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Thread: How do you use a Chinese character dictionary
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[quote=LEMONCACTUS ,29549]Griz... I admire your dedication!If you are using a pin yin dictionary:To find the character in the dictionary you first need to know the 'radical'. This is a small part of the character, usually (but radicals can contain up to 12 strokes!!) the simplest 'portion' of it.Then you need to work out how many strokes of the pen the 'radical' contains.Once you know this, you can look up the radical in the radical index before the Chinese section of the dictionary.When you find the radical in the radical index there will be a number by the side. Flick through the radical index until you find this number. You will notice all the characters under this section will contain the same radical. They will be listed by number of 'strokes' (eg: how many pen strokes it takes to draw)You must then calculate how many strokes make up the rest of the character (excluding the radical). Or, search through the characters until you find the one that matches. By the side of the character will be the pin yin and/or a page ref for the dictionary. You then can easily look up the word.An example: the last character in your little picture is 俚 (li). My dictionary says this means 'vulgar'. The radical is the small part on the left. It is made of 2 strokes. The rest of the character is made of 7 strokes.Basically, you can forget looking up signs using a dictionary. It's completely pointless and would take you 100 years...May is right, forget online translations, they're essentially useless.Try the following link: http://www.mandarintools.com/ and got to Chinese/English dictionaryYou can put in English words and it will bring up translations in pinyin, characters etc.Much luck :)[/quote]
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