How many characters per syllable?

If you include tones, I think there are about 1500 unique syllables. I expect to eventually learn about 3000 characters. For the 3000 most common characters, are there approximately 2 characters per syllable then? Are there some syllables that have dozens of characters? I'm just trying to get a feel for this. I've heard folks talking about drilling from pronunciation to character, and I would like to figure out how effective it is.

browse around at an online dictionary where you can lookup by pinyin, eg.

http://zhongwen.com/s/ziyin.htm

click on a pinyin syllable and you can see how many characters correspond to

each, broken down by tones.

I've heard folks talking about drilling from pronunciation to character

what does that mean?

The distribution of meanings to distinct syllables is actually very uneven. Some combinations don't even have meanings: weng3, gei1, etc. On the other hand, a syllable like bang4 has more meanings than you can shake a stick at. Like any language, the phonology is not evenly distributed.

Shì is another syllable that comes to mind that has many different characters. My Xiāndài Hànyǔ Cídiǎn lists over 40 characters for this syllable.

Shì is another syllable that comes to mind that has many different characters. My Xiāndài Hànyǔ Cídiǎn lists over 40 characters for this syllable.

I have one dictionary which lists over 90.

browse around at an online dictionary where you can lookup by pinyin, eg.

http://zhongwen.com/s/ziyin.htm

click on a pinyin syllable and you can see how many characters correspond to

each, broken down by tones.

I would but I don't think I can find a dictionary with only 3000 characters.

I've heard folks talking about drilling from pronunciation to character

I mean drilling with flashcards. On one side is the pronunciation, on the other is the character. If there's only 1 or 2 characters per pronunciation, maybe this is ok. But if there are 40, it's probably too hard. Did you guys study vocabulary this way?

I mean drilling with flashcards. On one side is the pronunciation, on the other is the character. If there's only 1 or 2 characters per pronunciation, maybe this is ok. But if there are 40, it's probably too hard. Did you guys study vocabulary this way?

PlecoDict's flashcards can be set up to show you the pinyin and English definition(s) and quiz you on the Chinese.

from my chart, there are 395 sounds. assuming they all can take four tones, you have

1580 unique sounds or syllables. characters represent one sound or syllable, with

most words composed of two syllables or characters. i've read that there are somewhere

around 50,000 characters, including ones no longer used, so with an even distribution there

should be over 30 characters for each unique sound, or over 125 if you ignore tones.

that's assuming an even distribution.

doesn't seem to make much sense to drill from pronunciation. for the present, i make

cards with english on one side, and the character on the other, with pinyin in small

print in the corner below the character.

the drawback to this is how to organize characters with more than one pinyin spelling.

i've also read that in total, "shi" with all the tones is the pinyin for hundreds of characters.

(isn't there a short story out somewhere written only with "shi?" the text without tones

goes something like "shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi

shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi shi.........")

The story you mention is possibly this one:

施氏食狮史

石室诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮。施氏时时适市视狮。十时，适十狮适市。是时，适施氏适市。施氏视是十狮，恃矢势，使是十狮逝世。施氏拾是十狮尸，适石室。石室湿，施氏使侍拭石室。石室拭，施氏始试食是十狮尸。食时，始识是十狮尸，实十石狮尸。试释是事。

The wikipedia article for this one actually has a recording of it. Presumably, the reader is a native speaker, and he still has trouble reciting it. This is not a narrative for the faint of heart.

Topolect??!!!!!!

What percentage of the population is such an article addressing in assuming they would know what a topolect is.