FDTL 46/99

Chinese language skills for Britain: Disseminating Best Practice

Reading Tips - Reading Week 6

Character recognition

 

Radicals and components

 

Radical index Radical Name of radical Position in character Examples

15

匚

Basket / 左边筐

Left

区,医,匡

33

阝

Plenty / 左耳刀旁

Left

阳,院,队,险,防,阴

94

木 mù

Wood /木字(旁,头,底)

Left

木,本,来,村,相

136

石 shí

Stone /石字(旁,底)

Left, base

石,砂,矿,破,碟

159

米 mǐ

Rice / 米字旁

Left

米,料,糊

126

立 lì

To stand /立字

Left, base, top

站,亲,产,竖

128

穴 xuè   

Cave  /穴字头   

Top

穴,穿,空,窗

27

刀 dāo

Knife /刀字

Base, top, right

刀,色,象,切

129

补  

Clothes / 衣字旁

Left

袄,补,衬,衫

      

Which should come first, a person’s title or his/her name? (6)

 A person’s ‘short’ title is placed after the surname or full name:

王

总统

President Wang or

王铁生

总统

President Wang Tiesheng;

王

部长

Minister Wang.

However, a ‘full’ title, or official position, is placed before a name:

国务院副总理兼外交部部长

王铁生

Wang Tiesheng,  the Vice-Premier of the State Council, (who is also)  the Foreign Minister…

A full title is often indicated at the beginning of a newspaper article. As is demonstrated above, it begins with the higher ‘unit’, which is 国务院 the State Council and is followed by the title in that unit, which is 副总理 Vice-Premier. It is then followed by the ‘sub’ unit, which is 外交部 the Foreign Office, and then by the title from that unit, here 部长 the minister. Finally you find the name of the person, which is 王铁生. We can see many similar examples of this “telephoto lens” effect. For instance, you write a Chinese address on an envelope in the following order: country, county, city, street, number and receiver’s name.

Can you think of any other similar examples?

Sometimes a person’s full title can be as long as a few lines. In order to find a person’s name you must look for the words after titles such as长 head, 主任 director, 总理 premier, 总统 president, or员 member.

 

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