Part 1- Introduction to Chinese Characters

There are four types of characters based on their formation. 

 

• Pictograms --they look like pictures and normally used as independent characters or part of the character.         日       月  

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• Simple ideograms-- they use dots and lines to represent numbers and abstract concepts   上   下

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• Compound ideagrams--they are formed from two or more characters 明    林  

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• Phonetic-ideographic characters--one part of the character represents the sound and the others represent the meaning. 爸 妈 们 

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Activity: What characters are they? 

Aim: students observe the the pictograms and match them with the characters we use today. 

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