This lesson was written before, by during the uploading, it was gone somewhere in the wilderness. I have to rewrite it again.
I am very impressed by Albert's way of learning Chinese using computers as we are in the computer era. Chinese characters are ideograms which are depicted the things by using linear lines. Most Chinese characters are built using limited component parts and can be grouped into related words using the same component. Chinese children learn Chinese characters through a tedious process of recognising and writing by imitation. They often make mistakes by putting in the wrong components or some even reverse the components by putting in a mirror image. To learn Chinese efficiently, we should start with the components. Albert has mentioned about the sun, moon and the five elements, and Changjie input method. However, it is hard to remember the keys and their corresponding representations. Thanks to Mr. Peter Kwun Wing WONG of Marymount Secondary School in Hong Kong who invented a system to help his students to master the Changjie input method by associating the keys and the meanings. After learning this leasson, you should be able to remember the keys from A to G which were referred as the natural phenomena by Chu Bongfoo.
Key A represents the Chinese character and also a component 日. To remember this association, Peter used the method which are employed in typing lessons. He put the association as:
A for Apollo which is the god of the sun. So A for Apollo 日.
B for Banana which has the shape of the new moon 月.
C for Coin which is made of gold of metal 金.
D for Door which is made of wood 木.
E for Ebb which is the low tide, so it is related to water 水.
F for Fire which is easy 火.
G for Ground which is the Earth 土.
With the witty way by Peter, you now know the associations of the first seven keys. You can now do some blind-touch typing and learn some new words.
One 日 is the sun. Two 日 together is prosperity 昌. Three 日 together is crystal bright 晶. A 日 and a 月 together means both the sun and the moon, so it is very bright 明.
So by typing one A and a space, you get the sun. By typing two As and a space, you get prosperity. By typing three As and a space, you get crystal. By typing A and then B and a space, you get bright.
One 月 is the moon. Two 月 is friend who spent nights with you 朋. So typing two Bs and a space gives you friend.
There is not much on 金 which has simple combinations with the first seven components.
One 木 is a piece of wood. Two 木 means many trees. So it is a grove or small wood 林. Three 木 means a lot of trees. so it is a big forest 森. If the tree is very tall and large on top of the sun, it blocks the light and therefore cannot see anything 杳. If you put the woods on fire, you burn them 焚. A wood on the ground is the surname of a clan of Chinese people 杜. Here the Chinese uses the sound of one component to mean other things. The sound of ground 土 is used for the sound of the surname.
One 水 is water. Water and gold is 淦 which is the name of a river in China. Water and wood is 沐 which means bathing. Again, the sound of wood is borrowed for bathing. Wood and bath have the same sound. Water and two wood is 淋 which means pouring water over something.
One 火 is fire. Two 火 describes the burning hotness 炎. It is often used to describe hot weather. Fire and earth form the Chinese stove 灶 where the wok is to be put above it and fire inside below the wok.
One 土 is earth or ground. Two 土 is 圭 which is a piece of jade in the form of a sword used by the emperor to signify his standing. When used with 日 as in 日圭 means sun dial.
Now you have learn the associations:
A for Apollo the god of sun
B for Banana the shape of a new moon
C for Coin which is made of gold or metal
D for Door which is made of wood
E for Ebb which is water
F for Fire
G for Ground.
You have also learned that Many Chinese characters are formed by combining the components. Sun, moon, gold, wood, water, fire and earth are some of these components. Some Chinese words borrow the sound of some of these components. by making combinations, you have learned the following words:
日, 昌, 晶, 明, 朋, 金, 木, 林, 森, 杳, 焚, 杜, 水, 淦, 沐, 淋, 火, 炎, 灶, 土 and 圭.
I hope you enjoy this lesson and have learned as intended.
Cheers!
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