Are you looking for some simple and effective ways to Chinese characters to pinyin?

There are tons of methods out there that you can try adding to your language learning routine. Here, we’re going to explore some creative tips for learning and memorizing Chinese characters.

1. Break the characters down into radicals or components

In each Chinese character, there are often components that have individual meanings, known as “radicals.”

Radicals are basic characters that can’t be simplified any further. They often define a broad category, giving either phonetic or semantic clues, and are also used as an index to look up words (like the first letter of a word in English dictionaries). Radicals can combine to create more complex characters.

Some characters can also be found within a more complex character. These are known as component characters.

Knowing the radicals and the meanings behind them will at least give you an element of a character when trying to memorize it.

Some radicals resemble a drawing of the thing they represent because they were originally pictographs. This can make it easier to remember the meanings of these radicals, as well as the meanings of characters that contain those radicals.

2. Create visualizations to remember characters

Using a component-focused mnemonic technique, we can create a strong association between 析 and its component characters.

In our memories, we can combine this character with the idea of someone hitting the wood with an ax, separating pieces of wood.

There are also more complex character pairings or words that include this character for “separate.”

For example, there’s 分析 (fēn xī), meaning “to analyze.”

The word for “analyze” could be remembered by visualizing a cut tree and the rings inside the tree, which are used to analyze the tree’s characteristics.

Creating imaginative visualizations can lead to more effective learning. The next time you see this character, you’ll be able to break it down and recall its meaning. The more vivid your visualization, the more effective the technique will be.

3. Use pinyin in your creative visualizations

When you learn a character, you need to know more than its general meaning—you also need to learn how to say it out loud.

Once you understand how tones and sounds work in Mandarin, pinyin (or the Chinese pronunciation guide in the Roman alphabet) will provide a guide to pronouncing the syllable.

Luckily, similar mnemonic techniques relating to association and visualization can be applied to remembering pronunciations.

With some imagination, we can also associate the pronunciation of the character with the visualizations we have created.

For example:

The pinyin of 木 is mù. To put these two concepts together, we can imagine a tree that says the word mù, scaring hikers that pass by.

For the character 斤, we can imagine an ax being sharpened and making a jīn sound when it is placed against the whetstone.

For 析, we can imagine an ax cutting the tree in bright sunlight, with each cut making a xī sound as it strikes the tree.

Sounds kind of silly, right? You would be surprised, but the sillier the story is the better you will remember the pronunciations.

As you continue to study Chinese, you will likely find these mnemonics less and less necessary. You will start to recognize the characters and sounds thanks to hearing and reading them in context repeatedly.

4. Learn the tones and associate them with moods or colors

Once you have the basic pronunciation down, you need to make sure you know what tone to use. If you need a primer on this topic, check out this advice on learning Chinese tones.

Once you understand the tones themselves, you can start finding ways to memorize the tones of the characters you learn.

There are two methods for remembering the tone of the character.

The first method uses tones as a way to set the mood of the visualization. We start by classifying tones into four major types. Remember that these are arbitrary classifications and are only suggestions. You are welcome to create your own personal associations with each tone.

First tone: Smooth, conveying a feeling of wholeness and inner peace. If the Chinese character is read in this tone, the whole visualization takes a tranquil mood.

Second tone: Goes up, rising, representing heavenly paradise. With the second tone, the visualization can take on a mood of happiness or reverence.

Third tone: Down and then up. In these visualizations, the mood can be one of emotional agitation or turbulence.

Fourth tone: Goes down. The mood in these final visualizations can take on a melancholy or sinister mood.

Let’s test this method with the character 斤.

The Chinese characters to pinyin is jīn, which falls under the first tone. To remember the tone, you can visualize a man named “Jin” taking on the first mood by swinging the ax with a look of inner peace on his face. This helps us remember the pronunciation and tone.

The second method uses colors. Different colors correspond to different tones. These connections are all subjective as well, so go ahead and form your own color associations.

The first tone represents tranquility and wholeness, so you can visualize a pure white hue.

The second tone represents goodness and paradise, so Chinese characters with this tone can take on a bright yellow shade.

The third tone is turbulent, and the visualizations could thus have many vibrant colors clashing.

The fourth goes down, so the visualizations can take on darker shades.

Let’s expand on the visualization of 木 as an example. The pinyin for this character is mù, in the fourth tone. Our previous visualization had a talking tree scaring hikers, but now let the visualization take place on a dark cloudy night without the moon in sight.

5. Watch authentic videos with Chinese subtitles

If creative visualizations don’t work for you, another way to get familiar with Chinese characters and their pronunciation is to watch Chinese media. Mandarin Chinese TV, movies and other videos with Chinese subtitles are best since they provide visual and audio cues that make memorization easier.

Because you’ll be watching these TV series and movies with a purpose and not purely for entertainment, feel free to break the videos into sections. It’s pretty intimidating going through an entire movie in one go, especially if you’re not familiar with a lot of characters.

I suggest starting off with a half-hour TV show or short video, pausing at any moment to write down a character or term you don’t recognize and writing their definitions.

Online platforms, like YouTube and other streaming sites, make Chinese videos quite accessible. However, these won’t always come with accurate subtitlesFor videos aimed at language learners, the FluentU program enhances authentic Chinese videos with interactive captions, viewable in English, pinyin and Chinese (simplified and traditional).You can use all the memory techniques above, but you have to write with a pencil and paper if you want to feel the flow of a written character. The more you write, the more natural the process becomes. 

Use the stroke order rules to help you memorize Chinese characters. Top to bottom, left to right, inside and then out—the rules are logical. Learning them will make it miles easier when practicing characters and tackling new characters.

Worksheets are especially helpful for Chinese characters to pinyin, and you can make them yourself using web resources like Hanzi Grids. This will also let you customize your own writing practice to focus on the characters you need to work on most.

You can also practice writing by using mobile apps such as Chinese Writer to incorporate games into your writing practice. These games track your progress and prioritize your common mistakes in the next level or activity.

You could even sign up for a Chinese calligraphy class to get some hands-on experience drawing the characters with actual brush strokes. This adds fun and creativity to your character studies, and the tactile experience of using the brush will reinforce your memorization even further.

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