Remembering traditional Hanzi

What Hacker News says

1. vunderbaOct 2024
   I commend the author's discipline - this is a pretty standard approach.

   TLDR

   - Move as many things as possible in regular life to the target language (software, tv shows, reading, etc) to maintain the language

   - There is no substitute for full immersion if you have the opportunity. I learned traditional Chinese in Taiwan while I was an ESL teacher.

   - The power of SRS (spaced repetition system) cannot be overstated

   I will add my own bit to it. If you like mnemonic systems, Heisig wrote a very good book called "Remembering Traditional Hanzi" where the idea is to use the radicals in the character to construct a visual image to aid in recall. I highly recommend it.

   https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/remembering-traditional-han...

   Show morethread
2. ramchipJul 2010
   I'm not so sure about the Chinese-style beating. At least use a structured approach; Chinese characters aren't random strokes, they have rules and history, and learning it can help your memory a lot (especially if you're like me - I just can't memorize something I don't "understand"). The Japanese version of this book is quite well-known and I found it helpful: http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Traditional-Hanzi-Meaning-... (this is the trad. Chinese version)
   Show morethread
3. godelskiApr 2023
   > I studied Chinese for a year on Duolingo and now I can barely recognize a few characters

   That is a terrible learning outcome. I guarentee you that if you spent the same time with Remembering {Traditional,Simplified} Hanzi [0,1] you would be able to read more than a handful of characters. You'd also have intuition for novel (zero-shot) characters.

   But I do agree you should practice writing, though -- as I argued in another comment -- I think the finger tracing is more about learning character shape rather than focused on teaching to write. That part is even important for reading. Though I do think Scritter, which uses fingers, will result in decent writing skills.

   [0] https://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Traditional-Hanzi-Meaning...

   [1] https://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Simplified-Hanzi-Meaning-...

   Show morethread
4. w1ntermuteAug 2010
   Remembering the Kanji I: http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kanji-Complete-Japanese-Ch...

   Remembering Traditional Hanzi: Book 1: http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Traditional-Hanzi-Meaning-...

   Remembering Simplified Hanzi: Book 1: http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Simplified-Hanzi-Meaning-C...

   Take your pick.

   thread