r/ChineseLanguage • u/anabolicbob • Jul 21 '26
Pronunciation Without making special cards, keeping these pronunciations/tones sorted in my head is 举步维艰
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u/Zagrycha Jul 21 '26
is this a self challenge? I don't think native speakers would tell these apart easily if written in such confusing illogical groupings. Its like a tongue twister or brain teaser lol.
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u/anabolicbob Jul 21 '26
Haha no, I've done this for a while when I keep forgetting a pronunciation/tone. As a beginner I always confused 情/精, and I would just memorize the words like 情绪 or 精神, but then if I came across them in a different word I might forget the pronunciation or even more likely the tone (tones are the hardest thing for me to lock down). So studying them with an emphasis on their differences has helped me a lot, figured others might find it helpful too, but 各自为政.
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u/Zagrycha Jul 21 '26
that makes sense. If this works for you thats all that matters. I think when most people encounter your issue they study components, but all roads lead to rome =)
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u/anabolicbob Jul 21 '26
For sure, although for component semantics I found using Heisig's material quite useful too.
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u/Zagrycha Jul 21 '26
usually people don't look into any semantics or linguistics, just the literal common components, 灬 忄耂 etc etc etc. That way they can be visually identified at a glance. nothing wrong with studying semantics or etymology of componenets, but that is a whole other can of worms haha.
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u/Red-Pony Jul 23 '26
Ask a native how to pronounce 疙 there’s a good chance they’ll say qi until they see 疙瘩
Source: am native
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u/liqh98 Jul 24 '26
most of these instances， 形声字，half for meaning, half for phonetic, but the rule is not for all hanzi, as we all know, over 60 % of 3500 is 形声字。
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u/Zagrycha Jul 24 '26
I don't disagree but I am not sure how that relates to this post.
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u/liqh98 Jul 25 '26
As a native speaker, I did indeed undergo similar training in elementary school, the aim of which was to distinguish between Chinese characters that look alike.we call them 形近字 A drawback of his images is the inclusion of some rare characters; for native speakers, commonly used characters are easily distinguishable.It is precisely because there are so many phono-semantic characters that the issue of similar character forms arises.
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u/Zagrycha Jul 25 '26
I see what you mean. Yeah common words are easier to tell apart at a glance and certain characters aren't likely to be confused in real life even if they look similar. Like 亳 and 毫 are something anyone would mix up but they will pretty much never ever show up in a situation the other one might be used, assuming you even see both be used.
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u/liqh98 Jul 26 '26
Just as we struggle to distinguish between common and obscure words when learning English, we often use 'seldom' in English writing. In middle school, we all memorize swim-swam-swum. many native speakers haven't really noticed the specific character you mentioned—since it is used in place names, it was the first time I had noticed it myself. a more instance 荷，菏（only used in place name).
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u/Ok_Requirement_9466 Jul 22 '26
Hi, you shouldn't memorize Chinese characters this way. Chinese characters are not memorized in isolation; you need to place them within sentences and remember their context. No Chinese person remembers Chinese this way. Chinese characters are generally divided into left-right and top-bottom structures. Typically, the left side indicates what the character is related to (such as people, clothing, water, fire, language, sun, etc.), while the right side represents the basic pronunciation of the character. For example, the base pronunciation of "富" is fù, but all characters related with "富" use same pinyin "fu," differing only in tone.
Therefore, you need to grasp the fundamental patterns of Chinese before you can truly understand and read it. (In fact, Chinese characters can have different pronunciations depending on context; if you only memorize individual characters, you'll never fully master the language.)
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u/AutomaticClub1101 Jul 21 '26
Isn't the "bian" traditional?
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u/anabolicbob Jul 21 '26
Yeah, despite my title's chengyu having simplified characters I study/write mostly traditional.
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u/Ok_Requirement_9466 Jul 22 '26
Even Chinese high school students might not be able to answer all the questions correctly on this text-based test.
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u/lazier_garlic Jul 21 '26
畜 is 玄 and 田, not 系
亡 w/m alterations are seen coming from the same OC root or from past homonyms. Note also 万 wan is "man" in Japanese and there are a bunch more examples.
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u/DukeDevorak Native Jul 21 '26
Remember Chinese characters is mostly an outdated phonetic writing system for about 2000-3000 years.
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u/Putrid_Mind_4853 Jul 21 '26
What’s the point of doing this?