#because unlike chinese-born/raised kids you don’t have a basis or background to fall back on

[indigostudies]

it’s interesting to me when people on tumblr who are learning chinese say you don’t need to learn radicals, because………i just don’t think that’s true? as someone who grew up speaking and learning it natively i may be biased, but there’s just…….so many situations when knowing at least basic radicals and meanings is very useful.

if you’re in an area that uses traditional or simplified and you’re used to the opposite set, then knowing radicals can be key to understanding the written language on signs in the area, menus, letters, etc. if you’re reading something and you know the meaning of the characters around a new character, but you don’t know what that character is because it’s unfamiliar to you, knowing radicals allows you to make a guess at the meaning of the character and possibly connect it to the spoken version of the character that you already know based on that context, as for example a radical often lends pronunciation clues to a character.

also, knowing radicals makes it much easier to remember how to write characters—it’s much easier to remember, say, 想 as wood-and-eye-over-heart (木目心) or 绿 as silk-record (silk radical 纟plus the word 录 as in 录音, audio recording) because those are patterns you already have than to remember the individual strokes necessary to write a character. and on the topic of writing—knowing radicals also tells you the order in which to write a character, which is absolutely key to writing legible, orderly characters in a minimal amount of time!

obviously the measure of how many radicals you “really” “have to” know is going to vary by the person you talk to, but i think it’s important to have at least a passable basis in radicals if you’re going to learn chinese, a language written with radicals as important components of words.

and, lest i be remiss—here’s some resources i managed to find with a quick search.

hackingchinese page on radicals with a number of links to .anki, .txt, and .pdf files of the 100 most common radicals

hskacademy list of 214 radicals

a fluentu page that includes 214 radicals and expounds upon the meaning of phonetic and semantic components and their difference from radicals

ltl-beijing page that includes links to a list of radicals, some history behind them, a quiz, printable pdf, and more

and finally, not a link, but a recommendation for an app: download TOFU learn and use the hsk level decks! this is a very easy way to get into the habit of writing and repeating characters daily, which is absolutely vital if you want to get anywhere with reading and writing. dot languages also has a written component to practices, but the app is multi-functional and not confined to writing, nor does it give information about component and radical meanings like TOFU learn does. additionally, i would recommend downloading pleco, which is a very thorough dictionary that has the option to view the radical/component breakdown of a given character (under the “chars” tab—for example it breaks down 音 as 立 and 日) i’ve also seen skritter recommended a lot, but i cannot vouch for that.

#chinese langblr #mandarin langblr #chinese language #chinese resources #langblr #langblr resources #this was originally all one chunk of text but i’ve broken it up to make it easier to read #i hope this comes off as attempting to be helpful rather than patronising #because i genuinely want to help! #and i think if you have no heritage ties to chinese it’s DOUBLY important you learn at least a few radicals #because unlike chinese-born/raised kids you don’t have a basis or background to fall back on #and you’re at a disadvantage if you ignore that #汉语 #indigostudies #resources #indigo ink