Decoding Chinese

The Chinese Character Flashcard app is specifically built around the idea that rapid repetition is the best way to memorize Chinese characters. There are no distracting images and no multiple-choice answers to slow you down. Just you and your brain powering through the myriad of characters which will begin to stick very, very quickly! Tap along at your own pace to reveal a single character, tap again to reveal the pinyin and meaning.

• Allows for rapid consumption of character, pinyin, meaning, and tone

• Color coded tones maximize recall ability

• Tone colors can be turned off to test your tone recollection abilities

• You set the desired range of study, practice 10, 50, or any range of characters you desire

• Study characters in order recommended for the HSK test

• Massive library including characters beyond those required for HSK 6

In Chinese, there are four pieces of information that accompany each character. First, recognition of the character itself, then the pinyin, tone, and definition. There are 5 tones, or rather, 4 tones and a neutral tone. Very often, new students will be able to remember the pinyin and definition but have trouble recalling the exact tone. This attempts to cure that dilemma by color coding the tones, in this way, when a character is recognized hopefully the color will as well. The brain is perhaps better at recognizing and codifying colors than the idea of an abstract tone.

Recommended study habits: select a range from 50 to 70 characters and begin memorizing them with the tone colors on and in sequential order. This may be difficult at first but after rapid repetition your brain will start recognizing them. You should also notice certain parts of characters will be found on other characters and in many cases this will give a clue as to the pronunciation. You will begin learning faster as your brain begins to recognize patterns in the language. After becoming comfortable with the range start marking them as “easy” or “medium”, or “hard” (they should all already be marked hard the first time around). Then turn on random mode and that should help you finish memorizing the characters that were giving you problems. Once you have a really good grasp on the range try turning off the tone colors and see how well you can also recall the tones. Having successfully mastered a range, move on to the next one. I feel it is important to add that even though you may be able to recall a given range very well it is still beneficial to study it periodically as repetition will strengthen your recollection.

This method has been tested and proven to be very effective when it comes to memorizing characters. Enjoy and good luck on your journey to learn Chinese!