DePaul University

From the SelectedWorks of Li Jin

2010

Review of the books Remembering simplified

hanzi 1: How not to forget the meaning and
writing of Chinese characters & Remembering
traditional hanzi 1: How not to forget the meaning
and writing of Chinese characters, by J. Heisig &
T. W. Richardson)
Li Jin

Available at: http://works.bepress.com/lijin/11/

HEISIG, JAMES & RICHARDSON, TIMOTHY, W. Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1: How
Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Chinese Characters. Honolulu, University of Hawaii
Press, 2009. 424. $, paper. ISBN 978-0-8248-3323-7.

HEISIG, JAMES & RICHARDSON, TIMOTHY, W. Remembering Traditional Hanzi 1: How

Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Chinese Characters. Honolulu, University of Hawaii
Press, 2009. 433. $, paper. ISBN 978-0-8248-3324-4.

This set of books: one focuses on simplified characters and the other on traditional
characters, is the first volume of a two-volume textbook aimed to help learners of Chinese to self
teach the meaning and writing of 1,000 most frequently used Chinese characters plus 500 less
commonly used but easy characters in texts. Each book is comprised of three main sections. The
introduction section provides the rationale of the learning methods in the book and the design of
the book. The lesson section contains 55 lessons divided into three sub-sections based on three
memorization methods: stories (lesson 1-12), plots (lesson 13-19), and elements (lesson 20-55).
These methods gradually providing full stories, simple plots and finally basic elements that
comprise a character help learners build form-meaning connections among different elements in
a character. The index section consists of five indexes: the index of characters by the order of
appearance in the book, the index of primitive elements used to form each character, the index of
characters by number of strokes, the index of characters by the pronunciation, and the index of
characters by the order of the English translation. The learning approach promoted in the books
is mnemonics by arranging the appearance of characters from simple to complex. Each character
in both books is presented within a frame containing the characters frame number (order of
appearance in the book), written form, key word (key meaning in English), story or plot to help
remember the character form, stroke order, and primitive meaning (other real or fabricated
meaning of this character to be used in the book to help associate other characters with this
element).

The books are very thoughtfully organized. At the beginning of both books, detailed
explanation as to why the mnemonics approach is employed in the books is provided, which
equips users with a rational background to understand how to appropriately use the books. Each
lesson also starts with a helpful explanation of the themes to be covered. Clear transition and
elaborate explanation are provided when lessons delivered with different memorization methods,
namely stories, plots, and elements, are introduced. In each lesson, each character or primitive
element is presented within a consistent frame, which is easy to access and proceed.

As the authors point out in the introduction section, the set of books are aimed to help
learners who only plan to learn how to write and understand the meaning of most frequently used
characters in Chinese texts. To serve this purpose, the approach deployed in the books is
successful. The characters are thoughtfully chosen and logically sequenced throughout the 55
lessons. The transition from providing full associative stories to skeletal outlines to eventually
key words along with primitive meanings is reasonably designed. It aligns with adult language
learners general cognitive development process. Users of the books should be able to follow the
approach easily. The stories created to facilitate memorization are very engaging, reasonable,
and helpful for memorizing the form and meaning of each character. The well-known relevant
western cultural stories are cleverly infused with the primitive meanings of elements in each
character, which helps English-speaking users to build connections. In addition to some
elements original meaning in Chinese, an additional meaning, called primitive meaning in the
books, is also adopted or even created to stimulate vivid imagery association between the
elements and new characters. It is particularly thoughtful that a completely new character or a
primitive element is not introduced until all familiar elements have been learned. The plots
method and the elements method also are contingently helpful for users to use their own
imagination to memorize the meanings and forms of more characters.

Despite the careful organization and thoughtful design, the readership of the books may
be limited by the approach adopted in them. There are three major reasons. First, the pure
mnemonics approach may mislead users long-term memory of characters meanings. This
approach indicates that all characters are formed with one or more meaningful elements.
Following this approach, users may end up intentionally or unintentionally understanding any
new character based on the meanings of elements comprising the character. As a matter of fact,
the majority of modern Chinese characters are formed with a radical part indicating the meaning
and a phonetic part containing some pronunciation cue. In most situations, the phonetic part has
nothing with the meaning of the character. Thus, users following the approach in the books
closely may encounter great difficulty and confusion when exposed to more characters at a more
advanced level. Second, the mnemonics approach may not be as efficient as a traditional
phonetic association approach when users are learning a bigger number of characters formed by
multiple elements. Because of many modern Chinese characters formation style, many
characters can be associated with each other by the similar phonetic parts they share.
Deliberately creating artificial association between the authentic or fabricated meaning of a
phonetic part and a character may demand much more work than just combining the new radical
form and a familiar phonetic part. The third reason is concerned with practical purposes of
learning the writing and meaning of Chinese characters. Different from English words, many
modern Chinese characters are morphemes rather than individual words. In other words, a large
number of Chinese characters may convey totally different meanings when corroborating with
different characters. Learning each single character individually may risk missing the characters
contextual meanings. This doesnt benefit learners when they try to comprehend or compose
modern Chinese texts. Learning each single character without its phrasal context may result in
memorizing Chinese characters for the sake of memorization.

In addition to the approachs inherent limitations, the selection of the key words for some
characters is also questionable. For example, the character on page 181 in Remembering
simplified Hanzi 1, is most commonly used as a measure word to describe frequency. It means
time as in three times or four times. Comparatively, the meaning next is used less
frequently in simplified Chinese texts. This choice may be influenced by the authors traditional
character learning background. But for simplified character learners, this may cause confusion. It
would be more helpful should the authors have provided explanation for how each homonyms
key word is selected.

In all, the set of books are useful resources for users who just launch their Chinese
character learning journey and are only interested in learning the meaning and writing of Chinese
characters. The associative stories made to glue all elements in each character are very appealing
and helpful for remembering the meaning and form. It is no doubt that users following this
approach closely can develop high proficiency in understanding and writing the characters
included in the books as expected by the authors. However, it is doubted whether it is practical
for learners of Chinese to use the methods promoted in the books for advanced-level character
learning. In addition, due to the approachs limitations discussed earlier, the reviewer has
reservations to recommend the books as primary resources to learners of Chinese who have been
learning Chinese characters with pronunciation and those who aim to understand or compose a
text for more practical purposes.