How Chinese Characters Work

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  • čas přidán 7. 01. 2024
  • In this video, I break down how Chinese characters work, the different types of Chinese character, and how you can use this info to learn Chinese faster. Enjoy!
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Komentáře • 654

  • @EdMcF1
    @EdMcF1 Před 3 měsíci +45

    When I was a scientist in England, in my department were a Chinese scientist and a Japanese scientist, neither had at that point a strong command of technical English. I watched as they were having a technical discussion in English and both reached the end of their language and were 'stuck', so the Japanese guy grabbed a pen and paper and he wrote out in kanji what he wanted to get across, the Chinese scientist looked at what he'd written and understood immediately and wrote down a reply, which was also understood. If they'd spoken in their respective mother tongues, they'd've got nowhere.

    • @da3m0nic_79
      @da3m0nic_79 Před 2 měsíci +2

      Truly interesting

    • @Al-waqwaq
      @Al-waqwaq Před měsícem +5

      漢字における高級語彙は日本語も中国語もほぼ同じなので、専門的分野になればなるほど意思疎通が可能となる

    • @metric7278
      @metric7278 Před 18 dny

      it's called 筆談 Brushtalk

    • @misslen575
      @misslen575 Před 4 dny

      As someone who is both learning kanji and improving my mandarin, this is very true, a lot of the kanji and its meaning comes from mandarin but the pronunciation/sound is completely different
      Eg: 出口 deguchi is japanese, and in Chinese its chukou, both mean exit
      Of course, there are borrowed characters with completely different meaning and pronunciation like
      先生 mandarin= xianshen, sir, mister
      Jap= sensei, teacher, professor

    • @testxxxx123
      @testxxxx123 Před 3 dny +1

      @@Al-waqwaq Indeed, me a Chinese person, who didn't know Japanese in particular, could understand majority of this sentence lol. So I agree.

  • @peteyhy
    @peteyhy Před 4 měsíci +233

    As a Chinese (Singaporean) , even ourselves would struggle to pick up the language when we start school, it's all rote learning. The love of the language will make learning much easier. Immersion is the key to learning a difficult language like Chinese. Blend in with Chinese speaking communities will definitely enhance the mastery of the language.

    • @revolution1237
      @revolution1237 Před 3 měsíci +3

      I'm sure you already know this, but you do have one (a Chinese-speaking community), and they're on your doorstep.

    • @ranawaqar7140
      @ranawaqar7140 Před 3 měsíci +1

      Can you help me for learning Chinese

    • @peteyhy
      @peteyhy Před 2 měsíci +3

      @@revolution1237 in Singapore, it's a unique situation. Mandarin is only taught in schools and is commonly encouraged to use when communicating with teachers or with fellow classmates. You are right to say among those who are Chinese. The best is other racial groups like indians and Malays learned some from the Chinese. My parents are born in the 40s, Mandarin are only taught in Chinese schools but since Singapore education has evolved to have everyone learn English as well, to be proficient in both mother tongue (Chinese, Malay or Tamil) is the main objective. Not sure about other languages, but. Mandarin is quite a tough nut to crack, even as a Chinese, it feels like another language, because we use mainly dialects at home. Our parents learned from us to speak Mandarin, those they have lost touched years ago.

    • @Carbuncle0168
      @Carbuncle0168 Před 2 měsíci +2

      ​@@peteyhy if you love Xi Jinping or BRICS or have a Mainland Chinese girlfriend, then it'll be easier to learn Chinese

    • @peteyhy
      @peteyhy Před 2 měsíci

      @@Carbuncle0168 there's no need to. Singapore has good Chinese teachers.

  • @tapeNJ
    @tapeNJ Před 3 měsíci +38

    I don't know a thing about Chinese characters, but when I was a young guy I asked a friend who spoke and wrote Chinese very well what it was all about. He said, "Imagine that two lines could mean 'some trees, or woods'. Now imagine that 4-5 of the same lines now means 'forest'... it's kinda like that." Thank you, Bing, all these years later. I wish you well!

    • @davidbroadfoot1864
      @davidbroadfoot1864 Před 2 měsíci

      FYI, it takes four strokes to represent a "tree". Two (or three or five) of those tree pictograms represent a "forest".

    • @johnhe2908
      @johnhe2908 Před 2 měsíci +7

      木 means tree or wood
      林 means forest
      森 means big forest
      森林 aslo the same meaning as 森

  • @conho4898
    @conho4898 Před 3 měsíci +97

    Japanese also simplified their Kanji, called Shinjitai. Their traditional forms are called Kyuujitai.

    • @maxheadroom1506
      @maxheadroom1506 Před 3 měsíci +6

      Japanese you can get away without the writing and it is actually a lot easier to learn.

    • @user-gl1vv6cy1q
      @user-gl1vv6cy1q Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@maxheadroom1506 Chinese can too, it's called Pinyin. And trust me Japanese is way harder than Chinese given the culture background.

    • @maxheadroom1506
      @maxheadroom1506 Před 2 měsíci

      i tried mandarin could not do it. tried japanese was able to form sentences and distinguish words. sure there is certain endings one must use but one can get their message across. to me japanese is way easier. very simple structure no pronouns just a no bs language.
      @@user-gl1vv6cy1q

    • @jiayilim1986
      @jiayilim1986 Před 2 měsíci +1

      ​@@maxheadroom1506It's easier until everything looks like ははははながすきだ. You'll learn to appreciate Kanji as you progress, and I say this as a Chinese speaker who has been learning Japanese for years.

    • @jiayilim1986
      @jiayilim1986 Před 2 měsíci

      ​​​@@user-gl1vv6cy1qChinese characters may be nightmarish, but everything in pinyin would be utter hell. Think about poems, which are meant to be read. The amount of homophones in Chinese already scares me. If they all look the same, that wouldn't be a usable language anymore.

  • @mianhaeioi
    @mianhaeioi Před 4 měsíci +117

    If you are studying Mandarin, learning the traditional form of the most common characters is highly recommended! For example, the character for 'door' is more recognizable in its traditional form than the simplified form. Good luck to all - Chinese language and culture is so much fun to learn and experience!

    • @RaymondHng
      @RaymondHng Před 3 měsíci +16

      門 = 门
      問 = 问

    • @user-xh3eg2tf2y
      @user-xh3eg2tf2y Před 3 měsíci +24

      not really, you learn a language is to use it, simplified chinese is more easy to learn and more wild used.

    • @mianhaeioi
      @mianhaeioi Před 3 měsíci +5

      @@user-xh3eg2tf2y are you recommending people NOT learn more about the intricacies of the Chinese language? 🤔

    • @user-xh3eg2tf2y
      @user-xh3eg2tf2y Před 3 měsíci +18

      yes, the purpose of learn a foreign language is to use it, not because those so called intricacies to feel superior than those simplified version. when you master the simplified version like those locals, you will realize from simplified to traditional is very easy@@mianhaeioi

    • @mianhaeioi
      @mianhaeioi Před 3 měsíci

      @@user-xh3eg2tf2y Stick to the basics. Got it.

  • @TheSwiftMagician
    @TheSwiftMagician Před 3 měsíci +14

    I LOVE this one. I was stuck with the old radical ideas, but this seems so much more ordered.
    謝謝你

  • @gibee624
    @gibee624 Před 4 měsíci +44

    You gotta post more. I love your content man.

  • @weigangfu8826
    @weigangfu8826 Před měsícem +6

    作为一个母语者,我也觉得你的视频挺有意思的,讲的很清楚

  • @scanvil3766
    @scanvil3766 Před 2 měsíci +71

    i started chinese with duolingo 9 days ago and because of this 15:33 i finally understand why 叫 looks the way it does. this is so helpful for future reference.
    i noticed just yesterday, that 她 (she/her) and 妈 (mother) share that symbol on the left and i thought "woah maybe this indicates "female".
    and i realized drink and eat also share the mouth symbol on the left.
    amazing explanation. thank you so much!

    • @1997zqy
      @1997zqy Před 2 měsíci +10

      Yes, the left part is “女”, which means female or a woman. Another basic character contains 女 is 好(good). 女(a woman) has a 子(son) means 好(good).

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 2 měsíci +2

      You are most welcome! We are glad we were able to help. Here's a gift from us . Here are a few resources to assist you with your study www.mandarinblueprint.com/resources/

    • @qlyx-cn
      @qlyx-cn Před 2 měsíci +1

      I study Japanese and Cantonese with Duolingo too!I’m Chinese, if you learned Chinese, you’ll find it very simple to learn Japanese.

    • @1997zqy
      @1997zqy Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@markpalmer8083 you can just remember it as a whole, and no need to think too much about it.

    • @garyyuan6388
      @garyyuan6388 Před 2 měsíci

      There was no 她 in the history until 20 centuries.

  • @arsenyprokhorenko8649
    @arsenyprokhorenko8649 Před 3 měsíci +3

    Beautiful explanation, very thorough and well-rounded. Thank you!

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 3 měsíci

      Thank you for your kind words! We appreciate you supporting the channel

  • @potatoproud
    @potatoproud Před 3 měsíci +10

    This is the first video i watch and I went to put like but i was surprised by the fact that its just 600 the video is amazing and the delivery of the ideas is clear and amazing it helped me alot to understand the origin of the characters and not just memorizing it blindly plus the man also have calm beautiful voice 😄its a great a channel and am glad that dicovered it

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 3 měsíci +1

      Hey there, Thank you so much for your kind words, we appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any upcoming videos :)

  • @ibrahimferit9567
    @ibrahimferit9567 Před 4 měsíci +10

    I loved this video as you said it yourself it demystified the ideas I had. I hope I have enough time someday to learn chinese.

  • @roshanme2k
    @roshanme2k Před 4 měsíci +5

    Hello your videos are very helpful man

  • @jeanyuan9852
    @jeanyuan9852 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Thank you for your presentation and this is a wonderful show. Chinese is an integral part of Chinese culture, learning Chinese entails understanding Chinese culture. Have a wonderful journey of learning and appreciating Chinese. Thanks again

  • @user-ke2gg6le3s
    @user-ke2gg6le3s Před 4 měsíci +5

    Very Helpful!

  • @Puyol1972
    @Puyol1972 Před 2 měsíci

    You make it look so easy 💕

  • @thethirdeye8893
    @thethirdeye8893 Před 3 měsíci +27

    I learn Chinese with a meditative mode. Each character I try to write with a high precision and a focus. I imagine myself as a kunfu master who write characters up in air with my sword. I try to bring a mystic atmospere into the learning process. All characters look cool and are enjoyable to look at. Some chs which are hard to memorize I usually write them down on my skin, hands and feet. It helps a lot )

  • @4goode1234
    @4goode1234 Před 3 měsíci

    This has been awesome, thank you. Its espcially helpful for me to learn tje etymology, as I find the wisdom there very great.

  • @janlloyd6138
    @janlloyd6138 Před 2 měsíci +1

    You are great, this is something I will watch over and over. The pronounciation and the characters of mandarin Chinese fascinate me. I read somewhere there is actually no limit to the characters in Chinese which I think really sparked my interest to begin with. Thank you so much.

  • @KneelBeforeBlue
    @KneelBeforeBlue Před 2 měsíci

    Tiur first example waa awesome. Structure is everything. You ened to find the key not memorize characters/alphabet

  • @MissNulis
    @MissNulis Před měsícem +1

    Thank you for making this content!! This maps the jungle well, making it look less wild and easier to navigate. This helps me to memorize hanzi much easier now!!!

  • @AngelaRPierce
    @AngelaRPierce Před 3 měsíci +1

    I always wondered how that worked. Thanks for the explanation!

    • @AngelaRPierce
      @AngelaRPierce Před 3 měsíci

      BTW... You have a great "radio voice". I could listen to you talk all day.

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 3 měsíci

      Glad to help! and Thank you for the compliment :)

  • @HFG
    @HFG Před 2 měsíci +3

    Armed with all of this knowledge, I still have no idea what it means lol. I don't have a reason to learn Chinese but this was still fascinating.

  • @raffaizz
    @raffaizz Před 3 dny +1

    非常有帮助,谢谢

  • @marfarodkin
    @marfarodkin Před 2 měsíci +1

    Thank you so much for your video it's extremely helpful

  • @user-hk1eh8ul9n
    @user-hk1eh8ul9n Před 48 minutami

    讲的很好很详细。

  • @jonseilim4321
    @jonseilim4321 Před 3 měsíci +13

    Learn Chinese by leaning your passions, for me that's lyrics to songs or lines of poetry or even subtitles in dramas, there's no need to force one's self into rote memorization

    • @deniaridley
      @deniaridley Před 2 měsíci

      True! (That goes for every language of course.)

    • @Dionn743
      @Dionn743 Před měsícem

      I’m OBSESSED with Chinese web novels at Mtl limits my access so would learning pinyin and the radical for the most common words be good ?

    • @ananda_miaoyin
      @ananda_miaoyin Před měsícem

      Singing was a great tool for learning Spanish for me.
      That and some semesters in college.
      And living in California.

    • @Dionn743
      @Dionn743 Před měsícem

      @@ananda_miaoyin I wanna learn Spanish too 😫 but I prefer Puerto Rican songs and artist than Mexican like un beso and I want a Mexican dialect

    • @ananda_miaoyin
      @ananda_miaoyin Před měsícem

      @@Dionn743 Juan Gabriel was my favorite of the Mexican singers. Also, the band, Mana kicks ass. I saw them in concert. So good. Their Mexican Spanish is so clean, you can understand every word.
      I don't know any PR groups; DR has some hardcore reggaeton (Lapiz Conciente, Toni Nash, etc.) and a crazy accent!

  • @scottwong426
    @scottwong426 Před 3 měsíci +1

    Excellent video. Good pints to know. Makes chinese learning so much memorable and easy

  • @leisulin
    @leisulin Před 3 měsíci +6

    The other thing I find so fascinating and aesthetically pleasing about Chinese characters is how different components deform themselves to accommodate the other components when they are used together to produce a new character. Remember: they all are designed to fit inside a square of the same size as all the other characters, no matter how many components are combined. A simple example is the character consisting of two trees side by side: 林. It may look just like two trees, but if you look closely you'll see that the right-hand side of the left-hand tree has its right-hand downward branch stunted to enable the trees to stand close together without bumping into each other or overlapping in any way at all. When two or more components are combined to form a character, they NEVER overlap each other, as far as I can tell. Instead, the components squish together in some fashion, while still making visible what each component is. My favorite is this character: 雀 ("sparrow"). (It's a little hard to see what's what at this font size. If you copy and paste these into a larger font, it becomes much clearer). The two components are 小 ("small") and 隹 ("short-tailed bird"--yes, it's a radical!). The "small" component sits on top of the short-tailed-bird radical, squishing it flat, to form the full character for "sparrow"! It's really interesting and beautiful how the forms of classical Chinese characters of multiple components are formed!

    • @jiayilim1986
      @jiayilim1986 Před 2 měsíci

      雀 is one of the most commonly used component in Chinese characters I have ever seen. 雙 確 蕉 谁 推 準 應 鹰. Sometimes it gives the meaning, sometimes the sound. It's more apparent in older dialects like Cantonese or Hokkien.

    • @leisulin
      @leisulin Před 25 dny

      @@bonbonpony And 人 abbreviates itself to 亻 to become the left side of many, many characters, and 肉 shrinks itself to become the left side of 肌, and 入 "opens wide" to admit 肉 in 肏! And no doubt other examples as well.

    • @leisulin
      @leisulin Před 25 dny

      @@bonbonpony I think it's a matter of two different-looking ancient forms which evolved from their earlier pictographic forms to ultimately look exactly the same, but are otherwise unrelated. There is a very good book that traces the pictographic forms through the "grass style" forms and their history to how they ended up: "Chinese Characters: Their Origin, Etymology, History, Classification, and Signification: A Thorough Study from Chinese Documents". I have a copy at home but I'm traveling now, or else I'd look it up in that book. I think it would almost certainly clarify the evolution of these characters into their modern form.

  • @josir1994
    @josir1994 Před 3 měsíci +1

    Having some experience in writing Chinese characters in a good stroke order also help in reading different fonts or style of writing.

  • @makdoudiachraf92
    @makdoudiachraf92 Před 29 dny

    Thanks you have mentioned 4 types!!!

  • @Nagalipton
    @Nagalipton Před 2 měsíci +1

    This was very helpful, thank you! I'm learning Japanese rather than Chinese, but this is still useful since Kanji are just Chinese characters effectively. Learning how they break down makes the task of learning them much more manageable.

    • @jiayilim1986
      @jiayilim1986 Před 2 měsíci

      Very much. I got so much better at writing Chinese characters after studying the history and evolution of 1000 Chinese characters from a kid's book (?)

  • @evgamer15
    @evgamer15 Před 3 měsíci +5

    I'm learning Japanese instead of Chinese, but this is still helpful as Kanji work similarly :D

  • @mikecawthorn7806
    @mikecawthorn7806 Před měsícem

    Interesting over view, tks for that

  • @user-oi9ry5fc2l
    @user-oi9ry5fc2l Před měsícem +1

    That so relieving 😊

  • @robertking6924
    @robertking6924 Před 2 měsíci

    Wish I had this in high-school, it was one of 3 languages I took. Mandarin was the hardest.

  • @dennismorris7573
    @dennismorris7573 Před 3 měsíci +1

    Fascinating.

  • @Muslim_Lady
    @Muslim_Lady Před 3 měsíci +5

    This video is awesome. Your explanation of how Chinese characters work makes it easier to learn and understand, it also makes it sound more fun, especially the compound ideographs. Thank you for this.

  • @Klaus293
    @Klaus293 Před 3 měsíci +1

    I have no idea how I stumbled upon this video, but it’s very interesting! I didn’t have anything remotely related to the Chinese language in my history.

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 3 měsíci +1

      Maybe it's a sign that you needed to start learning Chinese!

  • @JoshuaBautro
    @JoshuaBautro Před 3 měsíci

    很好的视频谢谢指导

  • @user-sp6oh6ku9k
    @user-sp6oh6ku9k Před 2 měsíci +1

    Please more of this

  • @user-tg9fd7jt6q
    @user-tg9fd7jt6q Před 3 měsíci +4

    谢谢

  • @tomheinemann7616
    @tomheinemann7616 Před 2 měsíci

    Xie xie ni! I have been living 8 years in China, now 3 years in Malaysia, always struggling with structuring the characters. And of course tried many courses like rocket-chinese, chinese 101, others, even tried the teaching by my Chinese wife - but had to learn, Chinese learn by "learning", not by understanding. My German mind always needs to understand. Your explanation is brilliant. Never got so much valid info to the structure and meaning of characters as in this 15 min. You reactivated my desire to learn more and learn writing. And by the way, you are a super positive character, really motivating.

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před měsícem

      Thank you! We are glad you found our video helpful. Thanks for watching. If you have any questions or need help with anything, definitely let us know.

  • @mikeash7428
    @mikeash7428 Před 2 měsíci

    Thanks. Wonderful lesson

  • @toma110363
    @toma110363 Před 2 měsíci

    This is an awesome video. I had no idea about the language. Thanks

  • @colincolenso
    @colincolenso Před 2 měsíci

    Thanks mate, I lived in Shanghai for 6 years and probably have 1-2k words in my database in pinyin, but other than ren, yi and zhong, had no clue about Chinese characters and figured the task of learning them was a mountain too high. You've given me hope to tackle it. Each time I've said 'wo bu ming bai' or 'wo bu ji dao' feels like a disconnection, a failure. There's much mutual pleasure in sharing one's understanding of a culture and language with those we're foreign to.

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 2 měsíci

      Glad we could help! If you're looking to delve deeper into Mandarin, here's a link to our free webclass www.mandarinblueprint.com/free-webinar

  • @timcent7199
    @timcent7199 Před 3 měsíci

    I applaud your positivity but you can reassure as much as you like. Chinese is waaaaay beyond convoluted. I learned to read, write and speak Dutch, self taught, in 3 months. Chinese will take me 3 centuries.

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 3 měsíci +1

      We beg to differ :) I'd encourage you to check out the following www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/chinese-fluency-with-mandarin-blueprint/ . Learning Chinese doesn't have to take 3 centuries and you'll see why once you read the above .

    • @quach8quach907
      @quach8quach907 Před 2 měsíci +2

      It is harder. It is not more convoluted.
      Read the story of The Three Little Pigs.
      I'll take English as an example. I'll use one of your word as an example.
      century
      You can learn "century" = 100 years.
      Or you can learn it the proper way. From Latin.
      cent = 100
      century = 100 years
      cent = 1 penny. 100 "cents" in a dollar
      centimeter = 1/100 th of a meter
      percent = per 100
      3/4 = three quarters = 75 cents = 75 "percent".
      bicentennial
      and so on.
      Much more useful than learning
      century = 100 years

  • @rredru
    @rredru Před 2 měsíci

    thank you for this! - mr hoyack

  • @StardustAnlia
    @StardustAnlia Před 3 měsíci +8

    It took me until third grade to accurately pick up English letters ( bs and ds). I relearned Hebrew letters in 2 weeks and assimilated Hebrew script in 3 days. I look at Chinese characters and completely forget them as soon as I look away. At this point I just have to admit it’s in my blood.

  • @Jalaxe77
    @Jalaxe77 Před 3 měsíci

    Comment for the algorithm. Keep up the great videos!

  • @Zera180.pulsican
    @Zera180.pulsican Před 10 dny +1

    I can't believe I'm trying to learn this! 😂

  • @estefaniaficca5572
    @estefaniaficca5572 Před 3 měsíci +1

    I loved this video to start with chinese

  • @justicewillprevail1106
    @justicewillprevail1106 Před 3 měsíci +1

    Your Chinese pronounciation is amazingly accurate. Wow..

  • @acmenegymilis8522
    @acmenegymilis8522 Před 2 měsíci

    Very informative & interesting.

  • @MillieMandarin
    @MillieMandarin Před 3 měsíci +2

    👍 Excellent video !

  • @duoduoqian5468
    @duoduoqian5468 Před 12 dny

    In the 昨天 example you gave, 昨 can be used alone in northern dialects and in informal conversations.

  • @jameskwa
    @jameskwa Před měsícem

    Excellent l think this explanation was very good

  • @drdeetlefs
    @drdeetlefs Před měsícem +1

    VERY HANDSOME AND INTERESTING, THANK YOU!

  • @uttpiew
    @uttpiew Před 2 měsíci

    It is true that many characters are compound charecters.
    When I encounter unfamiliar compound charectors, I will try to search by its component.
    For example the word 贏, I will search for 亡口月贝凡 and I will be able to find the compound word.

  • @brandonlesco4821
    @brandonlesco4821 Před 3 měsíci +1

    I think you would find it helpful to learn an older Chinese like Cantonese. For example, 門 and 問 sounds mun6 and man4. Not sure what happened that made a lot of m sounds into w, happened many times, like 忙望網無晚。

  • @bteran3518
    @bteran3518 Před 3 měsíci +1

    Thank you very interesting

  • @kenjet2784
    @kenjet2784 Před 3 měsíci +2

    你很好看 也很有气质 也很耐看,有一股不可抗拒的魅力。才貌双全,文质彬彬,优雅出众。

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 3 měsíci +1

      Woah...

    • @atomyq
      @atomyq Před 3 měsíci +1

      ​@@MandarinBlueprint您的瞳色也好特别,带美瞳眼镜还是天生的?我从来没见过,像宝石一样~

  • @semerapi
    @semerapi Před 3 měsíci +1

    谢谢, 来自中国云南。汉字非常有趣和复杂,们简化了它们,因为写它和学它的好处是写字少费力

  • @scottnj2503
    @scottnj2503 Před měsícem

    Working for a Korean corp, I've strived to learn how to effectively communicate in English. Admiring/respecting my Korean co-workers read, write and speak at least 2 languages. Most able to read Chinese. I regularly butcher my birth tongue English, the only language. This post sheds light and insight I find valuable. Language, both written and spoken are directly correlated to thought process and culture. Thank you.

  • @sad-cookies
    @sad-cookies Před 3 měsíci +1

    this video is amazing

  • @Dawnarow
    @Dawnarow Před 2 měsíci

    Thank you.

  • @tanglediver
    @tanglediver Před 2 měsíci

    "Fascinating.", to quote Mr. Spock. I never had the interest to learn Chinese language, but I did spend time in the orient.

    • @quach8quach907
      @quach8quach907 Před 2 měsíci

      You should first learn English.
      "orient" = east
      The sun rises in the east, (Beauty and the Beast . . .)
      The sun rises in the east. That is how we tell directions.
      That is how we "orient" ourselves.

  • @yoongzy
    @yoongzy Před 3 měsíci +14

    Looking at the Chinese Periodic Table of Elements you'll understand why the semantic-phonetic compounds can be very useful sometimes to identify the properties of the characters.

    • @mordshu3144
      @mordshu3144 Před 2 měsíci +3

      不仅如此,在有机化学中往往可以根据汉字的结构推测化合物拥有的结构。比如一个化合物的中文名汉字中有“口”这个偏旁,那往往意味着这个化合物有环状结构。例如最简单的含氧五元杂环化合物“furan”,它的中文是“呋喃”。

    • @jiayilim1986
      @jiayilim1986 Před 2 měsíci +1

      Yep, at that point they just function to give sound.

  • @curtpiazza1688
    @curtpiazza1688 Před 2 měsíci

    Great video! Great pep talk! 😂

  • @briantomoconnor
    @briantomoconnor Před 4 měsíci +6

    Brilliantly summarized, as usual. By the way, Mandarin Blueprint's Hànzì Movie Method really works. And it's fun! (I'm not affiliated with Mandarin Blueprint in any way, by the way, other than being a consumer and student of their courses.)

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 4 měsíci +3

      Glad you are finding the Hanzi Movie Method to work for you! keep up the great work

  • @mariatoubarry7098
    @mariatoubarry7098 Před měsícem +1

    Love it

  • @acwright
    @acwright Před 2 měsíci

    Characters like 妈 makes more sense when you understand how these characters are formed. I think the Chinese language is more intimidating than difficult. 谢谢!

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 2 měsíci

      You are most welcome! Based on your comment, I think you'd enjoy the following : www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/is-chinese-hard-to-learn/

  • @scottlarson1548
    @scottlarson1548 Před 3 měsíci +9

    I saw a video of two Japanese guys going around Tokyo challenging people to correctly draw kanji characters. A majority of them couldn't correctly draw characters that 14 year olds were learning in school. They said it's common to see Japanese people looking up characters with their phones when filling out paper forms. I wonder if that's common with Chinese people too.

    • @user-ly5zb2bi9x
      @user-ly5zb2bi9x Před 3 měsíci +7

      Yes.

    • @omnomnom5359
      @omnomnom5359 Před 3 měsíci

      no its not, chinese characters are replacable in japanese but not in chinese@@user-ly5zb2bi9x

    • @redmondlee9579
      @redmondlee9579 Před 3 měsíci

      不,这不常见,日语的构成与中文完全不同导致了不同的结果。日语中大多数时候只是用一个汉字来代表某些读音,日语并不如中文一样真正理解字的含义。包括日本人取名时,通常也是先选择读音,然后再查找有哪些符合这个读音的汉字,这与中国是完全相反的。

    • @pycpenn
      @pycpenn Před 3 měsíci

      In the old days, when communication in writing was done only through hand writing, most Chinese with high school education rarely need to look up a word. It's not really that hard to memorize Chinese characters once one has learned how those characters are constructed with just a few elements and rules, such as those mentioned in the video.

    • @danielantony1882
      @danielantony1882 Před 3 měsíci

      @@redmondlee9579 That is not correct.

  • @fernandoaldekoa2436
    @fernandoaldekoa2436 Před 3 měsíci +1

    What a craziness!

  • @AntonSlavik
    @AntonSlavik Před 3 měsíci +1

    I've no interest whatsoever in learning Chinese, but I really appreciate understanding there's a system behind these beautiful symbols. I just presumed it was completely random.

  • @user-rs9ph8sk7z
    @user-rs9ph8sk7z Před 2 měsíci

    I like your explanation . I love the chinese language ❤

  • @shortform.videoeditor
    @shortform.videoeditor Před 4 měsíci +2

    Hey do you need a video editor to make your content creation process easy?

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 4 měsíci

      Hey , please send us an email at contact@mandarinblueprint.com

  • @vitomanoeli
    @vitomanoeli Před 2 měsíci

    Thank you, my kanji studies are easier now.

  • @ChadGardenSinLA
    @ChadGardenSinLA Před měsícem

    This was such a good overview of Hanji for English speakers. It was a great refresher for me - I learned Kanji when I was stationed in Japan. But I'm confused, is pinyin like hiragana? Did I miss that the Chinese do (or do not have) a phonetic alphabet?

    • @shiny_ch3139
      @shiny_ch3139 Před měsícem

      Pinyin/zhuyin/jyutping are for prononciation only, written Chinese will be character-specific (from the perspective of a mainlander speaking mandarin, at least)

  • @RicktheCrofter
    @RicktheCrofter Před 2 měsíci

    Once again, I am very happy I learned Spanish as a second language.

  • @felixccaa
    @felixccaa Před 2 měsíci

    13:34 Shang Hai is also quite obvious Above the Sea

  • @arlo5740
    @arlo5740 Před 4 měsíci +5

    Thank you this is an awesome video! Super helpful to understand the history and whole process of chinese characters better.

  • @robertlangley258
    @robertlangley258 Před 2 měsíci +2

    Yeah, it's all very clear now 😳

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 2 měsíci

      Well it appears you need a bit more guidance, check this out -> www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/chinese-characters/ . It will help you with better understanding how characters work

  • @michaelcampbell9844
    @michaelcampbell9844 Před 3 měsíci +7

    The ancient Chinese pronunciation of 海 (sea) was something like "hmər" or "hmrə" and in some way looks pretty similar to European "mar" as in "marine". But in the modern language, only one of these early compound consonants get left in words, so you get h- in 海 and m- in 每. Same for 各, originally kl-, so you have 洛 lak and 各 kak. When you learn similar compounds that have different onsets, this is usually because they descended from clusters.

  • @rais1953
    @rais1953 Před 2 měsíci

    That was an interesting and informative video. If I needed to learn Chinese it would have been a good introduction but because I don't need to learn Chinese the video serves as a warning not to even try. :)

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Don't let it stop you just because you don't need to learn it! It's a fun language!

    • @rais1953
      @rais1953 Před 2 měsíci

      @@MandarinBlueprint I learned French at high school in Perth in the 1950s/60s but never used it then Indonesian and Arabic in the 1970s. The latter two I still enjoy and use daily. In the late 90s I learned a little Thai while living in southern Thailand for two years which has the advantage of giving me an understanding and capability for tonal languages. In 1997 I even, messing about with a Thai friend's Apple computer, managed to get its voice simulation to pronounce a Thai sentence with the correct tones! So I think if I wanted to continue learning a tonal language I'd pursue Thai up to conversational level.

  • @joseantoniobenlopez3240
    @joseantoniobenlopez3240 Před 2 měsíci

    Enhorabuena por el vídeo.

  • @sati87527
    @sati87527 Před 3 měsíci +1

    they make the best tofu

  • @Yellowbeetle28
    @Yellowbeetle28 Před 3 měsíci +4

    河 and 可 don't sound similar in the Mandarin dialect. In another, perhaps older, dialect it could retain the same sound, eg in Cantonese both are "hor"

  • @mattfield3371
    @mattfield3371 Před měsícem

    Isn't the character for tian also sky? I'm thinking of Ten from words like tenki 天気 in Japanese which means weather....and obviously that first character alone would be the character for sky.

  • @eyeofthasky
    @eyeofthasky Před 3 měsíci +1

    5:31 all rules of calligraphy and also normal daily writing i know state that strokes have to extend outwards or they are ugly, and the last na-stroke of Ai having a "serif" that goes inward is really japanese-style to me :D ... ill have to ask my ex, but i already can hear her "aiya wode ma ya, zhe shi shane? ... rengui hmph" in my head :D

  • @thalanoth
    @thalanoth Před 3 měsíci

    Mmmmmmmmm radicals for japanese makes them far more important via this video lol. Thanks man

  • @TofuBug24
    @TofuBug24 Před 2 měsíci

    I think for me one of the coolest revelations when learning Japanese Kanji was how it combined other characters. For instance there are characters for every body part Mouth 口, Eye 目, Ear 耳, Legs 儿 etc. But if for instance you were to give Eyes legs you get 見 which is "to see" so literally adding legs gives action to the body part. It does not always translate one to one for us english speakers because we have different cultural ideas of shared concepts. For instance "to hear" does use the ear you can see it a little smaller in the middle 聞 It's sitting inside the kanji for Gate as in listening / hearing is "opening the gate to your mind/soul". There's also more nuanced combinations like giving a mouth legs and you get 兄 or "older brother" which is funny from a western perspective. There are some REALLY funny ones like staking a mouth on top of a mouth you get two mouths 𠂤 as in someone that is speaking two truths depending on the situation, now if we put THAT under a roof 宀 we get 官 which is Bureaucrat and that is so poignant.

    • @quach8quach907
      @quach8quach907 Před 2 měsíci

      聞 = 耳 ear + 門 door. Root meaning: to eavesdrop, ala The Bionic Woman.

    • @quach8quach907
      @quach8quach907 Před 2 měsíci

      見 = 目 eye + 儿 legs = to see. Makes perfect sense. Mechanical seeing. You put a camera on a tripod to film something.
      There is no such thing as different cultural ideas.
      That's the beauty of language. It is almost universal.

    • @jiayilim1986
      @jiayilim1986 Před 2 měsíci +1

      That's basically how all Chinese characters work. 田 field + 力 energy (origin. plough) = 男 guy. 夕 sun x2 = 多 many. 自 (origin. nose) + 犬 dog = 臭 smelly. Add a second storey 家 house -> 豪 fancy (house). Add one more 中 middle -> 串 skewer. Just by looking you can see 革 is leather (imagine cow skin), 傘 is umbrella/shade, 戈 some sickle-like tool. Whatever you call them, Hanja, Hanzi, Kanji, they are fascinating. I had the pleasure of studying 1000 Chinese characters like this in my spare time.

  • @arrikifaisal3714
    @arrikifaisal3714 Před 3 měsíci +1

    Man, im a guy but i love your face especially your eyes!😂

  • @gaetanomontante5161
    @gaetanomontante5161 Před 20 dny

    No doubt. Sorry to say that it was really Chinese to me, in the typical meaning of that expression. Good luck to anyone of age who may be interested in learning the Chinese language which I dearly recommend any youngsters anywhere in the world to familiarize themselves with it. This recommendation is in their best interests.

  • @ljclanguagetranslationinte50

    LAOSHI, most of the foreign students learned what tpye of Chinese text? for a higher level, which type of Chinese text should you focus? 謝謝您

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 3 měsíci +1

      Generally, the most commonly-learned text is Simplified Chinese, which is easier to pick up than Traditional Chinese (less strokes for most characters). However if you specifically wish to use Chinese in Hong Kong or Taiwan, then you may consider learning Traditional Chinese first, taking into account the steeper learning curve.

    • @quach8quach907
      @quach8quach907 Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@MandarinBlueprint You have to learn the Traditional first. I don't even like the Simplified.
      You can't learn to be a comic book artist by copying Jack Kirby. Jack Kirby's style is an abstraction. You have to learn to draw real human anatomy first.

    • @Name-pf4ue
      @Name-pf4ue Před 2 měsíci

      ​@@quach8quach907 简体中文也是传统的,他们大多数是从古籍中翻找出来并使用 , 在甲骨文与金文(一种古代中文)中,就可发现汉字简体的踪迹
      从新制作的汉字非常少

    • @quach8quach907
      @quach8quach907 Před 25 dny

      @@bonbonpony I'm blessed/cursed as a Vietnamese. We are blessed/cursed that we don't need to know how Chinese is written. We get by with the phonetization. It comes with a hidden cost. We are removed from the Chinese root. Same goes for Korean.
      I know what I'm talking about.

  • @Sakura-zu4rz
    @Sakura-zu4rz Před 2 měsíci

    I haven't had any fun lately, 😭 so it was fun. You bring me joy!❤🙂I love the kind and generous heartwarming atmosphere that you create, your kind, easygoing, warm vibe. ❤

  • @YannieCheng
    @YannieCheng Před 3 měsíci

    12:53 actually in cantonese, the pronounciation of river and can are the same. It's only different in mandarin because they changed the pronounciation of a lot of words, just like how they simplified the characters. In fact Canto keeps way more similar pronounciations to ancient chinese

    • @MrLantean
      @MrLantean Před 2 měsíci +1

      Southern languages like Cantonese and Minnan languages like Hokkien or Teochew retain the older pronunciations of older Chinese languages that may no longer exist in Mandarin Chinese. The good thing is that Chinese writing is still understood despite the changes in pronunciations. Chinese writing system conveys the meanings of written words instead of pronunciations as conveyed by alphabetical writing systems. That's why speakers of various Chinese languages that are often mutual unintelligible with each other are able to understand and communicate with each other through the written language.

    • @quach8quach907
      @quach8quach907 Před 2 měsíci

      @@MrLantean The Cantonese-ness is also in Vietnamese.

    • @jiayilim1986
      @jiayilim1986 Před 2 měsíci

      ​@@MrLanteanChinese-Malaysian speaker of Hokkien here. It's said that Hokkien/Teochew date back to the Tang/Song period, while Cantonese dates back to the Ming period. At least that's what my teacher told me, and he studied Chinese (like a very advanced level) in Taiwan. Also, that man speaks every Chinese language.

  • @girliethoh8404
    @girliethoh8404 Před 2 měsíci

    Very interesting! I am Chinese banana- nearly no knowledge of Mandarin

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 2 měsíci

      Glad you found it interesting. That's okay; that's what we're here for. If you're interested in learning more, you can start with our free webclass www.mandarinblueprint.com/free-webinar/

  • @muhammadshaheen7238
    @muhammadshaheen7238 Před 4 měsíci

    I love your videos. Also you look like Scarlett Johanson’s brother😁

    • @MandarinBlueprint
      @MandarinBlueprint  Před 4 měsíci

      Thank you! and Really? don't see the resemblance :)

    • @sportsonwheelss
      @sportsonwheelss Před 3 měsíci

      come to think of it you do. Just put on a wig like her and you will see the resemblance@@MandarinBlueprint

  • @MrVipulLal
    @MrVipulLal Před 3 měsíci +1

    Damm tough. Good on you to master Chinese. Too much effort for me

    • @jiayilim1986
      @jiayilim1986 Před 2 měsíci

      It's a whole lifestyle. I'm Chinese and I have to force myself to read Chinese articles everyday to upkeep it.