{"id":183398,"date":"2015-10-27T05:12:28","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T09:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/how-to-read-chinese\/"},"modified":"2025-02-25T23:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T04:56:09","slug":"how-to-read-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/chinese\/how-to-read-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Read Mandarin Chinese: The Newbie’s No-stress Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Would you believe me if I said that reading Chinese<\/a>, and learning Mandarin Chinese in general, is not as difficult as it seems? Chinese characters<\/a> are not significantly more difficult than those in other writing systems.<\/p>\n

You just need to understand the system\u00a0to understand the characters.<\/p>\n

In this guide, I’ll teach you how to read Mandarin Chinese and understand different Chinese characters using a range of useful methods.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

General Tips to Learn to Read Chinese<\/h2>\n

When you are first starting out<\/a>, learning to read Chinese feels like a daunting task. After all, you have probably heard the rumors that there are over 20,000 characters you will need to master, and that this is a\u00a0completely different system from the alphabet you\u2019re used to. Here are three helpful\u00a0tips that can make it much easier\u00a0to start.<\/p>\n

Stick to either traditional or simplified<\/h3>\n

Don\u2019t try to\u00a0be Superman by\u00a0mastering traditional and simplified Chinese at the same time. Many characters will be similar, but trying to master both at the beginning will hurt you rather than help\u00a0you.<\/p>\n

You may have heard that reading Chinese is about understanding the pictures they are representing. This is true for some traditional and simplified Chinese, but most of the time it\u2019s not as simple as that. Sometimes it can help with memorizing and referencing characters, but unfortunately most characters will not represent objects in the physical world.<\/p>\n

Start with the most common words<\/h3>\n

You have probably already done this with\u00a0your Chinese speaking skills<\/a>, but starting out with the most common words is important because you can begin spotting them right away: in your readings, in a menu or walking around Chinese streets.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ll be able to read entire\u00a0newspapers or even menus with the most common words (because of how specific Chinese characters can be), but it\u2019s a fantastic start!<\/p>\n

Use mnemonics to memorize characters<\/h3>\n

Memory aids are key to making reading in Chinese easier\u00a0when you are beginning. Remembering things in general, regardless of what language,\u00a0is something that can be practiced.<\/p>\n

When working with mnemonics, make sure they are are personal and catered towards yourself. Other people\u2019s mnemonics can help, but only if they trigger something in your brain. For optimal results, focus each session on 5-10 words, and first get them into your short-term memory.<\/p>\n

There are many\u00a0free resources\u00a0that can help you learn Chinese characters, which you should take advantage of immediately.<\/p>\n

Learn to Read Chinese with Pinyin<\/h2>\n

The one aspect of Chinese that characters don’t cover is tones, which can greatly influence the meaning of your Chinese words. Learn Chinese tones before you learn Chinese characters<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Absolutely nothing within the character itself will remind you of the tone. Speaking with proper tones is a product of memorization.<\/p>\n

The best way to learn to read Chinese tones properly is by using \u62fc\u97f3 (p\u012bn<\/em> y\u012bn)<\/em><\/a>, which literally means “combine sounds.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pinyin is the romanized version of Chinese<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Beginner Chinese classes don’t tackle characters yet because they focus on getting accurate pronunciation and tones<\/strong> first. Chinese school children learn pinyin before they start learning characters, so if they need it, you and I do, too.<\/p>\n

How to Understand Chinese Character Meanings<\/h2>\n

Even for beginners, it should soon become readily apparent that Chinese characters are not just \u201crandom drawings.\u201d They actually follow a reasonably neat system by which characters can be easily split up into their component parts, making them much simpler to understand.<\/p>\n

Radicals<\/h3>\n

The first and most important part of Chinese characters is what are called radicals.<\/strong> These are elements (usually found on the left hand side or underneath a character) that suggest the meaning based on broad categories.<\/p>\n

A simple example of this is the wood radical based on the Chinese character for wood, \u6728<\/strong> (m\u00f9)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This character can then be found as a radical in a number of wooden objects such as \u6865<\/strong> (qi\u00e1o)<\/em> for “bridge” or \u697c<\/strong> (l\u00f3u)<\/em> for “building.” Chinese is generally accepted to have 214 radicals<\/a>, and these range from ones that convey a literal meaning to ones that convey a more vague feeling.<\/p>\n

Are you with me so far? Okay, let’s move on.<\/p>\n

Pictograms<\/h3>\n

Another important grouping within Chinese characters is pictograms.<\/strong> These are characters that are meant to look like the object or thing they represent. While the obvious similarities have been lost over thousands of years, with a little imagination and understanding of Chinese culture, you can start to recognize meanings. Some examples of these include \u4eba<\/strong> (<\/em>r\u00e9n)<\/em> for “person;” \u9ad8<\/strong> (<\/em>g\u0101o)<\/em> for “tall,”\u00a0 represented as a tall pagoda; and \u5c71<\/strong> (<\/em>sh\u0101n)<\/em> for “mountain.”<\/p>\n

Ideograms<\/h3>\n

Similar to pictograms, ideograms<\/strong> are another old and somewhat confusing element of Chinese reading. These are characters that were pictographic representations of themes, rather than things, which have since been highly stylized.<\/p>\n

A good example of these is the character \u4e92<\/strong> (h\u00f9)<\/em> meaning “mutual,” which is a representation of two people holding hands. Such characters aren’t generally understandable on first viewing, but much easier to remember once the backstory is learned.<\/p>\n

Pictophonetics<\/h3>\n

Okay, now the most common (and indeed most important!) group of characters for any Chinese reader are so-called pictophonetic<\/strong> characters.<\/p>\n

These characters are made up of a radical element<\/strong>, which suggests what category of things (or actions) it belongs to, as well as a distinct phonetic component<\/strong>, which suggests how it should be pronounced.<\/p>\n

Now, pay close attention, because learning these phonetic elements is the key to learning to read Chinese.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Using Chinese Phonetics<\/b><\/h2>\n

When many people start learning Mandarin Chinese, they are introduced to pictographic and ideographic characters and think that associating a character with a picture (and a meaning) is a good idea. Seems like an okay strategy, right? But watch out!<\/p>\n

While this can be effective for the first 100-200 characters you might learn, such a strategy will inevitably fail. This is due to the fact that such characters make up only around 10%<\/a> of the total Chinese characters, meaning that your picture associations will have to get progressively more outlandish and creative as your studies advance. Talk about crazy!<\/p>\n

The basic theory of Chinese character phonetics<\/h3>\n

Luckily, there is a better way to read Chinese. Most of the Chinese language is written in pictophonetic characters, meaning that you simply need to learn all of the phonetic elements to be able to read significant portions of Chinese texts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Okay,” you’re thinking, “But what are these phonetic elements?”<\/p>\n

Well, often these are difficult to tell apart from radicals, and unfortunately they are rarely taught officially by Chinese teachers who prefer rote learning of pronunciation and meaning. But once you start using at least a few hundred characters, patterns of pronunciation will emerge.<\/p>\n

For example, almost all characters with \u5df4<\/strong> (<\/em>b\u0101)\u00a0<\/em>in them\u2014such as the final particle \u5427<\/strong> (ba)<\/em>, \u628a<\/strong> (b\u01ce)<\/em> meaning “to hold,” \u7238<\/strong> (b\u00e0)<\/em> for “father” or “dad” and \u75a4<\/strong> (b\u0101)<\/em> for “scar” or “scab”\u2014will also be pronounced ba<\/i><\/strong> no matter what their meaning is, and no matter what additional radicals they have with them.<\/p>\n

How to use phonetics to read fluently<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So you know that these phonetic elements exist, but how do you use them to read? Well, to start with, check out this amazing spreadsheet<\/a>, which lists almost all of the phonetic elements. I would suggest you learn as many of the phonetic sets in this document as possible, and then see if you can identify them in unknown pieces of text.<\/p>\n

Often you’ll know the pinyin<\/i> of a word far before you know its characters, and so by sounding the characters out using these phonetic sets, you’ll have a good chance of guessing their meanings.<\/p>\n

Things That May Trip Up Beginning Readers<\/b><\/h2>\n

Okay, so now that you know how you should be reading Chinese characters, it’s also important to identify the common problems and mistakes that learners make when reading Chinese as a second language.<\/p>\n

Avoid confusing similar characters<\/h3>\n

One of the most common mistakes that learners make is confusing two very similar characters. These include characters that are almost identical except for the radical.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Such character pairs\u2014for example, \u60c5 <\/strong>(q\u00edng)<\/em> for “feeling” or “emotion” and \u6e05 <\/strong>(q\u012bng)<\/em> for “pure” or “just”\u2014often are made more confusing by the fact that they have the same pronunciations.<\/p>\n

Another kind of character similarity, such as that between \u6728 <\/strong>(m\u00f9)<\/em>\u00a0and \u672f <\/strong>(sh\u00f9)<\/em> meaning “method” or “technique,” can occur when two characters very different in meaning and pronunciation have just a single stroke of difference between them.<\/p>\n

Watch out for characters with alternate pronunciations<\/h3>\n

Another common error encountered by learners is caused by characters that have more than one possible pronunciation depending on their context. Some of the most common include \u7740<\/strong>, which can be pronounced as zhe<\/i><\/strong> as well as zh\u0101o<\/em><\/strong>, and \u91cd<\/strong>, which can be pronounced as zh\u00f2ng <\/i><\/strong>or ch\u00f3ng <\/i><\/strong>in some circumstances.<\/p>\n

But luckily, such multi-pronunciation characters are quite rare, and they can be easily learned and recognized.<\/p>\n

Tips for Reading Unknown Characters<\/b><\/h2>\n

One final area of difficulty, which every learner without exception will encounter, is a text that’s just full of unknown characters. While it is impossible to guess the meaning of every character, there are some helpful hints that can be followed.<\/p>\n

Nouns can be guessed by their radicals<\/h3>\n

With some understanding of Chinese grammar, it is reasonably easy to tell which Chinese words in a given sentence are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. For the nouns, at least, it is often possible to work out what kind of object an unknown word is, based on its radicals and knowledge of the content.<\/p>\n

For instance, words with the heart radical \u5fc3<\/strong> (x\u012bn)<\/em> generally refer to emotions or feelings, while something with the gold radical \u91d1<\/strong> (j\u012bn)<\/em> is likely some kind of metal or element.<\/p>\n

Identifying toponyms and names<\/h3>\n

Some of the most hard-to-read characters come in the form of toponyms (place names). Often these can be completely unique characters\u2014as in the case of the \u5ce8<\/strong> (\u00e9)<\/em> in \u5ce8\u7709\u5c71<\/strong> (\u00e9 m\u00e9i sh\u0101n)<\/em>, which is a mountain in Sichuan province<\/a>\u2014or be otherwise incredibly rare.<\/p>\n

In many cases, like in the previous example, it is easy to tell this is a toponym by the fact that the character for a certain kind of place (such as a mountain, lake, river or valley) is used.<\/p>\n

In other cases, for the transliteration of non-Chinese toponyms or the names of people, a very small group of characters is used consisting of basic phonetic sounds. Such characters are easy to identify and read, even if their actual meaning is unknown.<\/p>\n

How to Practice Chinese Reading
\n<\/b><\/h2>\n

Now that you know about how the Chinese character system works, along with its intricacies and difficulties, the next step is obvious. You just have to start practicing.<\/p>\n

Read, read, read Chinese, and then read some more!<\/p>\n

Obviously, you want to start off with easier texts before you jump into novels<\/strong> and such.<\/p>\n

Begin with children’s stories and eventually transition into reading blog posts, short stories and news articles. Once you’re comfortable enough, you can read lengthier texts, such as novels.<\/p>\n

Parallel texts are also extremely helpful for learners since they offer instant translations. However, I highly recommend that you read the Chinese text first<\/strong>, mark any unknown characters and try to deduce their meanings by using context, as well as the tips shared above. After that, you can compare them to the English text.<\/p>\n

If bilingual texts are still too advanced for you, FluentU<\/a> can help you ease into them.

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

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