alphabet is, or even look for the Chinese alphabet with a translation. Let’s dot the I’s right away: Chinese language has no alphabet. Let's figure out why this happened and try to look for a black cat in a dark room.

What is the alphabet

First, let's define what an alphabet is. Definition from Ozhegov's dictionary: "ALPHABET - a set of letters or other signs of a given writing system."

Why there is no Chinese alphabet

Because the alphabet is a collection of letters or other signs of the writing system, let's see what signs are in Chinese and whether there are letters in it.

Chinese characters

The Chinese writing system has no letters, but is based on hieroglyphs. Can a set of Chinese characters be an alphabet, by analogy, for example, with the letters of the Russian alphabet? To answer this question, you need to understand the difference between Chinese and other languages.

In Chinese, like in Russian and other European languages, there are words. This is where the similarities end. Further differences. In Russian and other European languages, a word consists of letters. A single letter of the European alphabet has no semantic meaning. In Chinese, a word is made up of characters. A single Chinese character can have a semantic meaning, i.e. speak in one complete word. In modern Chinese, there are about 30% of such words consisting of one hieroglyph, and most words consist of only 2 hieroglyphs (in ancient Chinese, most words consisted of one hieroglyph). There are also words made from 3 or more hieroglyphs, but there are much fewer of them; as a rule, these are complex terms or transcribed borrowings from other languages ​​(for example, Russian names transcribed into Chinese).

Those. A hieroglyph in Chinese is not like a letter in Russian. If we draw an analogy, then in terms of sound it is a syllable, but in terms of meaning it is more like the root of a word in the Russian language. After all, the root of a word, unlike a letter, is already a unit that has a semantic meaning. And the hieroglyph in Chinese, as stated above, has exactly this meaning. Therefore, the characters cannot be called the Chinese alphabet. Plus, alphabets have a precise small number of letters (Russian has 33, English has 26). The exact number of characters in the Chinese language is unknown. It is estimated at approximately 50,000. Of these, the commonly used ones are about 5,000, and the most popular ones are about 1,500. This is another explanation why Chinese characters cannot be an alphabet.

Chinese characters keys

Chinese characters are made up of smaller graphic units called keys. Can the keys be Chinese alphabet? Also no. As is the case with hieroglyphs, unlike the letters of the European alphabet, a separate key has its own semantic meaning (therefore, many keys can be used as independent hieroglyphs).

Pinyin

Pinyin is a romanization system for the Chinese language. In simple words, it is a system for writing Chinese syllables in Latin letters. Because Since in Chinese a character is a syllable, then with the help of pinyin any Chinese word can be written in Latin letters.

Could Pinyin be the Chinese alphabet? Can not. Yes, as in European alphabets, Pinyin has a precise number of elements; each of them individually does not carry a semantic meaning and is part of words. But pinyin is just a way of writing Chinese syllables in Latin letters. And pinyin does not consist of letters, like the alphabet, but of whole syllables. Pinyin is, roughly speaking, an auxiliary device invented quite recently (pinyin was adopted in 1958, while the Chinese language arose in the 2nd-3rd centuries BC). Pinyin was invented so that a person who does not know how to pronounce a hieroglyph, but knows the Latin alphabet, can pronounce this hieroglyph. Those. Pinyin is not an alphabet as a basis for writing, but simply a means of recording Chinese sounds.

This is confirmed by the Chinese Wikipedia in the article “alphabet”:丁化体系都只是一套用字母来标音的符号，而不是 字母。 Translation: “It is important to understand that there is absolutely no concept of an alphabet in the Chinese language. Pinyin, Zhuyin and other similar systems of romanization of Chinese writing are just sets of characters to represent sounds, but not an alphabet.”

When to use hieroglyphs and when to use pinyin

To understand the place of hieroglyphs and pinyin in the Chinese language, we will give examples of the use of both. Basically, in modern China, hieroglyphs are used. Document flow, press, laws, etc. in China - all this is in hieroglyphs. Pinyin is used as an aid, for example, in cities on street signs their names are written in hieroglyphs and accompanied by pinyin. This is done to make life easier for foreigners who do not know Chinese. It also happens that the Chinese themselves may not know some very rare character, so pinyin can help the Chinese themselves.

Another example of using pinyin is typing characters on a keyboard. Using Pinyin, Chinese characters can be typed on a regular English keyboard. To do this, pinyin is typed using English keys, and a hieroglyph is obtained. This is exactly how the Chinese type characters, on regular English-language keyboards.

Another example of using pinyin is when you need to organize a list of words written in Chinese characters. In this case, they are ordered according to the Latin alphabet of the first syllables of Pinyin. This is useful, for example, when filling out forms when there is a long list of possible options and you need to find yours. You simply search for it using the Latin Pinyin alphabet.

Finally

As Confucius said, “It is very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there.”

There is no Chinese alphabet as such. Chinese is too different from European languages; due to its peculiarities, it simply does not need an alphabet. In the past, there were attempts to create an alphabet for the Chinese language and translate Chinese writing from hieroglyphs into words from the letters of this alphabet, but these alphabets quickly fell out of use (for example, the Chinese romanized alphabet 拉丁化新文字). Now many people mistake Pinyin for the Chinese alphabet, but Pinyin is not an alphabet, but a set of Latin syllables (not letters!) for the sound transmission of Chinese characters.

When it comes to the Chinese language, many people think that it is a monolithic, indivisible language that everyone in China speaks. In fact, the Chinese language is a collection of a large number of dialects that differ in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

There are seven main groups of the Chinese language: Putonghua, Wu, Cantonese or Yue, Min, Hakka, Gan and Xiang. In addition to dialects, there are variations within each of them, they differ in emphasis or pronunciation of sounds. For example, the well-known Putonghua sounds differently in different cities of China.
The division of the Chinese language into dialect groups is determined in most cases by geographical or historical factors. Each of the dialects of the Chinese language has all the criteria to have the status of a separate language, but a single script for all of China ensures the integrity of the Chinese language. After Putonghua was established as the official language, many began to consider it the real language.

Main dialects:

1. Putonghua, 普通话(71.5% speakers) - north and southwest China

The official language of China, the language of modern Chinese socio-political, scientific and fiction literature, is used by the majority of residents of China and the island of Taiwan.

2. Wu, 吴语(8.5%) - Shanghai, Zhejiang

One of the largest groups in the Chinese language, some researchers assign it the status of a language. Today, the Wu dialect is leaving the walls of educational institutions, the media and government agencies. The younger generation does not use the Wu dialect, but some television shows are still produced using this dialect.

3. Yue, 粤语(5.0%) - Guangdong, Guangxi provinces

The group also bears the name of one of the dialects - Cantonese. Yue is the de facto language of Hong Kong and Macau. Yue is the language of the Chinese diaspora in Australia, Southeast Asia, North America and Europe. There is a legend among Cantonese speakers that at one time, during the voting for the standard of pronunciation of literary Chinese, Cantonese was only a few votes short.

4. Xiang, 湘语(4.8%) - Hunan Province

The Xiang branch is divided into Novosyansky and Starosyansky dialects. The Novosyansk language has undergone changes under the influence of Putonghua. Like most Chinese dialects, Xiang is spoken locally, but only orally.

5. Min, 闽方言(4.1%) - Fujian Province

This group is considered one of the oldest. The Min languages ​​cover southeastern China, including the islands of Hainan and Taiwan. In the linguistics of China, the Min language is called one of the most ancient in the general language group.

6. Hakka, 客家话(3.7%) - from Sichuan to Taiwan

Literally translated it means “people of guests”, because the name of the language came from the Hakka people. It is not recognized orally by people who speak Mandarin and does not have its own script. People who do not speak Hakka, even if they are descendants of Hakka, cannot be considered this nationality, since they do not know their native language.

7. Gan, 赣语(2.4%) - Jiangxi Province

Distributed mainly in Jiangxi province, as well as in some areas of Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Fujian provinces. The dialect contains many archaic words that are no longer used in official Mandarin.

In reality, there are many more dialects in the Chinese language. Most Chinese whose mother tongue is one of the dialects also speak Putonghua, as it is the official language of the country. However, older generations, as well as residents of rural areas, may have virtually no knowledge of Mandarin. In any case, the study of Chinese dialects in modern China is necessary only in exceptional cases, most often professional ones.

Anna Ivanova

The Chinese language today is perhaps the most mysterious and incomprehensible language. This language evokes the most contradictory emotions: from complete rejection to some kind of awe. In the media, on television and simply among people who have no idea about this exotic language, there are a lot of jokes, anecdotes and myths associated with this truly beautiful, deep language. In this article we would like to dispel these myths and answer the most common questions about the Chinese language.

Do the Chinese have an alphabet?

The answer to this question is unequivocal - no, it has never happened and is unlikely to appear. Chinese writing is made up of hieroglyphs, which look like small images of the concepts being expressed. So the character “field” 田 really looks like a field, the character “fire” 火 looks like a fire, and 木 looks like a tree. Moreover, two trees 林 are already a “forest”. Of course, everything is not so simple, and recognizing the elephant in 象 will require much more imagination.

All Chinese characters consist of individual fragments called radicals (keys). There are about two hundred radicals in total, their knowledge greatly facilitates the study of hieroglyphs, but they are still not an alphabet, since they do not express the vowel and consonant sounds from which words are built.

How many characters are there in Chinese?

The average number of characters in the Chinese language is 50 thousand (including outdated and rarely used ones). “Large Collection of Chinese Characters” 汉语大字典 hànyǔ dà zìdiǎn contains 54,678 characters. But that's not all, the Zhonghua Zihai Dictionary (中华字海 zhōnghuá zì hǎi), released in 1994, includes 85,568 characters. Modern dictionaries usually contain no more than 20 thousand hieroglyphs. An educated Chinese should know about 8 thousand, while for a foreigner 3-4 thousand will be enough for everyday life and reading newspapers (although everything is relative).

What does a Chinese keyboard look like?

Some people present it like this:

But in fact, it has no differences from a regular “English” keyboard: it’s all about the input method that is selected in the operating system (for example, Windows 7 supports several different ways of entering hieroglyphs, which can be controlled in the control panel: Region and Language → Languages ​​and Keyboards → Change Keyboard). The popular and simple Microsoft Pinyin Ne input method looks like this: using the English keys, you enter the transcription (pinyin) of the Chinese word, and the system offers numbered options for hieroglyphs (usually more than a dozen, with the most common at the beginning), of which using the number keys or clicking the mouse the desired one is selected. Thus, Chinese characters are entered using a simple English keyboard and an additional program, which usually already comes with the system (in Windows XP it had to be installed separately).

Of course, the Chinese did not limit themselves to just entering transcriptions - there are keyboards that allow you to enter graphemes (the features that make up hieroglyphs), and each key can contain 8 graphemes at once. There are also keyboards with additional buttons for frequently used hieroglyphs.

Thus, the original Chinese keyboard for entering graphemes looks like this:

Why is Chinese called Mandarin?

The official language of the PRC is Putonghua 普通话, calling it “Mandarin” in Russian is incorrect and absurd, this definition is used only in Western literature as a copy of the old Chinese expression “guanhua” 官话 - “the language of officials” (in fact, the official Chinese language) . "Official" in English mandarin(from Portuguese mandarim); Over time, all northern dialects of Chinese began to be called “Mandarin” in the West. In our country they are simply called “Chinese”, since they are the main and largest group of dialects of the PRC.

Do the Chinese understand each other?

The Chinese do not always understand each other - this is often due to different dialects and accents, which create considerable obstacles to understanding in an already complex speech. Despite the fact that all citizens of the PRC, including minor nationalities, are required to know the state language Putonghua, everyone has their own pronunciation, so the chance of mutual understanding decreases with every step from east to west and from south to north.

One hieroglyph - one word?

A Chinese word can consist of one character (very often), or two or three. One character is always one syllable, for example, 吧 bā, 啊 ā, 妈 mā, 能 néng. Due to the large number of identical sounding words in Chinese speech, several syllables are increasingly being used, that is, several hieroglyphs, for example, 吃 chī - “eat, eat” is usually used in conjunction with 饭 fàn - “food, food” just for the sake of , to make it easier to perceive by ear - 吃饭 chīfàn - “eat, eat, eat.”

Is it possible to read Japanese characters if you know Chinese?

A long time ago, around the 5th century. n. e., Chinese characters somehow came to Japan through some unknown means. Perhaps they were brought by Buddhist monks - it is not known for certain. The Japanese at that time did not have their own written language, and based on Chinese characters they created their two alphabets - hiragana And katakana. The hieroglyphs themselves brought from China in Japan began to be called kanji(漢字), they are still used to write the stems of nouns, adjectives and verbs; For endings, particles, etc., hiragana is used.

The Japanese language has had a huge number of Chinese loanwords since the sixth century AD. Despite this, even knowing many characters, it is impossible to read Japanese text correctly due to grammatical and semantic differences; in addition, in mainland China, simplified characters are now used, while in Japan they have remained traditional. Thus, the writing of China and Japan developed from the same basis, but in different ways, therefore, knowing Chinese, you will not be able to read Japanese texts: there is only the possibility of understanding the main essence of what is written.

Why is Chinese so difficult?

The Chinese language is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the most difficult in the world, but this does not prevent many people from all over the world from mastering it at one level or another, reading, writing and speaking Chinese.

The main difficulty for many is hieroglyphs. Indeed, how to remember these thousands of completely different sequences of strokes? How to keep them in memory?

Chinese learners first need to learn the keys (there are about 200 of them, and they are simple). Keys help you memorize hieroglyphs faster, but without practice and constant repetition, new words disappear from memory very quickly.

Naturally, compared to alphabetic systems, hieroglyphic systems are overly complex and inconvenient (the same search in the dictionary!), but this can be overcome if you have a specific learning goal (for example, work, research or travel). Without a goal there is no point in learning.

And this is what the most complex hieroglyph looks like - biang, 58 strokes. It is used to represent a type of Chinese noodle and is not found in computer fonts.

As for spoken Chinese speech, it is very difficult to perceive due to the many consonant words and tone system. Most Chinese have an absolute ear for music because they are accustomed to distinguishing tones right from childhood. Foreigners do not have this skill, so they have to guess the content of the speech based on the context, as well as through persistent training to develop their hearing, getting used to the perception of Chinese.

In addition, Chinese fiction and journalism are replete with set expressions - sayings in our language, the meaning of which cannot be understood without the help of a dictionary.

In general, it is not for nothing that the Chinese language has earned its title as one of the most difficult in the world, but with due diligence and a goal, it can be mastered. The reward for this can be a huge (and constantly growing) number of potential interlocutors!

“Hieroglyphs?!? Oh no! How can you even remember them? Chinese is not for me!” Olga.

We constantly receive feedback like this from our readers.

Here's another example: “All my life I wanted to learn Chinese, but I remember the hieroglyphs very poorly […] I gave up everything...” Alexey L.

It's incredibly sad when people give up on their dreams simply because they encounter difficulties that seem insurmountable to them.

Do you have such thoughts? If yes, then be sure to read on!

Is it possible to easily learn and memorize hieroglyphs?

Yes, I don’t argue, hieroglyphs are one of the biggest stumbling blocks in mastering Chinese. But think about it: More than a billion Chinese were able to master them. They use them every day! And believe me, not all of them are brilliant. If they could do it, you definitely can!

I have 2 news for you: one is good, the other is also good.

1. If you use the right approach, Chinese writing will no longer seem so inaccessible. Main understand the basic principles: how hieroglyphs are constructed, where they get their meaning and how they are pronounced. Once you figure this out, half the battle is done.

2. The more hieroglyphs you know, the easier it will be to remember new ones.

Where to begin?

Ideally, learn the principles of hieroglyphs and at the same time gain vocabulary.

And today we will study the first principle on the basis of which many basic hieroglyphs were formed: the “Picture Principle”. According to him, the hieroglyph is as similar as possible to the object it depicts.

And to illustrate this principle, today we will study with you 10 simplest Chinese characters.

They are easy to remember and learn to write, and most importantly, they will often appear in various Chinese texts and will help you master even more characters in the future.

1. 一 yī

What does it mean: This is without a doubt the simplest character in the Chinese language. It is not difficult to guess that it means the number “one”.

How to remember: The logic in this hieroglyph is obvious: the Chinese put one stick on the ground, which means one.

Let’s add two more obvious hieroglyphs here:

Two sticks are two 二 èr;

Three sticks are three 三 sān.

Example: Of course, hieroglyphs themselves are useless to us if we do not know how to use them. So let's immediately make up a couple of words and expressions and start talking a little.

十一 shí yī eleven (ten + one);

十三 shí sān thirteen;

二十 èr shí twenty (two tens);

我要一个。wǒ yào yī gè I want one piece (use while shopping).

2. ren

What does it mean: This hieroglyph means Human.

How to remember: Imagine that a head is drawn above the hieroglyph, and add 2 feet to the legs, and voila, you have a person.

How do you spell: First write a line to the left, and then from its center to the right. Remember that we write all hieroglyphs from top to bottom.

Example:

Just one person.

What about? tā shì shénme rén – who is he?

3. 入 rù

What does it mean: Very similar to human 人, but in no case should they be confused. 入 rù means enter.

How to remember: This hieroglyph originally had the meaning “outside - in” and depicted the tip of a knife or arrow blade that pierced or ENTERED into some object.

How do you spell: First, write a small line to the left, and then, starting a little higher, write a line to the right. We write from top to bottom.

Example:

入口 rùkǒu entrance;

It is important to go to university.

4. 日rì

What does it mean: This is the Sun. And when we see the sun, what time of day is it? That's right, day. So this is Sun or day.

How to remember: There were times when this hieroglyph was written as a circle, with a dot in the center. With the development of writing, it acquired a modern appearance and ceased to be so obvious. And yet, we look at the square with a line and see the solar disk with a halo around it.

How do you spell: First we write the left vertical line from top to bottom. Then the top and right line from left to right and down without lifting your hand. Last we write horizontal lines in the center and below. Both strokes are written from left to right.

Example:

一月一日 yī yuè yī rì the first of January (the first day of the month).

By the way, what will it be like on the third of March?

5. 山 shān

What does it mean: in its shape this hieroglyph is also similar to what it means: mountain.

How to remember: On the horizon we see three mountain peaks.

How do you spell: First write a short left stroke from top to bottom and continue down to the bottom right. Then write the highest line in the middle and the right line a little lower. All vertical strokes are written from top to bottom.

Example:

山口 shānkǒu pass, entrance to the gorge;

上山 shàng shān to climb the mountains.

6. 口 kǒu

What does it mean: This hieroglyph has different meanings, the most common are mouth And entrance.

How to remember: A very simple hieroglyph - like many basic hieroglyphs, it was a direct image of an object, so it is easy to remember. We look at the square and see an open mouth.

How do you spell: Same as 日 rì, but without the middle line. By the way, a little check, what is 日？

Example:

大口 dà kǒu big mouth, large-mouthed;

出口 chū kǒu exit. By the way, remember what “entrance” is? – 入口;

人口 rén kǒu population.

7. 中 zhōng

What does it mean: This is a hieroglyph center, inside, middle.

How to remember: Its value is indicated by a line that is located exactly in the center.

How do you spell: Same as 口 kǒu, only more rectangular in shape. Why add a middle line from top to bottom.

Example:

中午 zhōngwǔ noon (middle of the day);

中国人 zhōng guó rén Chinese (a person from the middle state, i.e. from China);

中医 Chinese medicine.

8. 火 hǔo

What does it mean: You might think that this is a man waving his arms? But no, it's fire.

How to remember: Do you remember what a fire looks like made from small logs and with flames flying upward? Now look at this hieroglyph - one to one!

How do you spell: First the left, then the right “tongues of flame”, and then like 人 rén.

Example:

大火 dà hǔo fire;

火山 hǔo shān volcano;

火车 hǔo chē train (fire carriage).

9. 女nǚ

What does it mean: This woman.

How to remember: Initially, a woman was depicted kneeling. Now we can see in this hieroglyph a head, arms, two legs and a graceful “back” part.

How do you spell: This hieroglyph has 3 lines: the first line from the head smoothly transitions to the leg to the right, then we write the second leg to the left. And finally, hands - from left to right.

Example:

女人 nǚ rén woman;

女厕所 nǚ cèsuŏ women's toilet.

10. 门 men

What does it mean: This door.

How to remember: This character, especially in the traditional spelling 門, is very similar to the doorway in old Chinese houses. If you don’t know what doors looked like in China, then remember the doors to saloons in cowboy films.

And this hieroglyph often becomes a phonetic, i.e. helps us learn the reading of the hieroglyph without looking in the dictionary (but we’ll talk about this in more detail another time).

How do you spell: first a small line-dot in the upper left corner, then a vertical line down from it, and finally a third line - horizontally and down, without lifting your hand.

Example:

门口 mén kǒu entrance, exit, gate;

开门 kāi men open the door;

入门 rù mén to enter the door (and can also be used in a figurative meaning: to make a beginning, to make an initiative).

Happy practice!

Svetlana Khludneva

P.S. Take care of yourself!