Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
many Chinese people, even your teachers, will often fumble on how to write a character,
and for most expats, the immense amount of time required to memorize how to physically
write characters just doesn't equate to the value they get out of it.
Most cell phones have built-in functions that allow them to toggle back and forth
between English and Chinese input modes. Some computers also already have the software,
and it's just a matter of finding out how to activate it. If not, there are various programs and
apps out there, such as the popular
http://pinyin.sogou.com
,
which you can download onto
your computer or phone for free.
So how many characters do you need to know to be able to read a newspaper or be
considered proficient? This is debatable, and figures typically touch on 3,000-4,000. The
wonderful thing about
hànzì,
however, is that once you have a few hundred characters un-
der your belt, you'll often find that your reading starts to become more reliable than your
listening. Because of the way words are formed, you can often take a reasonable stab at
the word's meaning, even if you've never been taught it. Characters also don't require any
knowledge of tones.
One drawback to written Chinese is that the divide between written and spoken language
is huge. Just because you may be fluent in speaking doesn't mean that you will be able to
read a newspaper. In many cases there are words that are exclusively for writing and those
that are exclusively for speaking—and trying to keep your words in the right basket when
you're learning can be a headache. This is where self-directed learning of Chinese can be
hazardous. Dictionaries don't usually point out what is for writing (
书面
,
sh
ū
miàn
) and
what is for speaking (
口语
,
k
ǒ
uy
ǔ
), so an over-zealous, bookish student might come out
sounding like a misplaced Henry James character while trying to relate the latest episode of
Gossip Girl.
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official romanized format of Chinese. It came into being in the 1950s and
replaced various other forms that had been developed to make Chinese more manageable
for the foreigner. Jesuit priests had been the first to try to turn this strange language into
something readable to the outside world. Later came the Wade-Giles system and Chinese
Postal Map Romanization. Pinyin was the Chinese government's own version.
At first Pinyin may appear to offer a more efficient language option than characters, but,
while it helps learners get their heads around pronunciation and aids texting and typing, it's
often less efficient for general reading. Just take the word
shi,
for example. Without consid-
ering tones,
shi
alone has more than 100 different meanings. Narrow that down by adding
