STOP Writing!!! 2 Hacks To Crack Chinese Characters

They call it “learning”. We say it's “Fun”.
Welcome to "Fun Mandarin 玩中文"!
While Mandarin's writing system has always been recognized for its challenge, it doesn't mean that rote learning is the only/the best way to crack the language!
Whether you've just started your Mandarin journey or have been on it for a couple of years, make sure to stick around until the end. You'll discover that the strategies and techniques in this video are a complete game-changer!
📌Chapters
00:00 Urban legend about Chinese characters
00:27 Intro of 'I.S.' Hacks
01:03 🚀#1 Hack
01:35 💡Examples
02:31 🚀#2 Hack
03:09 💡Examples
04:27 🪄Technique 1 in Hack #2
06:12 💡Tips: using Hack #1 with Hack #2 to reinforce memory
06:32 💡Examples
07:42 🪄Technique 2 in Hack #2
07:59 💡Examples
09:23 Recap
📝Note:
The character 上, used as an example of applying the technique, is not meant to demonstrate the stroke order but rather to explain how the technique works.
📣Shoutout: British International School Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Melbourn Village College (UK); Alexandra Park School (UK); St Joseph College (UK)

[@mohmeegaik6686]

Jia you Fun Mandarin. I have watched many of your videos & now I am a subscriber.

[@Fun.Mandarin]

Thanks a bunch for your lovely comments and support - it truly brings a smile to my face! While our channel may be small and the analytics are sometimes not as exciting, every time I read the positive comments, it encourages me to continue creating more fun and informative videos. I hope you enjoy watching them as much as I enjoy making them! Thanks again for your support 😇

[@leebarry4000]

I like this. Thank you for the video. Just subscribed

[@Fun.Mandarin]

Thanks so much for your support :) It made my day 😇The new episode of the Chinese character series will be coming soon. I hope you’ll come back to watch and enjoy it too!

[@urshurakdieohnekanal9291]

It's very important to use personal cues for the memorisation of the Han Zi. I remember learning Japanese (because of anime), and the software I used provided stories, but I absolutely couldn't relate to them. Now, with Chinese, I make my own stories, and that works much better.

[@Fun.Mandarin]

Well done! Making personal, relevant short stories does benefit a lot to effective memorization :) I’m very pleased to know you’re working on it! Keep up the good work 👍

[@Blinful]

Brilliant lessons!

[@Fun.Mandarin]

Glad you enjoyed :) Thank you for watching and commenting 😇

[@axljhuanmoreiradarocha5661]

Sou brasileiro e estou aprendendo mandarim, esse vídeo foi extremamente útil, muito obrigado!

[@Fun.Mandarin]

Obrigado pela sua mensagem gentil; ela alegrou o meu dia! 😇Fico feliz em saber que você acha útil. Haverá mais vídeos em breve, e espero que você também os aprecie. (Desculpe, eu não falo português. Espero que a tradução feita pelo Google Translate faça sentido.) 🤭

[@Yongkang42]

great video ⭐️👍🏻

[@Fun.Mandarin]

Thank you for watching ❤️

[@Fun.Mandarin]

Brainstorming time: Please share your imaginative story about the component 未 in 妹 (younger sister). I would love to read your creative ones! 🥰

[@jamesparsons6478]

Looks like a May pole - you dance around them on May Day (today) in England

[@Fun.Mandarin]

@@jamesparsons6478 That's such a lovely example! Thanks for sharing :) I love it! 💙

[@patriot813]

Thank you for this very interesting lesson, I love your teaching style. Would you have any advice on how to memorize more complex words to prepare for HSK6?

[@Fun.Mandarin]

Thank you for your comments and questions. If you are aiming for HSK 6, it would be great to build up your vocabulary range from the 'character (字) level' to the 'word (词) level'. It would be more efficient to build new vocabulary based on your prior knowledge, extend it from your old ones, then categorise them into groups. For example, for the simple character 包, you can extend the character 包 to HSK 6 words like 包袱, 包围, 包装, 包庇. With the techniques we discussed in this video, such as "1+1 magic," you can easily apply them to memorise the character 袱 in 包袱. As 袱 is composed of 衤 (meaning) and 伏 (sound), you can pick up this new vocabulary 包袱 much easier. Most importantly, make sentences for each of the words you try to learn/memorise. At least, you should see how they work in different contexts, so it will be more likely for those words to become your 'active words', i.e., you will use them correctly and won't end up just translating those words awkwardly. Besides, for those who are preparing for the exam, I would always suggest drawing a timeline. See how much time you have before the exam (whether it's HSK, GCSE, or even IB), make a structured study plan, and schedule a minimum of 10-15 minutes to practice every single day, rather than squeezing two hours in a day once a week. You'll thank yourself for being disciplined and organised after the exam! Good luck!

[@patriot813]

@@Fun.Mandarin I can't thank you enough for taking the time to give me such precious and inspiring advice. I'll advertise your channel to all my Chinese learning friends, here in France :) And maybe if you have the time you could make a video about HSK in which you'd compile the advice you gave me and others. Take care.

[@Fun.Mandarin]

I'm glad it's helpful, and I appreciate your kind sharing with your friends. I hope they will find the videos here enjoyable and useful too. Thank you for your advice, and I'll take it into consideration to create videos to assist exam takers :) Although I don't want the channel to become too exam-oriented, I truly believe the skills and language focus in the videos on this channel are still transferable for real-life communication as well as for exams :)

[@umargul5644]

Great

[@Fun.Mandarin]

I hope it’s helpful 😊

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

老师好。火▪ 烤▪ 炒▪女▪妹▪姐姐can i use the 烤 in 烤鸭? roast duck▪Your channel is so intelligent , I like the idea of i and s imagination has no limits and structure has its magic. 谢谢老师

[@Fun.Mandarin]

Thanks for watching, and I'm very pleased to know you're practising the techniques :) Yes, you can use 烤 with other nouns, particularly with food, such as your example 烤鸭. Other examples include 烤鸡 (roast chicken), 烤肉 (BBQ), and 烤布蕾 (Crème brûlée) etc. Keep up the good work 👍👍👍

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

@@Fun.Mandarin 烤鸡▪ 烤肉▪ 谢谢老师🥈🏅🏆🥉🥇

[@seren48725]

A great video! 😊 But when I can't use imagination for a specific character. What should I do then? How can I use imagination for the pronunciation? 🤔

[@Fun.Mandarin]

Thanks for your comments and lovely questions! :) In this video, the introduced techniques are applicable both together and individually. That is to say, when we lack the inspiration to create a relevant story based on the character's meanings and shapes, the 'magical radical' and '1+1 magic' techniques will absolutely come into play. That's why we've planned to create more videos on this topic, focusing on useful radicals and components in the future. If you are interested, we hope you'll come back to visit our channel and check them out! :) As for pronunciation, we can associate it with words in our dominant language or any other language (no need to be English at all) that we are familiar with, which will help a lot when memorising them. For example, in the episode "Colour in Mandarin Go Beyond Words," I used 'Hey, Sir' to assimilate the word 'black' in Mandarin because of its similar pronunciation, and 'Bye, Sir' for 'White.' (You may check the video out if you haven't watched it 😊) I hope this clarifies any confusion you had :)

[@seren48725]

@@Fun.Mandarin Thank you for your detailed explanations. :) I like your ideas and I will check out that video as well! 😀 I'm looking forward to other such similar videos. I'm at the beginning of my Chinese journey and I started writing easier characters multiple times on a piece of paper. I will try to use the techniques you use so I can remember their pronunciation. 谢谢. 🤗

[@danisarteaga6475]

Xie xie❤😊

[@Fun.Mandarin]

希望你喜欢😇 谢谢观看！

[@liana1760]

Like this video Mei is wearing a dress like a school girl

[@Fun.Mandarin]

Thanks for such a brilliant idea! Inspired by your story, I’d like to extend that the younger sister called May, is wearing a dress. Two strokes on each side, symbolise her hands holding the dress :)

[@chuifongtam4703]

教的很好

[@Fun.Mandarin]

謝謝/谢谢🙏