{"id":176590475,"date":"2018-06-04T14:43:24","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T21:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog-new\/?p=176590475"},"modified":"2026-05-13T13:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T20:38:15","slug":"how-to-read-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/how-to-read-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Read Chinese: 5 Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever looked at a block of Chinese text and wanted to throw your hands up in despair, then this article is for you. <\/span>
\nEven though the Chinese pronunciation<\/a> isn\u2019t as bad as you might have heard, and the grammar isn’t as trivial for an English speaker, actually gaining literacy in Chinese is a long, long journey (which is why I think it’s a good idea to start with children stories<\/a> and move your way up).<\/span>
\nToday I\u2019m going to give you a guide that can help you at every stage of this adventure.\u00a0<\/span>Whether you\u2019re just starting out or have already been learning for a couple of years, there\u2019s always room to improve your ability to read Chinese.<\/span><\/p>\n

How to Read Chinese in 5 Steps<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Step 1: Characters and How They\u2019re Made<\/strong>
\nEach character in Standard Chinese has a one-syllable pronunciation. In this article, we\u2019ll be using the Modern Standard Mandarin readings (pronunciations) of the characters. <\/span>
\nHowever, it\u2019s important to know that the characters can be read aloud in any variety of Chinese \u2013 and in fact, many ancient poems only rhyme in non-Mandarin varieties.<\/span>
\nChinese characters are very frequently comprised of many parts. Take a look at something like \u660e [m\u00edng] and you can see that it\u2019s made of two parts.<\/span>
\nOn the left, \u65e5 [r\u00ec], and on the right, \u6708 [y\u00f9e]. <\/span>
\nLet\u2019s take the character \u6708. This character means \u201cmonth.\u201d <\/span>
\nDigging deeper, though, it originally meant \u201cmoon,\u201d which makes sense: lots of languages have a related root between \u201cmonth\u201d and \u201cmoon.\u201d<\/span>
\nThe character \u6708 is also a <\/span>radical.<\/span><\/i> This means that it can and does appear in other characters to provide a hint as to the meaning or pronunciation.<\/span>
\n\u660e, for example, is a combination of a sun and a moon, and the meaning fits perfectly: \u201cbright.\u201d<\/span>
\nCharacters are made of radicals<\/a> and other secondary components that may or may not provide more hints. Since the Chinese writing system has been around for thousands of years and endured hundreds of generations of language change, some of these hints are quite opaque nowadays.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 2: Learning Radicals and High-Frequency Characters<\/strong><\/span>
\nNow that you have an idea how characters are formed, you can build on this foundation by learning the whole set of radicals first. <\/span>
\nThere are officially 214 radicals used in the construction of Chinese characters, and it\u2019s easy to find lists of these online. Many are used very infrequently as stand-alone characters, but you\u2019re not wasting time by learning them.<\/span>
\nBy knowing their pronunciation and base semantic meaning, you\u2019ll soon be able to make an educated guess at the pronunciation and meaning of characters you haven\u2019t seen before. <\/span>
\nFor example, the character\/radical \u706b [hu\u00f3], meaning fire, is frequently used as a semantic component. See if you can find the \u706b radical in the words \u70df [y\u0101n] (a cigarette), \u70e4 [k\u01ceo] (to roast), \u7092 [ch\u01ceo] (to fry).<\/span>
\nAt the same time, you\u2019ll also want to look at some lists of basic and frequently used characters. The Chinese government publishes character lists based on their HSK Chinese language test, which is a perfect place to start.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 3: High-Frequency Words and Collocations<\/strong>
\nYou\u2019ll quickly learn that the overwhelming majority of words in Mandarin are two syllables long. It\u2019s only in more literary or poetic works that you run into a lot of single-syllable words.<\/span>
\nYour next step is to use more vocabulary lists to begin learning the most common words. Of course, you can do this at the same time as step one.<\/span>
\nI recommend learning lots of verbs and nouns first, if you have the choice. The other parts of speech are just as important, but once you memorize 150-200 really common verbs and nouns you should be able to see them popping up everywhere. <\/span>
\nYou need about 3000-5000 characters to be able to <\/span>pronounce<\/span><\/i> pretty much everything you come across. But you shouldn\u2019t just learn from character lists, that would turn anybody off of learning to read Chinese. <\/span>
\nInstead, when you learn a character, check in some online dictionaries to see in which words it commonly appears. <\/span>
\nLet\u2019s take the character \u51fa, which means \u201cto go out.\u201d By itself, it\u2019s not used very much if at all. But there are several words with \u51fa that you\u2019ll run into all the time. <\/span>
\n\u51fa\u95e8 [ch\u016bm\u00e9n] (to exit a building), \u51fa\u53e3 [ch\u016bk\u01d2u] (an exit), \u51fa\u79df\u8f66 [ch\u016bz\u016bch\u0113] (a taxi), and \u51fa\u53d1 [ch\u016bf\u0101] (to set off on a journey), for starters.<\/span>
\n\"Learn<\/a>
\nStep 4: Building Reading Speed with Sentences<\/strong>
\nNext, you\u2019re going to want to get used to Chinese sentence structure by reading a lot of sentences or very short pieces of writing. <\/span>
\nThe short format of sentences keeps you from getting lost in a longer text. It\u2019s a real pain to work through a whole paragraph and then realize that you didn\u2019t understand it because you were missing too much vocabulary.<\/span>
\nThe example sentences in a dictionary, coursebook, or web app are perfect for this. You should make an effort to collect interesting sentences from these and other reading resources, then review them regularly.<\/span>
\nThis will get your brain used to breaking down Chinese sentences into chunks. It takes a long time, no question about it. But the work here pays off.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 5: Read and Re-Read<\/strong>
\nOnce you can break down a sentence into parts and understand most example sentences with the limited use of a dictionary, you\u2019re going to need to do a lot of reading. <\/span>
\nYou can start with the Chinese materials here on LingQ. They\u2019ve been curated to be of high quality, and the additional LingQ tools can help you keep track of known and unknown vocabulary.<\/span>
\nOutside of these materials, you can also look for short news or light entertainment pieces on daily life topics. Things like recipes, fitness, and product reviews are great ways to get exposure to the natural language. <\/span>
\nWhen you\u2019re ready to move on to fiction, I strongly recommend finding Chinese translations of books you know and love. You need to get used to building up your Chinese reading endurance, even if the words are familiar to you. <\/span>
\nTranslations from your native language have the benefit of being <\/span>structured <\/span><\/i>in a way that you\u2019re already used to. Narratively, the book is in your native language already, and you just need to decode the actual text. Chinese writing styles differ pretty heavily from Western norms when it comes to fiction, so it\u2019s best to have a lot of practice before <\/span>
\nBy reading and re-reading a text, you\u2019ll start to build reading speed. Reading speed is one of the most important skills you can have for any standardized exams – plus it\u2019s always better not to have to spend long minutes on every page of text.<\/span>
\nLearning to read Chinese takes sustained effort over a period of years, not months. Think of all the reading you\u2019ve done in your native language – this article alone is more than 1100 words, a daunting figure for most people. But after all that toil comes Chinese literacy.\u00a0<\/span>
\n\"Learn<\/a><\/p>\n

Learn Chinese Faster Using LingQ<\/h2>\n

Immersing yourself in Chinese doesn\u2019t require you to travel abroad or sign up for an expensive language program.
\nHowever, it can be a bit tiresome to find interesting content, go back and forth between sites, use different dictionaries to look up words, and so on.
\nThat\u2019s why there\u2019s LingQ. A language app that helps you discover and learn from content you love.
\nYou can import videos, podcasts<\/a>, and much more and turn them into interactive lessons.
\nKeep all your favorite Chinese content stored in one place, easily look up new words, save vocabulary, and review. Check out our guide to importing<\/a> content into LingQ for more information. Check out LingQ to discover<\/span> how to learn Chinese<\/span><\/a> from content you love!<\/span>
\nLingQ is available for desktop as well as Android<\/a> and iOS<\/a>. Gain access to thousands of hours of audio and transcripts and begin your journey to fluency today.
\n\"Learn<\/p>\n

Alex Thomas has used the Chinese language in some way or another every single day for more than two years. He has no plans to stop.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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