FOREIGN STUDENTS' COMMON PROBLEMS ... - eJournal UM

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FOREIGN STUDENTS’ COMMON PROBLEMS IN WRITING CHINESE CHARACTERS

Norlida Razali

Chinese characters belong to the ideographic system and are widely different from phonetic writing.¹

writing skills as well as promote interest in learning Chinese. In addition, this research

Keywords: Chinese characters, Pinyin, Homophone and Polyphone Characters

in , there is an increasing demand globally for learning Chinese.²

3

4 As it is, to write Chinese characters correctly is not easy, and to write

5

1

Journal of Chifeng University

2

Journal of Linguistics

3 4

Journal of School of Chinese Language Vol.4

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Journal of School of Chinese Language Vol.4 International Journal of East Asian Studies

Vol. 4, No. 1, 2015, pp. 63-78

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Chinese characters

lei (class), liang (grain),

contain the character

Some learners feel that the process of learning Chinese characters is too complicated

may be biased.

Methodology

Sample Size and characteristic of participants

; ; ;

(3) Bachelor degree, 1;

degrees.

; ;

Modern Education of Primary and Secondary Schools

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Foreign Students’ Common Problems in Writing Chinese Characters

forward to participants.

Percentage 4

17 77.27

1 4.54

Percentage

Grammar 27.27

Spell (Pinyin) 3

Chinese character

5 22.73

Strokes 7

Component 7

Chinese characters

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Percentage 45.45

t 11

1 4.55

Percentage

so can write the character 5 22.73

Know the components,

so can know the meaning of the character 13

Don’t know 4

Percentage

Know 14

Don’t know

There are formation for Chinese characters know how characters are formed.

Percentage

All know 27.27

Some know 13

3

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Percentage

See the character, do not know how to 12 54.55

2 Unclear strokes order of the characters

3 polyphone characters

4

Percentage

5 22.73

4

7

The most common mistake made when writing Chinese characters is related to the Chinese characters.

Constantly copying Chinese characters

Constantly looking and reading Chinese characters 15 Linking characters in the word with related story

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Percentage Demonstration of strokes order of Chinese characters

on the whiteboard 45.45

Chinese characters 5 22.73

Telling the origins or related story of the Chinese characters formation

Create combinations games of Chinese characters

component 2

shapes of characters

2

The table indicates that teachers rely on demonstration Chinese character strokes order

Percentage

4 Interact more with teachers and classmates,

7

2

4

27.27

rely on the teacher and interact more with teachers and classmates. Interestingly more

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characters.

7

that make the

11

7 Shao Caixia, p 23.

Shao Caixia, p24.

Shao Caixia, p23.

11

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12

into and into / .

13

Chinese characters with more or less strokes will create different Chinese words , hence the meaning changes completely.

similar characters in terms of meaning, there is no relation form similarity and closeness

the writing process.¹⁴

and and and and and

12 Journal of Xiangfan

University Vocational and Technical Collage

13

14

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Foreign Students’ Common Problems in Writing Chinese Characters 71

errors.

and and and and and and and and

and and and and and and and

and and and and and and

Adding more or less stroke at the bottom part of a character:

and and and and and and and and

Adding more or less stroke at the middle part of a character:

the length of the stroke and sometimes the difference is based on the direction of the stroke. Besides, there are many similar characters, the difference is often only

15 In addition, some others common

and

15

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andand and and and and and

and

and .

characters, like and .

in the following aspects:

(1) Adding of components

into into into into

into and others.

17

into into into into

into and others.

17

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into into into into into into

into into into into into into into

into

into into into into into into

into

write the stroke order.

: Left and right position example:

into into into into

into into into

into into

Up and down position example:

into into into

20

and

p 251.

Journal of Xiangfan University Vocational and Technical Collage

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:

(fei) and (fei).

: (ding) and (ting)

:

21

mó xíng (xíng)

22

y ( )

(y ) b

:

tíx ng t xíng

21

22 Ibid.

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1: The Analogy components²³

(speak), (speech), (sing), , (drink) (related with hand) example (hit), , , (pinch), (press) (related with water) example (wash), , ,

,

(cheat) (test) to horse car) and (light) (soft)

and of the component part in the character. The simplest example is

(hold) (robe) (roar) (roe) (cell)

and , the word will differ with different

(small) and (less) (speech) and (speak) (check) and (born) and

3. Connection of meanings between words

(noon) written as (forenoon) (each other) written as (together) (seaborne) written as (at sea) and (real) written as

23

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24

), dot stroke (

stroke ( ), folding stroke (

25 Zhang Jingxian’s

2:

similar characters

strokes which are generally at the left side like in the

in , for one always

,

, . By doing

3: and

and and and and

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25 Zhang Jingxian, Liang Yanmin, and Zhao Lei, Chinese Character Tutorial [M]

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(today)

and (command) (oneself) and (already)

(work) (daytime) and

(million)..

1:

words more easily. As an example: ) (heart)

represent the meaning, when the combination of

indicates the heart, together with becomes which means a combination of emotions, feelings, and the mood to express people’s inner feelings. In other words, the Chinese character.

2:

knows a lateral character and , the character becomes easier to learn,

3: is

composed by represent a tree, when three

means a lot of trees, a lot of trees indicates the forest . In the end this process allows one to remember the character and the meaning better. Another example needs a woman to accompany which is indicated in

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1:

etc. can only be placed at the lower part of the character

Chinese characters.

2:

example into two

parts (not) and (good) which indicates that the two words together is called which means . Another example is this character can be split into: ( ) (a person) and (a tree) the combination of these two characters indicates a person who leans on a tree ( ).

in reading, writing and composing.