Kanjicom

Lessons

• Lesson 1
• Lesson 2
• Lesson 3
• Lesson 4
• Lesson 5
• Lesson 6
• Lesson 7
• Lesson 8
• Lesson 9
• Lesson 10
• Lesson 11
• Lesson 12
• Lesson 13
• Lesson 14
• Lesson 15
• Lesson 16
• Lesson 17
• Lesson 18
• Lesson 19
• Lesson 20

Lesson 1

Alignment

Alignment of the traditional Chinese script is top to bottom, right to left. Compare the left to right, top to bottom alignment of English. Start at the top right and read the vertically-aligned Chinese text from the top to bottom of each column, moving leftward from column to column.

We can refer to any individual character by using its coordinates. E.g., the first character in the lesson 1 text is 人 (rén), referenced as 1.1, i.e, column 1, character number 1, or "line one, first character". The fifth character in lesson one is 本 (běn), referenced as 2.2. or "line two, second character".

Source: Sanzijing

2	1
性 (xìng)	人 (rén)	1
本 (běn)	之 (zhī)	2
善 (shàn)	初 (chù)	3

Vocabulary and Stroke Order

Stroke Order

In learning written Chinese, stroke order is very important. In the large print example of each new character, the little numbers next to the strokes show the sequence in which the strokes of the character should be written. So for the first character, 1.1, the little 1 tells you to write first the stroke immediately below it. The little 2 next to the other stroke means, "write this stroke second".

Learn standard stroke order for each new character by writing the character at least twenty times. Write out the the full lesson text at least five times, paying close attention to the stroke order of each character. Do not neglect stroke order as you make notes. While sipping a cafe au lait in an academic coffee house, or whiskey, say, at the local bar, or perhaps wulung tea at a Chinese tea house in Taiwan, impress others by writing out the text of favorite lessons from memory. Because our texts are drawn unmodified from the Chinese classics themselves, they provide inexhaustable food for thought and discussion.

When practicing each character, do not be afraid to write big. I would suggest one inch squares at first. You want to become intimately familar with the stroke order and the composition of each character. Zoom in. Appreciate the detail. Relax. Take your time.

In addition to the stroke order itself, there are conventions for making the individual strokes. As a general rule, for "vertical" strokes you start on the top and for "horizontal" strokes you start on the left. Most characters are written in a more or less left-to-right, top-to-bottom flow.

How many types of individual strokes are there? The answer will vary from nine to about twelve, depending on the style of calligraphy used and on a few differences of opinion about whether a "stroke" is really one stroke or two.

Stroke order in writing is somewhat like dialect in speaking. Often governments dictate the preferred or mandatory dialect and call it the "standard" language. This is also the case for character composition and stroke order. There are decreed standards in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, and Japan. From my long experience in Chinese and more limited experience in Japanese, I believe that adherence to the "standard" version is not as important for non-native speakers as teachers and government officials seem to think. But what is important is to start with a given version and stick with it. You must try to master one acceptable version of the language. In most cases this will indeed be the official standard version, but it doesn't have to be. If your teacher speaks with with a strong regional accent, accept it and learn it. Become completely at home with it. I suggest you do the same with stroke order. The stroke order in these lessons is the one I learned and have used for fifty years. For each of the xxx different characters that comprise the total repertoire used in this set of twenty-one lessons, the stroke order presented agrees with that found in reference books produced in Taiwan. Likewise, the composition of the Chinese characters follows the "traditional " script still taught in schools in Taiwan. The "traditional " form of the script is best for anyone learning the classical language, in my view. The traditional script that you learn in these lessons is the one you will find, with minor variations, in nearly all editions of the classics. It is also the form from which etymological analysis can most smoothly proceed .

Finally, another extremely important reason to learn a proper stroke order is that it greatly facilitates counting the total number of strokes. Correct stroke counting is an essential skill for anyone who wants to look up a character in a Chinese dictionary or reference work. And correct stroke counting is firmly based on knowing the stroke order for any given character.

Vocabulary

After you have followed the stroke order in rewriting a new character twenty, thirty, a hundred times, your next task is to determine if the character is composed of two parts or not. Is it composed of two or more parts? That is the question. If yes, then the character is a zi. If no, then the character is a wen. Understanding zi and wen is the most fundamental point in understanding the composition of the Chinese script. We will have more to say on zi and wen as we go along.

By "parts" I don't mean strokes. One "part" may be drawn with one to a dozen or more strokes. Strokes per se have no more meaning than the dot on a j, the cross on a t, or the tail of a capital Q. They are essential to the script, but have no clear independent meaning.

What I've called "parts" on the other hand carry meaning, be it graphic, phonetic, or purely semantic.

(rén)

1.1 human, mankind.

Here, as usual, there is no indication of number. Whether it's "a human being" or "human beings" must be discerned from the context. No distinction embedded into the character itself is needed. Reading it as plural or as singular or as both or neither (as a modificative) will make sense. It is only from the perspective of translation into English, for example, or by trying to understand it in English that number matters. Some students, usually the very young, get this point immediately. For others, especially those who are beginning to learn Chinese late, say after twenty or so, it is a stumbling block. For those in the second group, my advice is to just accept the fact that there is no overt number in Chinese characters, reserve judgement, don't puzzle over it much and proceed to memorize more characters. This also applies to dealing with a character's lack of explicit tense, part of speech, and gender, as well as to a lack of word breaks, and punctuation marks.

Permit me an analogy. When I was a boy, I loved to jump into one of our big fast moving Montana creeks and let the current carry me downstream. You survived and enjoyed the ride by not trying to hold onto anything. Trying to find footholds or something to hang onto only caused problems. Literally, you had to go with the flow. The same is true of reading classical Chinese.

(zhī)

1.2 possesive particle, "'s", of. This is the classical Chinese equivalent of current Chinese 的 (de2) or current Japanese の (no). It also has the meaning 'to go to'.

(chù)

1.3 beginning. One hemigram is the sematic 'clothing', the other is 'knife, cut'. The type of beginning implied here is something man-made, a piece of work. Contrast this kind of beginning with the organic type of beginning implied by vocabulary entry 1.5 of lesson 5.

(xìng)

2.1 nature, being. This is a key term in philosophical Chinese. Sometimes it is translated as 'essence'. But both Daoism, Buddhism for sure, and probably also Confucianism --- in other words all three of the famous "three ways of thought of ancient China" --- do not appear to believe in any kind of essentialism. Like an onion, you can peel away the layers and never find a core.

(běn)

2.2 basic, at root; at first, in the past.

(shàn)

2.3 good; well-spoken of. Several characters that include the sematic 'sheep' have something to do with 'good', perhaps relating to mutton as a special meat.

Discussion

Q and A

1. What is the most fundamental guideline for understanding classical Chinese syntax?

The modifier precedes the modified.

2. How do you tell a verb from a noun?

From context. Out of context, you can't.

3. Which three characters in lesson 1 are wen2 (文)?

Ren2 (人), zhi1 (之), ben3 (本).

Notes