If Chinese characters can talk……

[Dandy Jiang]

If Chinese characters can talk……

 

When learning Chinese, you must have found that there're many characters look almost the same. For instance, 手and毛，太and大，木and本. Imagine if characters can talk, what will they say to their twin brothers？

 

日says to曰:
"You are too fat! It's time to lose weight!"

 

 

乒says to乓:
"Am I looking myself in a mirror?"

 

 

子says to好:
"Who is the woman next to you?"

 

 

丙says to两:
"Why are there two people in your house? Are you married?"

 

 

完says to元:
"It's too cold today! Why aren't you wearing a hat?"

 

 

川says to三:
"Stop lying in bed! Time to get up!"

 

 

兵says to丘:
"Oh my god! Where are your legs?"

 

 

寸says to过:
"What a cool scooter! I "
 

 

大says to爽:
"There are four questions altogether. You slipped up on every one！"

[萨米]

These are good!

I just learned about the twin of 天：夭。And 干 and 千 are also.

And the pair that always gets me confused are 船 and 般.

[Tomsima]

also 坏/环

 

aka 'why you should learn traditional characters, not just simplified'

[Dandy Jiang]

4 hours ago, 萨米 said:

 

These are good!

I just learned about the twin of 天：夭。And 干 and 千 are also.

And the pair that always gets me confused are 船 and 般.

 

 

And 人-入

 

If you are confused by 船&般，this explanation may help you memorize although I don't believe in it.

 

[Dandy Jiang]

3 hours ago, Tomsima said:

 

also 坏/环

 

aka 'why you should learn traditional characters, not just simplified'

 

 

I agree. Sometimes traditional characters convey meanings better.

[Publius]

Not just meanings.

When I was learning Cantonese, I thought 极 must be 'kap'. Because, after all, 及、级、吸 all read 'kap', right?

But no, it's 'gik'. Then it occurred to me that the traditional form is 極.

Switched to traditional. Never looked back.

[萨米]

Dandy Jiang, wow, that is one great explanation for the ship! I will remember this thing for my whole life now 

[Dandy Jiang]

1 hour ago, Publius said:

 

不只是意义

当我学粤语时，我认为极地必须是'kap'。因为，毕竟，及，级，吸所有读“kap”，对吧？

但不，这是'gik'。那我觉得传统形式是极端的。

切换到传统。从来没有回头

 

 

Just like 後and后，云and雲，many Chinese still make mistakes.

[Hofmann]

I don't think you really understood Publius there. He(?)'s saying the phonetic component in 极 /kɪk˨/ doesn't make sense in Cantonese, because 及 is /kɐp˨/, and characters that contain it as a phonetic component, like 級 /kʰɐp˥/, usually retain the /p/ final plosive. 極 makes more sense because the phonetic component is 亟 /kɪk˥/.

 

Your examples are a different sort. 后 and 後 were homophones in Old Chinese, and 后 was rebused for 後 early on. 云 originally meant "cloud," and 雨 was added later to differentiate this meaning from "say" after it was borrowed to mean "say."

[Dandy Jiang]

6 hours ago, Hofmann said:

 

I don't think you really understood Publius there. He(?)'s saying the phonetic component in 极 /kɪk˨/ doesn't make sense in Cantonese, because 及 is /kɐp˨/, and characters that contain it as a phonetic component, like 級 /kʰɐp˥/, usually retain the /p/ final plosive. 極 makes more sense because the phonetic component is 亟 /kɪk˥/.

 

Your examples are a different sort. 后 and 後 were homophones in Old Chinese, and 后 was rebused for 後 early on. 云 originally meant "cloud," and 雨 was added later to differentiate this meaning from "say" after it was borrowed to mean "say."

 

Thanks for your explanation, I understand now.

[NinKenDo]

These are great! But i do wish the story's reflected the character's meaning more. Still, very memorable and entertaining.

[Dandy Jiang]

21 minutes ago, NinKenDo said:

 

These are great! But i do wish the story's reflected the character's meaning more. Still, very memorable and entertaining.

 

 

Thank you for your suggestion.

 

I'm a little lazy, I guess. When I transferred the article, I omitted the meaning part. 

 

You can click →Here's a complete version with every character's meaning in it.