Chinese: Lesson 3 - Why Is Chinese Hard?

Chinese people love talking about how their language is the hardest in the world, and believe that it is impossible for foreigners to learn the language. However, I think that Chinese simply requires a different approach to learning it.



Some people like to use a special calligraphy paper to practice. I want to make it clear that this is not required or even used for most people to write Chinese characters. It is similar to the paper we used as children, which has dotted lines on it to help guide us until we become comfortable writing it on our own. It is, however, an option, and while I typically use notebook paper, it can't hurt to try it out and figure out what works best for you.





Chinese people are quick to throw complicated looking words at you like 想 or even within the first few days of learning the language, and then criticize you for not being able to write it correctly. Either you space things apart too much, or you are writing it incorrectly. In my opinion, it just shows how bad these people are at being a Chinese teacher, and makes me feel that they don't want foreigners to learn their language. They enjoy intimidating people with their language, but the truth is, it's easy if you learn the basics first.

So, let's start with the basics of writing in Chinese. First, we'll go over the numbers, which are typically very easy.

• 一 (Yī)
• 二 (Èr)
• 三 (Sān)

This is 1, 2, and 3 in Chinese, respectively. One is probably one of the simplest characters: it's a line, similar to an elongated hyphen (-). Two is two lines, similar to an equals sign (= - top then bottom), and three is three lines, working your way from top to bottom, with the one in the middle being the shortest. These are probably the easiest characters to write.

The biggest thing most Chinese get on foreigners about when they're learning to write is the stroke order. Chinese people believe that everyone should write every character the same.With that being said, different regions have their own way of writing the same character. For example, people from Hong Kong and Mainland China will write the same word in a different order. However, they typically follow the same rules when writing.

Typically speaking, when you are writing a character, you start from the top left and work your way down to the bottom right. The important thing is to find the stroke order that feels comfortable for you, and making sure that your characters are what you want them to be.

For example, the number four 四 (Sì) is typically written like this:
















However, I usually write it like this.
















In the end, it doesn't matter too much, as long as it looks correct. The main reason a stroke order exists is improve one's penmanship, and give people a basic pattern to follow.

So, you understand how to write 一， 二， 三， and 四 (yī, èr, sān, sì) The rest of the numbers are fairly easy as well.

• 五 (Wu - Five) - Start with the top, then draw a line straight down, make a half-square (similar to step 2 with the number four 四), and then draw the bottom.
• 六 (Liu - Six) - Draw the top middle dot, the line under it, then the left and right legs.
• 七 (Qi - Seven) - Draw a capital L with a soft corner, and cross it like a lowercase t.
• 八 (Ba - Eight) - Draw something akin to the two legs from six, left then right.
• 九 (Jiu - Nine) - Draw a line that tilts left. Next, cross it, bring your pen down, and flick it up as you leave the paper.
• 十  (Shi - Ten) - Draw a plus.

There are a few other characters that are important to practice, as they are used frequently. Remember to go from top left to bottom right, and see if you can write them correctly. I'm asking you to do this on your own because there will not always be a guide to writing these characters.

• 日 （Rì - almost like you're sounding out the letter R）, which literally means sun, but is also used in a large number of words, as well as in conjunction with other Chinese characters to mean words like today and Japan.
• 月 (Yuè - Sounds kinda like you-a), which means moon, and is also very common.
• 目 (Mù - Moo, like a cow), which means eye.
• 木 (Mù - Moo), meaning wood.
• 心 (Xīn - Shin), which means heart.
• 中 (Zhōng - Similar to the word Jong), which means middle, and is also the first character used for the word China.
• 人 (Rén - Rent without the T), which means person.
  
• 小 (Xiǎo - Shao, like Shaolin), which means small
• 不 (Bù - Boo, like a ghost), which means not. One thing I want to mention: as an interjection, it can mean no. It is also used.

In my opinion, these are some of the most common characters you'll see. Once you learn to write them, writing a lot of words becomes dramatically easier.

Now, if you DID just practice writing these, here are a few words I want you to try to write. Don't expect to get it perfectly the first time around, but give it a shot.

• 大 (Dà) - This character is 人 with 一 going through it. It means big. A good way to remember is to imagine the line is the clouds, and a person's head is above the clouds.
• 天 (Tiān) - This is 人 combined with 二. It means heaven. I remember by thinking about how heaven (or space) is beyond the clouds.
• 明 (Míng) - This 日 and 月 side by side. It means next. Keep in mind that when you're writing this character, you need to make sure that they are very close. A lot of beginners will put characters like this too far apart, and end up writing 日月 instead of 明.
• 想 (Xiǎng) - This is the character from the beginning of this lesson. It might look complicated, but it should be a lot easier to write now. It is simply 木 and 目 over 心. The way I always remember it is a bit philosophical, and Chinese always thought I was crazy for it. You are looking at a tree (wood) with your heart - which is to say, you want something from the tree. 想 means want.

We'll stop here. It's important to go ahead and practice what you've already learned to write. Finding what feels most comfortable for you, just like with chopsticks, is what is most important.