Learning Chinese Characters: v. 1

This marvellous book (the first of a series I hope) is an essential purchase for anyone who possesses a willingness to learn, the dedication to persevere each day and a reasonably adept memory. Admittedly I am not fully utilising the picture/story structure the authors have come up with to serve as reminders for tones, building blocks and composite characters etc .. but I can see its merits for other people.

Perhaps the book is lacking a little in the history or explanations behind the reasons why Hanzi are "drawn" the way they are and the meanings they have taken on over time but perhaps this is more suitable subject matter for a more in depth title.

The accompanying Tuttle "flash cards" (purchased separately obviously) are also an invaluable aid to learning, what will be to most, an "alien" set of symbols. Well that's what they look like to start with anyways .. :)

Of course having a computer with a translation tool and/or word processing package installed is also of great benefit and practical use.

I really did not like this book. To my mind it is trying to sell a magical formula that replaces the hard work of learning Chinese characters. The formula works for a few simple examples but for all the others it takes more effort than just doing the work. Books giving a breakdown of the structure of the characters and their genealogy are much more useful with the added bonus that this information is really interesting.

Been using this book for about a month or so and already know about 80 characters. Well structured with a good method of memorising, I would suggest also getting the Tuttle published Flash Cards, most of the characters can be found in Volume 1 these really reinforce what you learn on the books.

This is a remarkable book. I strongly recommend it. In addition to making learning Chinese characters easy, it will improve your memory. To begin with, I feared that I might end up thinking of China as a land of teddy-bears, fairies, giants and dwarves. However, once the stories have served their purpose they fade into the background.

Neal Robinson

Having lamentably failed after several attempts to lean characters, I found this book on the web. It really works. It makes learning characters a pleasure instead of a chore. You learn each character by way of a short story--just a sentence or two long. In the past, I learnt so many characters one week and forgot them by next. Now, the stories stick in your mind and you recall the character by association.