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Chinese characters with multiple readings | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| solongsekhu Newbie United States Joined 4629 days ago 17 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 1 of 6 10 October 2015 at 7:34pm | IP Logged |
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Hello everyone,
I'm starting to study Mandarin, and I'm trying to sort out my study plan. I'm pretty happy with my strategy for tackling the hanzi, but the one thing I hadn't taken into account is the large number of characters with more than one pronunciation/reading. Has anyone come across a good list of these? It would be great to have a list of characters with multiple readings that are in common use (I know there are some rarer readings of characters too, which aren't so important for me). I'm planning on studying the 2,500 to 3,000 most common characters, and the list I'm using just has the most common reading for each hanzi. I guess if a comprehensive list doesn't exist, then a way of looking up each character to check would be nice to see if it has alternate readings would be nice. The dictionary I'm using doesn't list them. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6074 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes  Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 2 of 6 11 October 2015 at 5:50pm | IP Logged |
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Some dictionaries have a list at the back of characters with multiple pronunciations.
It is not a HUGE problem in Mandarin so don't let it stress you. Just make a note as you go along. Maybe you could find an on-line list by searching for 破音字. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4946 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 3 of 6 12 October 2015 at 4:22pm | IP Logged |
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The pera-pera add-on usually provides the multiple readings for each character.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4224 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 4 of 6 12 October 2015 at 5:33pm | IP Logged |
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I find different characters with the same or similar sounds more intimidating. I was in Sichuan China for a week-long visit 2 weeks ago. The Mandarin-speaking tour guide was easy to understand and talked about the local history a lot However, there are words in sentences I'm not familiar with like "ānchún" 鹌鹑. He told the story of a Chinese in the 1990s who went to the Soviet Union and saw some small birds. He went back to China and starting selling them to local restaurants. Before he got a large facility for breeding, he would pay the locals to raise these birds in homes and offices and got wealthy as a bird distributor. The word "ānchún" turned out to be quails.
Just off my head 7 characters with slightly different pronunciations: 长 cháng = long / 长辈 zhǎngbèi = one's elder 大 dà = big / 大夫 dàifu = traditional doctor 好 hǎo = good (sometimes use like "very" in English for emphasis) such as 好玩 hǎowán = very amusing / 好 hào = to be fond of such as 好玩 hàowán = enjoy having fun. 乐 in 快乐 kuàilè = happy / 音乐 yīnyuè = music 曲 qǔ = song as in 乐曲 yuèqǔ = music composition / 弯曲 wānqū = curve around 数 shǔ used as a verb = to count / noun as in 数目 shùmù = number, 数码 shùmǎ = digital 行 xíng = generation expression for OK. When use in 行动 xíngdòng = action / 银行 yínháng = bank For family relations with repeating characters the second is usually with a neutral tone: 爸爸 bàba = father 妈妈 māma 太太 tàitai = married woman (when addressing somebody as Mrs.) 夫妇 fūfù = married couple 哥哥 gēge = older brother 弟弟 dìdi = younger brother 姐姐 jiějie = older sister 妹妹 mèimei = younger sister 伯伯 bóbo = paternal uncle (father's older brother) 叔叔 shūshu = father's younger brother 舅舅 jiùjiu = maternal uncle (mother's brother) Edited by shk00design on 13 October 2015 at 7:48am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| day1 Groupie Latvia Joined 3672 days ago 93 posts - 158 votes Speaks: English | Message 5 of 6 25 October 2015 at 7:52am | IP Logged |
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Just starting? Then this list is the one for you :)
3000 most common characters It lists the most common characters in the frequency order, plus, it lists all the different pronunciations (if there are any) with sample words where these different pronunciations appear. 23 和: [hé] together, with, (F��) harmony, gentle, mild, kind, <family name>; 和平 hépíng peace [Hé] Japan [huo] 暖和 nuǎnhuo nice and warm [hè] join in singing, compose a poem in reply [huó] mix with water [huò] mix, blend [hú] complete a set in Mahjong 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4729 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 6 of 6 05 December 2015 at 11:16am | IP Logged |
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To me the best strategy is to learn the multi-sounding character in it's most common sounding (of course), and then simply learn the alternate pronunciations as they occur in the word where this alternate pronunciation occurs. (which honestly is a better way of learning characters when you get past the beginner stage, learn the new character in the words they occur).
It is not that difficult, however I do have to say that the character 着 is a ______. Still gives me problems as it has several common pronunciations that indicate various grammatical or aspectual matters. Edited by outcast on 05 December 2015 at 11:16am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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