Introduction
Teaching a child how to write Chinese characters is a task many parents find difficult. The elementary symbols can help lay the groundwork for learning to write in Mandarin Chinese, whether the child already knows the language or is studying it as a second language. Written characters are graphic symbols that represent words, while the spoken language is tonal. You can find a native-speaking friend or teacher to help your younger children enhance their Mandarin Chinese speaking skills.
Best ways for children to begin learning Mandarin Chinese
Children may learn Mandarin Chinese from anybody willing to teach them daily. Parents, caretakers and friends are all possible language teachers for youngsters. Natural conversation exposes toddlers to the rhythm and tones of the language even before they can speak. The teacher should speak in Mandarin Chinese while playing games so that a child may learn to count to ten even while playing hide-and-seek!
Choose a teacher who can engage the child in engaging activities appropriate to their interests (e.g. music, art, sports). Furthermore, Chinese music is an excellent approach to making children interested in singing and dancing to tunes in this lovely language.
In the beginning, children's books can help to introduce Mandarin Chinese characters to children.
Point out the characters during story time to help youngsters correlate writing with spoken language. Moreover, the characters should be present throughout the residence – parents can label objects around the house with the characters so that the child may see the words regularly. One can also put books on display with the front cover visible to make the picture appealing and the title evident.
Methods to remember Mandarin Chinese characters
Mandarin Chinese characters are sight words learned by repetition. Because youngsters have a limited attention span, hands-on activities can help them retain new words even before they start to learn writing.
Children may immediately connect with the words through exciting sensory activities and are more likely to remember them. Some preferable sensory exercises are:
Painting or coloring simple characters.
Tracing the characters using beads, bricks, pebbles, Legos, buttons, and other materials.
Making characters using play dough, yarn or pipe cleaners as well as salt or sand.
Matching games featuring characters that are easy to understand.
It may take some trial and error to figure out how to teach Mandarin Chinese characters to children – practice observation and patience to identify the best teaching approach.
Simple Mandarin Chinese Characters to Get Started
一 (yī)
English: One
In Chinese, the character meaning "one" is merely one horizontal stroke.
The letters for two 二 (èr) and three 三 (sān) are, by the way, simply horizontal strokes. One, two and three are simple to remember since one equals one stroke, two equals two strokes, and so on.
A single individual (yí gè rén) is an example of how one is used in Mandarin Chinese to refer to the singular.
人 (rén)
English: Man
Two simple strokes are the Mandarin Chinese character for "man."
The symbol 人人 (rén rén) denotes the meaning "everyone." For example: "Everyone loves drinking cola" is written as 人人都爱喝可乐。 (rén rén dōu ài hē kě lè).
日 (rì)
English: Sun
A box with a line in the center represents the letter "sun." The symbol remotely resembles the sun. This character was more round in old bronze lettering, like the sun.
日 means "day" and refers to the earth's light source, i.e. the sun. It is used to refer to dates. For example, 7日 refers to the seventh day of any given month. 日日 (rì rì) signifies "every day" when two sun characters are combined.
月 (yuè)
English: Moon
Not only does 月 refer to the moon's crescent, but it also has the meaning of "month." For example, "August 7" might be written as "8月7日". Simply place a digit (or a character—either work) in front of 月 to write all the months in that language. The following are the names of January through March:
1月/ 一月 -January
2月/ 二月 -February
3月/ 三月 -March
山 (shān)
English: Mountain
It symbolizes even more things relating to nature and surroundings when coupled with other characters. People get 山水 (shān shǔi) when they combine with the character for "water," 水 (shǔi), which means "landscape."
Thus, 山水画 (shān shǔi huà) refers to a landscape painting. Examine how the character for "painting" or "drawing," 画 (huà), resembles a little picture in a frame.
男 (nán)
English: Male
The character for "male" is the combination of 田 (tián) farm and 力 (lì) work, referring to how traditionally men worked the land. Here are a few examples for using this character:
男人 (nán rén) man
男友 (nán yǒu) boyfriend
天 (tiān)
English: Sky
Take note of how this character's outline is pointing towards the sky. The combination of two of these letters 天天 (tiān tiān) also signifies "every day." The four seasons are written as:
春天 (chūn tiān) spring
夏天 (xià tiān) summer
秋天 (qiū tiān) fall
冬天 (dōng tiān) winter
There are also:
今天 (jīn tiān) today
昨天 (zuó tiān) yesterday
明天 (míng tiān) tomorrow
Since Mandarin Chinese characters are an inseparable language element, printing the worksheets and opening a parallel textbook are the first steps toward understanding them. To get started, one needs to devote time and effort to writing and understanding the characters.
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