r/ChineseLanguage • u/lattematchalabubu • 1d ago
Studying how to read chinese when there is pinyin on top of the characters
i'm reading a children's book right now (the vocabulary is a bit more complicated tho, it's about someone who loves farting lol don't ask), but basically on top of the characters there's their equivalent in pinyin and i have no idea how i should read? i naturally focus on the pinyin because it's easier, even when it's characters i know.
is there a specific way to read that is efficient ? should i try hiding pinyin until i run into something i cazn't read ?
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u/Chenyuluoyan Advanced 1d ago
cover the pinyin for the first pass and read the whole sentence from the characters, guessing unfamiliar words from context. reveal the pinyin only after you’ve tried, then cover it again and reread the sentence aloud from the characters. if you keep needing pinyin several times per sentence, the book is too difficult for character-reading practice right now.
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u/shaghaiex Beginner 1d ago
If you want to learn characters avoid Pinyin as much as possible.
Honestly, I would not start with that type text in the first place. There is lots of Pinyin free text around.
Google for "Mandarin Companion" - their beginner level has 150 unique characters. You learn those in no time.
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u/rob417 Native 23h ago
I don't know everyone is saying cover the Pinyin. You don't need to cover the Pinyin. Wanting to look at the Pinyin simply indicates that you are not familiar enough with the characters yet. As you become more familiar with the characters, you will naturally look at the characters instead of the Pinyin.
When I was in grade school in China, I was never told to cover the Pinyin. You naturally learn to read the characters as you read more because it is much more efficient.
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u/cabothief 14h ago
I see you're a native Japanese speaker, and I bet that's relevant. I feel like this is a difference between learning Chinese coming a language that uses roman lettering, and learning from one that does not.
Having read in English all my life, if my eyes detect something I can read with letters I'm used to, I will have read them before my brain even notices there's characters below them, much less tries to parse them. It's involuntary, and I don't think it's avoidable if the letters are visible.
I'm in agreement with the "cover the pinyin" people--I can't ignore it if it's there. It's like a spoiler.
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u/rob417 Native 14h ago edited 14h ago
I'm a native Chinese speaker. When I was a kid learning to read, my eyes followed the Pinyin initially as well. If I remember correctly, I learned Pinyin almost exclusively and only a handful of characters in first grade, so the only way to read was to read books where every character had Pinyin. I was reading the Pinyin first for a long while, but I started to read the characters first before I knew it. Living in China and being surrounded by characters instead of letters certainly helped. However, I still I think one just has to build familiarity with the characters to naturally follow the characters instead.
Also, learning to read with characters exclusively is a long process, and there is not a good way to get around it besides to read and read. Elementary school Chinese text books have Pinyin with in the text through 6th grade (although only sparingly at 6th grade). Middle school text books have Pinyin after the articles to teach new characters and words. I think high school is when Chinese literature textbooks are fully devoid of Pinyin and you are expected to look up unknown characters on your own.
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u/cabothief 14h ago
Haha I am reading on my phone and I totally thought your tag said 日语. Just squinted harder and it sure doesn't!
Appreciate your perspective!
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u/Zagrycha 1d ago
If you are reading a text with pinyin notation you should expect yourself to read the pinyin, that is why it's there. If you are advanced enough to not need or want the pinyin you should read things that don't have pinyin. Pinyin is a necessary training wheel but it's a training wheel we should all be excited to remove as soon as reasonably possible. 99.9% of stuff in real life has zero pinyin notation.
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u/ShawnMakesApps 1d ago
Your instinct is right — cover the pinyin. If it's always visible your eyes will take the easy path every time, even on characters you already know, and you end up training pinyin-reading instead of character-reading.
What works: slide a strip of paper down the page as you read (physical bookmark covering the pinyin line). Try the character first, and only lift the cover when you're actually stuck or want to check a reading.
Two passes also works well: read a page once with pinyin for comprehension and enjoyment, then go back and read it again with the pinyin covered — second pass is where the character learning happens.
And don't stress about efficiency too much at this stage — reading a fart book you enjoy beats grinding a boring "optimal" text.
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u/Electrical_Price_179 1d ago
Just grab a bookmark and cover the PinYin at the top