Chinese Writing Exercise Worksheets

I was researching in Google and I couldn’t find a single Chinese character and pinyin writing exercise worksheet for practice that fit my needs. The other worksheets had too many lines in it (cross-line, star-line) and it was making me dizzy.

Therefore, I created my own templates in Excel and converted them into PDF format.

These are my very own “Chinese Writing Exercise Worksheets.”

They are free to download. You would simply need to download it, open PDF (make sure you have a PDF program), and then print it out for practice.

This worksheet allows you to practice character writing and pinyin right underneath.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=BF8AED0897926D3C!181

This worksheet is the standard box template that allows you to practice writing Chinese characters without the lines within each box. This format was how I learned Cantonese in school.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=BF8AED0897926D3C!182

I’m starting to use these templates myself for class. I hope you enjoy them!

When Learning Chinese Isn’t Fun Anymore – What is Motivation?

Recently, while attending an intermediate Chinese class for five weeks, I felt myself hit an emotional rock-bottom. After class, I found myself depressed, stressed, and with a lack of pride. While it is not my intention to bash an interesting class, I understood that this class experience wasn’t fun anymore and was not right for me.

While I’m always pro-learning Chinese, I also found out that in order to maintain motivation to learn, the learning experience should be fun, interesting, and manageable in a positive environment. Without any of those four aspects, learning Chinese becomes a heavy anchor that makes us feel like we are going nowhere even if we force ourselves to keep going.

MOTIVATION = FUN + INTERESTING + MANAGABLE + IN A POSITIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Using myself as an example, I thought about what was bothering me about this so-called “Intermediate” class, which I believe should have been an advanced class. It is an advanced class because other students were able to basically read, write, and speak Chinese already. I feel like I have a handicap because my teacher treated me like I had a handicap.

FUN:

Having fun is different for everybody, but even a fun activity becomes a stressed activity when the other three factors are missing: interest, manageability, and positive environment.

My teacher tried to make class interesting by giving us a picture and we had to create stories with it. I was okay with that, but in the next class, she gave us flashcards and we had to pretend we were at the street market haggling, taking turns as either a seller or a buyer.

For me, role playing is an interesting and fun activity, but I was missing the manageability and the positive environment. In the beginning, our teacher gave us flashcards and expected us to have the vocabulary necessary for role playing without teaching us any vocabulary beforehand. Furthermore, she told us we were not allowed to look at the pinyin or Chinese characters when looking at the flashcards. To me, this fun and interesting activity quickly became unmanageable and I had a hard time participating in it. I struggled and my teacher asked my fellow classmate to help me out. The fact she asked another student to pretend to be my shopping friend to help me out contributed to the idea that I am not good enough to do this on my own. I was really determined not to receive special treatment in any way. I felt my pride being damaged. Normally, being helped by another student should not be a threat to my pride at all, but because my teacher had pre-established a threatening environment for me, I was determined to prove my teacher wrong and that I should not receive special treatment. I’ll explain more about this aspect later.

INTERESTING:

Of course, the topic of learning Chinese is interesting for me as the evidence is clear from the existence of this CantotoMando blog. The dedication and time that I spent to break down the Chinese language into manageable pieces is limited to my lifespan. Our textbook in class is so interesting, but we don’t spend too much time on the textbook in the classroom. The fact that the entire class was conducted in Chinese was difficult and frustrating for me to understand because I am not at the level where I can simply listen and understand what other people are saying. I have never skipped a class even when it is pouring rain outside. Once a week, I traveled from Long Island where I currently work to Flushing, which is about a half hour drive. Afterwards, I parked my car ten minutes walking distance away from the train station, and then I rode the subway to the Grand Central Station, which is about a half hour ride. The school is about two blocks from Grand Central Station. I would not do all this if not for my interest in the Chinese language and the class. Unfortunately, with interest comes fun, but without manageability, the class becomes a burden as I struggle to understand the entire class in Chinese. While this is a new experience for me, the negatives seems to outweigh the positives. Again, I’ll explain environment later.

Interestingly, I found that in the beginning we had a class of seven students. By the third week, we had five students. By the fourth week, we had three students including myself. Perhaps, the attendance numbers are telling me something is wrong with the teacher’s teaching methods.

MANAGABLE:

No matter how difficult the class may seem, I plowed through it. Although I consider myself a beginner to intermediate student, I believe there is no task too difficult when the topic is broken down into manageable sections. Unfortunately, the teacher does not teach in what I believe is my style where everything is broken down and clearly understood from a student’s point of view. Whenever the teacher explained something in Chinese, I either have a delayed understanding or I don’t understand at all. There isn’t enough time to process what she said because she would be off to the next sentence already. I couldn’t keep up and my vocabulary is limited. In the end, I felt frustrated and overwhelmed. I can’t even tell the teacher to slow it down since the other students already understood. It was like watching Chinese TV or any other foreign program without subtitles. Sure, I’ll understand a word here and there, but I won’t fully comprehend what is going on. Because I couldn’t manage the language, I wasn’t able to have as much fun or take as much interest in what I was learning.

I have done many Chinese activities even though I had no idea what was going on. I had interned at a Chinese TV station one summer in Manhattan with minimal knowledge of Mandarin and I have listened to Chinese music and had no clue what the lyrics meant. What made me keep going? Was it the exciting environment I was in and the people I was working with? Was it the fun and interest in the music itself? Nowadays, I listen to kpop music where I have so much fun and interest in it and that not knowing the lyrics does not bother me too much.

IN A POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT:

I realized a positive environment is critically important. All the other motivation factors such as fun, interest, and manageability are meaningless when I feel as though I am in a bad environment. I can recall many times when I was young, my Chinese teacher made fun of me often. I didn’t understand why she picked on me, but to me, she’d always be a mean and miserable lady in my memories who was really close to beating me with a stick. I thought about quitting so many times. After all, I was close to being at the bottom of my class in rank as stated on my report cards. What would people expect from a student who was picked on in class? I’m uncertain what drove me to continue my studies. Perhaps, it was my interest and pride in being Cantonese and the fact that my parents already paid the tuition. Quitting is simply not an option in my mind.

On the other hand, now that I am an adult, I have a choice. I remember going to the first class and being positive. It was a good intro class where we introduced ourselves and then we read the textbook. From the second class on, my teacher started giving me and another classmate special handicap treatment. She told me that she is going to work more with the other students because they have already “been to China.” I came into this class believing we would all be treated equally despite our level of comprehension or our prior experiences. Whenever, we read aloud or completed exercises, she asked the “advanced” students to read it first or answer the questions first. I was always last priority. I couldn’t believe I faced discrimination. From that point on, I felt like the class was tailored to the “advanced” students who are going to China again at some point. Finally, the nail hit the coffin when, for homework, my teacher told the two advanced students in my class to create three sentences based on the words we learned and to also write a story. When it was my turn, she told me I can make the three sentences, but if I have time or if I feel like it, I can write a story too. I felt like the way she treated me was insulting and no amount of fun, interest, and forced manageability can counteract this negative environment where I am treated like a student with a handicap. It would be different if the teacher treated us all as if we didn’t know what she was saying. Every time she explained something, she looked at me specifically and asked if I wanted her to explain in English or if I understood what she said.

During the last class, I was also angry when my teacher was holding up the flashcards and kept asking a student who went to Taiwan how to say all the names of the flashcards in Taiwanese. She also asked another student how the names were said in the Beijing dialect since that student went to Beijing. Never once did she ask me about Cantonese, but then again, one time in class, she thought I was Korean based on my last name. I lost my sense of pride and confidence in class.

Needless to say, I have decided to discontinue the class after the contracted five classes.

At some point, if the class is not what you are expecting, then perhaps it is time to ask yourself:

Was it fun?

Was it interesting?

Was it manageable?

Are you in a good environment?

If there are more bad points than good points, then perhaps it time to move onto something else. There are so many ways to learn Chinese. Do not feel like you have to be stuck in a learning environment where you are not comfortable. It’s also not a bad idea to give yourself a trial period to evaluate your motivation. In my case, I contracted myself to five weeks of classes at a language school and I am no longer obligated to continue after those five weeks. I did the same thing for dance class and I was glad I stuck through the contracted five months. I would have regretted quitting so early. Either way, good luck to you in your journey towards learning Chinese. Keep motivated!

Learning Chinese with Dilligence

I was chatting with some Mandarin Level I class students after our final exam back in June and I was dismayed to know that not only was the exam tough, but my classmates were not prepared enough to know the material in general. We’ve been learning for nine months now, minimum one class per week, one hour per class and I worked through the exam, but I guess some of my fellow classmates were struggling with it.

It led me to write this post on learning in general. I really do believe in the learning pyramid. In order to be the best we can be on a subject, we need to live and breathe in that world. When I am learning Mandarin, I must ideally live and breathe in the world of Mandarin. Perhaps, I take learning too far, but this is the way I would ideally live my life. I’ll never stop learning and I’ll never give up.

I’m sure everybody knows that they need to study or immerse themselves into the language more, but there are unlimited excuses that stop us from reaching our goal. Even if I do complain, I shouldn’t complain too long. 

Here are my suggestions from the learning pyramid as it relates to Mandarin. The more you do the things on the list, the more you will learn. Also, if you do these items sporadically, you will learn sporadically. If you want to learn faster, I suggest making good use of time. More importantly, go have fun with it! I might edit this list from time to time if I have any more suggestions. If you know any more that you would like to share, leave a comment.

Lecture 0-10% student retention rate

• Do not skip classes.
• Be on time to your classes
• Ignore distractions and do not be one yourself (students eating, drinking, texting, Facebooking, phone calls, etc.
• Ask questions if you have one. If it’s still complicated, see if you can meet with another student or teacher privately or after class to have the question resolved. If not, do further research by Google or contact others.
• If you are a note taker, re-read your notes an hour later after class or at your earliest convenience to reinforce the information you learned. The same applies to recording devices.
• If you cannot explain what you learned to another person, then you did not learn anything. You need to review the lesson ASAP (As Soon As Possible).
• If you have any questions during your study, trying Googling your answer. You may additionally write it down, email or talk to your teacher or a knowledgeable person to have it answered. As long as you have a doubt in your mind, you have not reached your full learning potential.
• When speaking to fellow students, keep the language in Mandarin (or Cantonese) as much as possible.

Reading  10-20% student retention rate

•  Master pinyin if you are learning Mandarin or master Jyutping if you are learning Cantonese first. Do not take what you read as correct if you cannot pronounce the Romanization. Don’t be lazy about this as it will affect your speech and credibility every time you open your mouth to speak Chinese.
• When you have mastered pinyin and/or jyupting Romanization, start reading characters (simplified, traditional, or both)
• Do all the exercises in the chapter
• Create your own sentences with the vocabulary
• If your textbook comes with an audio CD, use the audio CD as well.

• Read the dialogues out loud to yourself. Try to make your voice sound as native as possible.  
• Take notes of anything you do not understand so you can research it or ask somebody later.
• Review as often as possible.
• You can never read too many books. Every book has its flavor. You may find another book more interesting than the previous book. Read some Chinese children’s books, comic books, magazines, newspapers, and anything you can get your hands on. If the book difficulty level is too high, try to find words you already know. I like to do this with newspapers and guess the words I do not know. If you plan to learn a certain writing system (Simplified or Traditional), make sure you are being exposed to the correct writing system.
• Read the CantotoMando, of course!

Audiovisual 20-30% student retention rate

• If your textbook comes with a CD or an audio medium, listen to it when you are doing leisure activities like washing dishes, jogging, driving, working out, free time, etc.
• Listen to the local Chinese radio station (radio, Internet, or phone app)
• Watch a Chinese TV program (TV, Internet, Youtube, etc. preferably a program with English and Chinese subtitles where you can listen and read along at the same time.
• Eavesdrop on other Chinese’s conversations (without being too obvious, of course!)

Demonstration 30-50% student retention rate

• Practice your Chinese with somebody
• If possible, use hand gestures or perform the action when speaking to help yourself remember
• Mimick other people in action (privately as others might be offended by this)
• Join an acting, dancing, performing club in Chinese or do it solo
• Learn some Chinese lyrics to a song line-by-line
• Act out what you are saying in Chinese

Discussion 50-75% student retention rate

• Find somebody who already speaks the language and try to engage that person in conversation using what you learned
• Eavesdrop on other people’s discussions (conspicuously)
• Form or join a study group if possible

Practice Doing 75-90% student retention rate

• Speak Chinese whenever possible
• Write and practice your pinyin or jyutping. If you’re really advanced, write the characters as well. Do it often. I usually have scrap paper just for this reason.

Teaching Others 90-100% student retention rate

• Teach somebody else what you have learned. It definitely forces you to know the material.
• Blog about it!

Good luck to my experts!

Colloquial Cantonese vs Standard Mandarin

 I can't take credit for this post because I came across an excellent website that lists the differences between the vocabulary used by Cantonese speakers and the equivalent vocabulary used by Mandarin speakers.

The only difference is that whenever I'm watching Chinese subtitles on TV, the subtitles are usually in Mandarin. In Chinese-American school, I was never taught to write the colloquial Chinese way. Even the lyrics to almost all pop music is written by using written Mandarin instead of colloquial Cantonese. That's another reason why a foreigners may not understand what a singer is singing.

In a way, I feel like I'm left out of something really awesome by not recognizing all the vocabulary on the list. I believe most Cantonese-American students are confused when presented with the Mandarin equivalent and give up easily when they do not understand the meaning of the Mandarin equivalent.

Actually, I'm sure all Cantonese-American speakers know all the Cantonese words below, but may not recognize it when it is written colloquially. If you ever check out a Hong Kong gossip magazine, you will find a lot of Chinese colloquial words in print because the publications actually quote what the celebrities are saying word-for-word. Have fun!

Keep in mind though that this list uses the Yale romanization method for pronouncing Cantonese while I tend to use the Jyutping romanization on this blog whenever I can. Perhaps, I will create a file later on with this information.

Source: http://www.omniglot.com/chinese/cantonese.htm

Section Headers or Radicals in Depth – Two Strokes, Radicals #7-12, Part One of Four

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kangxi_radicals

http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/scripts/wordlist.htm

http://en.wiktionary.org

Important Links:

http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/t/ttf-arphic-ukai/ttf-arphic-ukai_0.2.20080216.1.orig.tar.gz - Download extra Chinese fonts if you cannot view all the Chinese characters on your computer.

There are too many section headers with two strokes to cover in just one post. I will have to split it up into four parts instead. In this section, we will cover section headers #7-12. Additionally, I will make the entire section header / Radical list cheat sheet available at:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=BF8AED0897926D3C!174

Radical Number / Section Header	Strokes	Traditional Radical	Simplified Radical	Pinyin	Jyutping	Meaning
7	2	二		èr	ji6	two
8	2	亠		tóu	tau4	head
9	2	人(亻)		rén	jan4	person
10	2	儿		ér	jan4	child, “legs”
11	2	入		rù	jap6	to enter
12	2	八		bā	baat3	eight
13	2	冂		jiōng		wide
14	2	冖		mì		cover
15	2	冫		bīng		ice
16	2	几		jī		table
17	2	凵		kǎn		container, open mouth
18	2	刀(刂)		dāo		knife, sword
19	2	力		lì		power, force
20	2	勹		bāo		wrap, embrace
21	2	匕		bǐ		spoon
22	2	匚		fāng		box
23	2	匸		xǐ		hiding enclosure
24	2	十		shí		ten, complete
25	2	卜		bǔ		divination
26	2	卩		jié		kneel
27	2	厂		hàn		cliff
28	2	厶		sī		private
29	2	又		yòu		right hand

The radicals with two strokes are still fairly easy to write from top left to bottom right, if possible. Remember, you are only writing two strokes to complete each radical. If you write any more than two strokes, it is considered incorrect. Starting from radical thirteen, the two-stroke radicals will include combo strokes, but we don’t have to worry about that in this post.

#7) 二(èr in Mandarin,  ji6 in Cantonese)

This might not be a shock to you, but the section header 二 can become a section header and a character by itself at the same time. As a character, 二is the number “two.” If you can remember from the previous post, 一 was the character for number “one.” Add an extra, smaller line above it and we have the number two.  Careful though, as the character is written from top left to bottom right so the top line is written first, followed by the bottom line.

Let’s find out what characters fall into the 二 category:
NOTE: Like the previous post, all traditional characters are in BLUE font.

3 strokes	亍 于 亏 亐（Japanese Simplified Character）
4 strokes	云 互 亓 五 井 亖
5 strokes	亗
6 strokes	亘 亙 亚
7 strokes	亜（Japanese Simplified Character）
8 strokes	亝（Korean Simplified Character） 亞 亟些

What do we notice about this section header? I see that the 二 section header is either at the top, bottom, or found as a whole with one stroke on top and one stroke at the bottom.

#8) 亠 (tóu in Mandarin,  tau4 in Cantonese)

This radical is known as the “lid” radical as it looks like a lid or covering for a container. The actual meaning of this radical is “head.”

Characters that fall into the 亠 section header:

3 strokes	亡
4 strokes	亢 亣
6 strokes	交 亥 亦 产
7 strokes	亨 亩 亪
8 strokes	享 京
9 strokes	亭 亮 亯 亰 亱 亲
10 strokes	亳
11 strokes	亴 亵
12 strokes	亶 亷
13 strokes	亸
14 strokes	亹

You may notice, just like its definition of being the “head” part or the “lid” part, the 亠 radical is logically always found at the top of a character. If you ever come across a character with a 亠 on top, chances are, it belongs in this section header like the characters found in this section.

#9) 人(亻) (rén in Mandarin, jan4 in Cantonese)

I don’t want to overwhelm you with this section header or radical, but it’s such a popular one that we should really recognize it. Both the 人and亻radical  is defined as “person or human-being” and share the same section header.

人is actually a character by itself for “person or human-being.”  We can also say 人 stands for “mankind”  since historically, in English, we use the word “man” to include all people. The亻radical essentially has the same meaning as the 人 radical, except 亻is not used as a character by itself. Only人can be both a radical and a character.

In Cantonese, we refer to 亻as the 企人邊 kei5  jan4 bin1 (literally standing person side). If you take a look at the character 人 , which looks  a walking person, and how 人 transforms to 亻, it looks like亻depicts a person standing up. In Mandarin, the same phrase is 企人边qi3 ren2 bian1. Other similar terms are: 

單企人(daan1 kei5 jan4 in Cantonese.  dan1 qi3 ren2 in Mandarin, but this term is strictly a Cantonese term) – It literally means “solo standing person”

單立人 (daan1 lap6 jan4 in Cantonese) / 单立人(dan1 li4 ren2 in Mandarin) – 立 is another term for standing up straight or at attention. The literal meaning is the same as the previous term except立might give you a different imagery.

單人旁 (daan1 jan4 pong4 in Cantonese / 单人旁(dan1 ren2 pang2 in Mandarin) – By now, you should recognize 單人 means “solo person” and 旁 means “beside” or “next to.” You will realize why this term is used in the next paragraphs.

人字旁(jan4 zi6 pong4 in Cantonese, ren2 zi4 pang2 in Mandarin) – It literally means “person, word, side.” This translates to “the side of the word, ‘human’.”

OK. I’ve done enough teasing. Why do we call it a side? You will see below.

Characters that fall into the 人 or亻 section header:

3 strokes	亼 亽 亾 亿
4 strokes	什 仁 仂 仃 仄 仅 仆 仇 仈 仉 今 介 仌 仍 从 仏 仐 仑 仒 仓
5 strokes	仔 仕 他 仗 付 仙 仚 仛 仜 仝 仞 仟 仠 仡 仢 代 令 以 仦 仧 仨 仩 仪 仫 们 仭 𠆩 <-if the character does not display, the image is on the right or I included the link: http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/8294/)
6 strokes	仮 仯 仰 仱 仲 仳 仴 仵 件 价 仸 仹 仺 任 仼 份 仾 仿 伀 企 伂 伃 伄 伅 伆 伇 伈 伉 伊 伋 伌 伍 伎 伏 伐 休 伒 伓 伔 伕 伖 众 优 伙 会 伛 伜 伝 伞 伟 传 伡 伢 伣 伤 伥 伦 伧 伨 伩 伪 伫 伬
7 strokes	伭 伮 伯 估 伱 伲 伳 伴 伵 伶 伷 伸 伹 伺 伻 似 伽 伾 伿 佀 佁 佂 佃 佄 佅 但 佇 佈 佉 佊 佋 佌 位 低 住 佐 佑 佒 体 佔 何 佖 佗 佘 余 佚 佛 作 佝 佞 佟 你 佡 佢 佣 佤 佥 佦 佧 佨 来
8 strokes	佩 佪 佫 佬 佭 佮 佯 佰 佱 佲 佳 佴 併 佶 佷 佸 佹 佺 佻 佼 佽 佾 使 侀 侁 侂 侃 侄 侅 來 侇 侈 侉 侊 例 侌 侍 侎 侏 侐 侑 侒 侓 侔 侕 侖 侗 侘 侙 侚 供 侜 依 侞 侟 侠 価 侢 侣 侤 侥 侦 侧 侨 侩 侪 侫 侬 侭
9 strokes	侮 侯 侰 侱 侲 侳 侴 侵 侶 侷 侸 侹 侺 侻 侼 侽 侾 便 俀 俁 係 促 俄 俅 俆 俇 俈 俉 俊 俋 俌 俍 俎 俏 俐 俑 俒 俓 俔 俕 俖 俗 俘 俙 俚 俛 俜 保 俞 俟 俠 信 俢 俣 俤 俥 俦 俧 俨 俩 俪 俫 俬 俭
10 strokes	修 俯 俰 俱 俲 俳 俴 俵 俶 俷 俸 俹 俺 俻 俼 俽 俾 俿 倀 倁 倂 倃 倄 倅 倆 倇 倈 倉 倊 個 倌 倍 倎 倏 們 倒 倓 倔 倕 倖 倗 倘 候 倚 倛 倜 倝 倞 借 倠 倡 倢 倣 値 倥 倦 倧 倨 倩 倪 倫 倬 倭 倮 倯 倰 倱 倲 倳 倴 倵 倶 倷 倸 倹 债 倽 倾 倿值
11 strokes	倻 偀 偁 偂 偃 偄 偅 偆 假 偈 偉 偊 偋 偌 偍 偎 偏 偐 偑 偒 偓 偔 偕 偖 偗 偘 偙 做 偛 停 偝 偞 偟 偠 偡 偢 偣 偤 健 偦 偧 偨 偩 偪 偫 偬 偭 偮 偯 偰 偱 偲 偳 側 偵 偶 偷 偸 偹 偺 偻 偼 偽 偾 偿
12 strokes	傀 傁 傂 傃 傄 傅 傆 傇 傈 傉 傊 傋 傌 傍 傎 傏 傐 傑 傒 傓 傔 傕 傖 傗 傘 備 傚 傛 傜 傝 傞 傟 傠 傡 傢 傣 傤 傥 傦 傧 储 傩
13 strokes	傪 傫 催 傭 傮 傯 傰 傱 傲 傳 傴 債 傶 傷 傸 傹 傺 傻 傼 傽 傾 傿 僀 僁 僂 僃 僄 僅 僆 僇 僈 僉 僊 僋 僌 働 儍 𠍁
14 strokes	僎 像 僐 僑 僒 僓 僔 僕 僖 僗 僘 僙 僚 僛 僜 僝 僞 僟 僠 僡 僢 僣 僤 僥 僦 僧 僨 僩 僪 僫 僬 僭 僮 僯 僰 僱 僲 僳 僴
15 strokes	僵 僶 僷 僸 價 僺 僻 僼 僽 僾 僿 儀 儁 儂 儃 億 儅 儆 儇 儈 儉 儊 儋 儌儎 儏 儰
16 strokes	儐 儑 儒 儓 儔 儕 儖 儗 儘 儙 儚 儛 儜 儝 儞 儫
17 strokes	償 儠 儡 儢 儣 儤 儥 儦 儧 儨 儩 優 儬
18 strokes	儭 儮 儯 儱 儲
19  strokes	儳 儴 儵
20 strokes	儶
21 strokes	儷 儸 儹 儺
22 strokes	儻 儼
23 strokes	儽
24 strokes	儾

You may not notice the answer with 人section header since the section header is usually found on the top of the character or in rare cases, the bottom of the character, but definitely with the亻section header. The 亻section header is always found on the left side of the word. This is the reason why this radical is called the 企人邊 ”standing person side.” There are so many words that use this 企人邊 section header so I think this radical is one of the important ones to recognize. Also, for the most part, if a character has this radical, it means that the meaning is most likely human or person-related.

#10) 儿 (ér in Mandarin, jan4 in Cantonese)

The 儿 section header is another variant of the previous section header, 人.  儿 was used in ancient times as a character for 人. If you look at 儿 as a pictogram, it looks like the bottom half of a person who is standing up. Hence, this radical is referred to as “legs” but does not take the literal meaning of legs.

In modern times, 儿, extracted  from the traditional character 兒 by removing the 臼 part, acts as the simplified Chinese character for “son” or “child.” 儿 or 兒, in its traditional form, is also important when speaking the Beijing dialect as 儿/兒 also acts as a  particle attached to many common adverbs and nouns.

To sum it up, we have three uses for 儿: Section header/Radical, character 儿/兒, and Beijing particle 儿/兒.

Characters that fall in the 儿 section header:

3 strokes	兀
4 strokes	允 兂 元
5 strokes	兄
6 strokes	充 兆 兇 先 光 兊 尧
7 strokes	克 兌 兎 兏 児 兑
8 strokes	免 兒 兓 兔 兕 兖
9 strokes	兗 兘 兙
10 strokes	党 兛
11 strokes	兜 兝 兞
12 strokes	兟 兠
13 strokes	兡
14 strokes	兢
16 strokes	兣
21 strokes	兤

Not surprisingly, this radical is always found in the bottom-half of a character.

#11) 入(rù in Mandarin, jap6 in Cantonese)

Let’s not get confused now. Doesn’t this 入section header look at lot like the 人 section header? While the stroke order is the same, let me show you the differences.

人 means a “person”, the left dominant stroke is longer than the right

入means “to enter”, the right dominant stroke is longer than the left.

Animation of the 人 character:
http://blog.nciku.com/blog/en/2011/03/09/hsk-character-list-and-stroke-order-animations/

Animation of the 入 character:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/%E5%85%A5-order.gif/220px-%E5%85%A5-order.gif

The 入 character looks funny in print, but it is supposed to look like a mirrored version of 人. Besides acting as a radical, 入 is also a character itself, meaning to “to enter.”

Characters that fall into the入 section header:

3 strokes	兦
4 strokes	內
5 strokes	㒰 㒱
6 strokes	㒲全
7 strokes	㒳, 㒴
8 strokes	兩
9 strokes	兪

There isn’t a lot of characters that fall into the 入 section header. I see that this radical is found either on the top of in the middle of a character. In the character, 內 (noi6 in Cantonese, nei4 in Mandarin), we can easily see that the 入 character went into the frame 冂, creating a visual meaning as well as an actual meaning for the word, “inside” or “within.”

#12) 八 (bā in Mandarin, baat3 in Cantonese)

Besides being a section header, 八 is also a character meaning the number “eight.” I wonder if the strokes are split into two directions because according to Wikipedia, eight is the only single-digit number that can be divided into two four times. While the 八 character represents many other meanings, we’ll just focus on how it is a section header.

Characters that fall into the 八 section header:

4 strokes	公 六 兮兯 六
5 strokes	兰
6 strokes	共兲关兴
7 strokes	㒵 㒶 㒷兵
8 strokes	其 具 典
9 strokes	㒸兹, 养
10 strokes	兺, 兼
11 strokes	兽
12 strokes	兾, 兿
16 strokes	冀
18 strokes	冁
20 strokes	㒹

In character writing though, this section header does not have any particular meaning. It can be found either on the top, middle, or bottom of a character, but always takes up the entire width of the character length with no other strokes next to it. Perhaps in some words, the character tries to show that it can be evenly divided or the 八 radical tries to imitate the legs part of a character like in the character 兵 (meaning soldier). Even so, 八 is not the same as 儿 or 入.

We have completed all two-stroke section headers that use basic strokes. Starting in our next post, we’ll begin with two-stroke section headers that use combination strokes. I’ll break this section down to three more posts. We have learned about 5% of the radicals so far. Let’s not stop now and keep going!