Some characters look like the word they represent, making them a good way to start learning the language
Difficulty: Explorer (Level 1)
Some Chinese characters are pictograms. This means that the characters look like the word or meaning they represent. Pictograms make up about four per cent of all Chinese characters.
They can be a great way to learn the language. It is easy to show the meaning of characters like tree “木” and fire “火”.
Most Chinese characters have two parts. The sound part tells you how to say it. Meanwhile, the picture part gives you a hint about what it means.
One example is the character for “river” 河, which is pronounced ho. The left side shows a picture of three drops of water. The right side, 可, helps us pronounce the word since it has the same sound even if the tone is different. Although 可 means “able” and does not have anything to do with “river”, combining these two parts helps us understand and pronounce the word.
About 75 per cent of all Chinese characters are made this way!
Character matching game
Materials
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8 index cards
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scissors
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pen
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a friend to play the game with
Instructions
1. Cut each index card in half. Refer to the word bank below. On one half, write the character for the word. On the other side, draw a picture that matches the meaning of the character. Do this with all of the cards.
2. With a friend, play a matching game. Turn all the squares face down. Take turns flipping two squares at a time. If the squares match, you earn a point. The player with the most points wins.
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person 人
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tree 木
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fire 火
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ear 耳
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mountain 山
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water 水
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sheep 羊
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eye 目
Pictograms
Many Chinese characters started as simple drawings. Create your own simple drawings for each of the words below. Try not to use more than five strokes for each character you create.
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sun
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moon
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star
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cloud