Kun Ho Park - Enjoy Learning Chinese Characters: Discover their Hidden Meanings (English and Chinese Edition)

Authors Kun Ho Park & Kyung Yong Kong Translation Young Youp Hwang & Jennifer Jean Lim with Babel Korea Corp. Design Sang Hee Kim, Jae Kyoung Shim and Dae Han Youn Illustration Jae Young Lee Editor Kyung Yong Kong Publisher KONG & PARK, Inc. 4F, 22, Samil-daero 15-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-111 Korea Registration No. 300-2008-82 (September 2nd, 2008) Tel +82_2_565_1531 Fax +82_2_3445_1080 www.kongnpark.com Copyright 2013 by KONG & PARK, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. 30 Amberwood Parkway, Ashland, OH 44805, USA Tel +1_419_281_5100 Fax +1_419_281_0200 www.bookmasters.com Printed in Korea Contents |||||||||||||||||||||| Introduction B ecause Chinese characters are commonly known as pictograms, most Chinese learners wonder if they can possibly learn thousands of characters. 30 Amberwood Parkway, Ashland, OH 44805, USA Tel +1_419_281_5100 Fax +1_419_281_0200 www.bookmasters.com Printed in Korea Contents |||||||||||||||||||||| Introduction B ecause Chinese characters are commonly known as pictograms, most Chinese learners wonder if they can possibly learn thousands of characters.

Some give up altogether and choose to learn only Pinyin, the romanized form of Chinese characters and so their use of the language becomes very limited. However, considering that the people who devised the Chinese language and most of the people who write and speak it every day are not geniuses, we have found a shortcut, an easier way, that would help people appreciate and learn the Chinese characters. This book has been written to share that secret with you! Countries that still use Chinese characters in their vocabulary are China (including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore), Korea and Japan. China, for obvious reasons, uses it most often. The simplified characters are used in China and Singapore, whereas Taiwan and Hong Kong use the original complicated characters. Japan uses a mix of both.

Korea has her own alphabet Hangul, but up to 60% of the vocabulary has borrowed meaning from Chinese characters. Therefore, if you dont know them, it is very hard for you to understand their true meanings. For these reasons, many researches on Chinese characters have been carried out mostly in China, Korea and Japan. We have taken into account the opinions of scholars from these three countries and shortlisted 3,500 characters, which outnumbers the 2,633 characters in the HSK Level 1-6 characters list. This book contains 1,160 characters that explain about the most frequently-used 856 characters including 623 characters in the HSK Level 1-3 list. centuries. centuries.

In the 6th and 7th centuries, they were said to have been passed on to nations in the Korean peninsula at that time, and then passed on to Japan. All languages change with time and Chinese was no exception. The usage of Chinese characters in Korea and Japan retain the original form and meaning of when they were passed on, so it was very helpful to have the input of scholars from the three countries. This book is an attempt to compile the opinions of scholars from these three countries, and the authors personal interpretations of the inscriptions on bronze, bones and tortoise carapaces to explain the origin of the characters . The authors aim is to help our readers understand the characters, not to become scholars in their own right. But that does not mean this book is a pet project.

It is intended to help readers further understand the meanings of all Chinese characters. PARK, Kun Ho
KONG, Kyung Yong
User Guide To learn Chinese characters much more easily, one must understand how they came to be. This book will introduce you to the characters about people, life and nature.

Human body : Though different in color and size, we share the same physical characteristics. Most characters are based on human physical attributes. Person : Many basic characters depict the form of certain human postures, such as standing man, crouching man, kneeling man.

Title : From unborn baby to elderly man, and from slave to king.

War : The history of man might as well be the history of war. Many Chinese characters are related to war, which influenced life greatly. Necessities of life : Characters related to the necessities of life. Agriculture : Farming is an occupation that produces food, the most essential element for human existence.