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Learning Chinese characters with T.K.Ann | ||
Tags: Chinese Characters | Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Gusutafu Senior Member Sweden Joined 5520 days ago 655 posts - 1039 votes  Speaks: Swedish* | Message 1 of 12 18 November 2009 at 11:49am | IP Logged |
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As some of you may know, there is a very interesting publication in 5 volumes, teaching the 6000 most common Chinese characters, using etymologies and clever radical-phonetic groupings:
http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?t=22263 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._K._Ann My plan is to start using these books in January, to go beyond the 2000 or so characters that most books teach. A very efficient tool for this would be a some kind of flashcards, ideally in Anki. Has anyone made or heard of the existence of flashcards for T.K. Ann's work? If not, perhaps we could make a collaborative effort to produce them. Any volunteers? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Asiafeverr Diglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6341 days ago 346 posts - 431 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, German | Message 2 of 12 18 November 2009 at 4:38pm | IP Logged |
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Sure! I want to go on exchange in Mainland China in 2011 so I need to get fluent by then.
Is there any link to create the flashcards? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6767 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 3 of 12 18 November 2009 at 6:21pm | IP Logged |
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This book seems to be out of print and hard to pin down.
Are the etymologies and other mnemonics used "authentic" to the origin of the characters? I ask, because I found a blog post which criticized it quite harshly, calling it the second-worst book on hanzi ever published. (The bulk of the post was a review of another book, which the author considered the worst.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Gusutafu Senior Member Sweden Joined 5520 days ago 655 posts - 1039 votes Speaks: Swedish* | Message 4 of 12 18 November 2009 at 9:02pm | IP Logged |
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Yes, but Victor Mair clearly didn't understand the book he was reviewing, he thought it was a work on etymology, while it was a course on learning hanzi, similar to Heisig proven method.
It is possible that the etymologies may not always be "correct", I don't own the book yet, I have only looked at my friend's, but I do think that he at least tries to follow traditional Chinese scholarship, which in itself is interesting. Either way, the book and method seem very efficient, and that is what I care about. Not only does he provide some sort of etymologies, the characters are grouped after phonetic components, when that makes sense, and he goes through 6000 characters! Also, it is possible to order it from the UK, for about 25 pounds per tome. My friend got hiw a few weeks ago, all five, eventhough the bookstore claimed they were out of stock! Edited by Gusutafu on 18 November 2009 at 10:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Asiafeverr Diglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6341 days ago 346 posts - 431 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, German | Message 5 of 12 19 November 2009 at 7:18am | IP Logged |
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I do not own the books but I can look they are available as a reference in my library's
language section. The definitions seem to be more etymological in nature than mnemonics. I personally prefer Tuttle's Learning Chinese Characters. The only problem with it is that it only contains a bit more than 800 characters. Edited by Asiafeverr on 19 November 2009 at 7:18am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| maaku Senior Member United States Joined 5573 days ago 359 posts - 562 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 12 21 November 2009 at 7:04am | IP Logged |
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It's a fine book, but definitely shows its age. It can be made to work, but the instructions which come with it are certainly not optimal. I'd recommend doing the freely available sample of Heisig's RTH (the first eight or so lessons; it should take about a week), then work your way through the book using Heisig's method. The format of the book is basically a long narrative that ties together the characters with a story derived from etymology (how true that etymology is I don't know; I got the impression reading it that accuracy wasn't as important as memorability). It works therefore as a great source of stories if you want to apply the Heisig-method to hanzi.
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| maaku Senior Member United States Joined 5573 days ago 359 posts - 562 votes Speaks: English* | Message 7 of 12 21 November 2009 at 7:18am | IP Logged |
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PS: I think it's still in print in Canada, if you want to try importing it. Also, there's an abridged version that may still be available, although I can't speak to quality of that having never seen it myself.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6438 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 8 of 12 21 November 2009 at 8:53am | IP Logged |
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I like these books quite a lot, but a friend who used them mentioned encountering a lot of literary characters which weren't particularly useful or very familiar even to native speakers.
Going in with a base of 2000 characters, this shouldn't be an issue, but otherwise Asiafeverr's suggestion of first using Tuttle's "Learning the Chinese Characters" for the first 800 matches the advice my aforementioned friend makes, and is probably a good idea. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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