见
jian4
APPEAR, SEE. It’s actually a picture of an eye with lashes. This was more obvious in the traditional form: 見
现
xian4
NOW, PRESENT, SHOW. Kings 王 like to SHOW off their wealth, PRESENTing it for everyone.
讯
xun4
INVESTIGATE; INTERROGATE; INFORMATION. Another character that contains the “speak”-radical. Apart from that, there’s also a cross, so we could think of the investigation work a coroner has to perform on dead bodies. Perhaps thinking of the Chinese news agency Xinhua will aid you with the pronunciation.
新
xin1
NEW, RECENT. See previous post for 亲, but it also means hazel-tree. So in order to begin something new 新 you have to cut down that nagging tree 亲 with the ax 斤.
到
dao4
ARRIVE. After a long walk (the element in the upper left corner could be a shoe), you finally arrive at your destination 土, you hang your coat (actually, it’s a saber, but not many carry around these nowadays) on the wall.
站
zhan4
STAND, STOP, STATION. It looks like a picture of a train station (the vase-like part could be the building, the element on the left the train), if you allow your imagination to run wild.
问
wen4
ASK, INQUIRE. Someone approaches the door 门 , but stops dead right before it to ask (open his mouth 口) what’s going on inside.
章
zhang1
CHAPTER, PATTER, SYSTEM. When you get 立 up early 早 in the morning, a new day and chapter of your life begins. Dividing a book into chapters creates a kind of patter.
过
guo/guo4
PASS. CELEBRATE. Grammatical indicator of PAST TENSE. The 辶 walk-radical and an inch 寸。 You have a reason to celebrate if a bullet misses you (flies past you) by hair’s breadth.
的
de, di4
POSSESSIVE INDICATOR. AIM. Grammatical function: 我的妈妈 = my mother， 父母的车 = the parents‘ car Most people strive for wealth, so it’s their lifelong goal. Those who already have achieved it were often born with a silver (or in this case, shiny white 白 [bai2]) spoon 勺 (shao2) in their mouths.
在
zai4
AT,IN, PLACED, EXIST. The place 土 you stay AT is a hostel, so you’re 亻 lucky to have a cheap roof 冖 above your head. 冖
果
guo3
FRUIT. Fields 田(tian2) and trees 木 (mu4) bring forth fruit.
说
shuo1
SPEAK, SAY. The radical at the side 讠(yan2,words) hints at the meaning, the part at the right looks like a person, perhaps raising her eyebrows in excitement, with legs 儿 and a huge mouth 口.
知
zhi1
KNOW, AWARE. 矢 means “vow”, so when you take an oath (“speak” 口), you should be aware of the implications.
时
shi2
TIME. Consists of 日 day (ri4) and a small measuring unit 寸 (cun4). A day is just a small fraction of time, after all.
如
ru2
IF, AS IF. Women 女 tend to be less decisive in their statements 口.
有
you3
HAVE. If you have something, you needn’t promise the moon 月.
能
neng2
CAN, BE ABLE TO. It symbolizes a bear with claws 匕匕, a head and meat 月 in his mouth (the moon radical coincides with the meat-radical:月 Meat itself is represented by the hanzi肉 ). See this ancient form of the character:
对
dui4
CORRECT. TOWARDS. It’s as though someone tried to write the left part twice but used an old brush so one of the lines is interrupted, so the reproduction was inCORRECT.
工
gong1
WORK, PROFESSION; CRAFT; WORKER. There are several ways to memorise this character: 1. It resembles the Roman numeral for 1. To most people, work has the highest priority, demanding most of their time. 2. Still going with the “1″ interpretation, let me quote Marx: “Workers of the world, unite”, become ‘one’. 3. It could represent the two levels in labour hierarchy, the employers and the employees.
左
zuo3
LEFT. Left-wing parties are traditionally workers’ parties, so the 工 (see above) provides a good mnemonic.
右
you4
RIGHT. One should only speak 口 (kou3, mouth) right and proper things.
I’m really tired now, I will publish the rest of mnemonics tomorrow. Do not hesitate to leave a comment or send a mail, I would really love to hear from you, whether it’s a question, some info about how your Chinese learning getting on, or just saying hello.
And, very important: I know I make countless mistakes concerning English grammar or word usage, partly because I don’t really watch what I’m writing, partly because I’m not aware of it. Please correct any big mistakes that you find. I need to constantly improve.
