Product Description

Fun with Chinese Characters (in three volumes) makes learning Chinese characters entertaining and memorable! Every page contains all the information you need to learn a Chinese character: the origin (etymology) of a character, its description and an entertaining illustration by cartoonist Tan Huay Peng. Knowing the origin greatly simplify the recognition the characters. The cartoons which accompany each character are often comical and clever. Examples of how the character is used in compound phrases are offered. First volume contains an in-depth introduction on the genesis of the characters. The third volume contains index of all 480 characters and their location.

The characters are written in traditional and simplified characters and has romanized pinyin pronunciation. Stroke orders, definition and example sentence make this book a valuable resource. Learning Chinese characters has never been so much fun!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #221044 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Language Notes
Text: Chinese, English

From the Publisher
In this first ever North American Editions, Fun with Chinese Characters help anyone interested in Chinese to learn about Chinese characters in a fun, easy and entertaining way. No background in Chinese is required to enjoy the book.

Customer Reviews

A must for anyone first learning chinese
Remembering chinese characters is incredibly difficult. This book gives great illustrations and explanation for many of the most frequently encountered characters: 176 in total, one per page. For each character you get an example in a sentence, and its use in a compound. Because many characters are over and over again this gives you a great base for learning other characters because these can form mneumonics to help you remember more complex characters. Often I found that a character I was having trouble with would suddenly stick just by seeing the illustration and its explanation. Such books along with 250 Essential Characters are essential. The book uses standard pinyin and simplified chinese.

great for beginners
Very accessable. Shows line by line how the character is drawn with a dozen or so examples of the character along with another forming words. There is also a cartoon showing how the character has changed over centuries or why the character is shaped the way it is. It's the perfect book for someone like me, trying to begin on their own.

Not Just For Fun
I found 'Fun With Chinese Characters', as well as the rest of Tan's work, easy to read, informative, and very helpful in learning Chinese.

After a brief introdouction to the Chinese language each page deals with one character, providing examples of older forms, a story behind the character, which sometimes gived insight into Chinese culture or proverbs (A word of warning should be given that not all of his explanations are genuine, some are purely mnemonic. However, he never claims anything more.), a cartoon to illustrate the point, several compound words and a simple example sentence.

Strong/helpful points are the mnemonic focus of the book (illustraions, stories, historical development, etc.), pinyin, the breaking down of some of the characters into primary components.

Weaknesses are that not all of his explanations are genuine and their is nothing to tell you when they are genuine and when they are not, which is the only reason why I only gave it 3 stars. Also I found the referencing to characters to be wanting.

If you're a visual learner and you are in it for ease of learning and memory aid then you will probably enjoy this book.
However, if you are after a historical/scholarly work on Chinese characters then you will likely be disappointed. (McNaughton's 'Reading and Writing Chinese: A Comprehensive Guide to the Chinese Writing System' available in both simplified and traditional characters and Harbaugh's 'Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary' might be better for you.)

Remember, the book is called, 'FUN With Chinese Characters'