Learn to Read Chinese Characters: A Study Guide

Learn to Read Chinese Characters: A Study Guide (《汉字认读助学手册) is a reference book which proposes a rational and systematic method to study characters.  

Chinese characters are frequently memorized in a isolated way which provoques that the study time is harder for students. For this reason, one of the principles of this book is that we should know why characters are written the way they are to understand them. By having this in mind, it will be easier for students to memorize and learn each of them. 

Since this is a reference book, it should not be read from beginning to end. Authors propose the following process:

1: Figure out if the character we want to check has one or more components by finding it in the first index with all characters classified by pinyin. By using this criteria, students will know the reference number, which includes the number 2 if the character has more than one component. If it has 2 numbers, it will be a componed character. 

2: Learn the character and also memorize its formation rules of the characters of the same type and pronunciation rules based in the information attached in the index. 

The book includes 3600 Chinese characters. Each of them includes: pinyin, traditional character. old characters and meanings of the word. 

This is a very practical and systematic material. However, it is entirely written in Chinese, so it is important to have a high level of Chinese to understand it.  

Description by the publishers

本书是鲁健骥教授编写的外国人学汉字系列工具书之一，本书是认读篇（另一部是书写篇）。本书共收录3600余字，全面涵盖了对外汉语教学各类大纲和标准中的汉字。本书结构上有两大分类、十项列表，具体分类为独体字（象形独体字表、指事独体字表、会意独体字表、其他独体字表）和合体字（形声合体字表（1）、形声合体字表（2）、象形合体字表、指事合体字表、会意合体字表、其他合体字表）。每个汉字提供拼音、繁体字、古文字、能否做偏旁部首、形旁声旁、造字理据、字义等信息。本书系统，规范，实用，便捷。通过本书，外国学生可掌握常用3600余字的构字理据和汉字本义，通过理解汉字进而认识汉字、掌握汉字，树立学汉字的信心，同时也可为学习词语做好准备。本书也是对外汉语教师汉字教学的参考工具书。