Learning Chinese characters feels like trying to memorise a thousand tiny abstract paintings. It’s easy to fall into traps that make the process way harder than it needs to be. Here’s how to avoid the most common screw-ups.
1. Ignoring Stroke Order
Yeah, yeah, you think you can just scribble the lines in any order. Then you try writing 快 (kuài, ‘fast’) and it looks like a toddler’s doodle. Stroke order exists for a reason - it makes characters look balanced and helps with muscle memory.
2. Treating Characters as Random Squiggles
Characters aren’t just arbitrary lines - they’re built from radicals and components. For example, 妈 (mā, ‘mum’) has 女 (nǚ, ‘woman’) on the left, which hints at meaning, and 马 (mǎ, ‘horse’) on the right, which hints at pronunciation (sort of).
Radical
If you’re not breaking characters down, you’re making life harder. Check out our guide on association techniques for Chinese vocabulary for more on this.
3. Relying Only on Pinyin
Pinyin is great for pronunciation, but if you’re not learning characters alongside it, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Ever seen a Chinese menu with just pinyin? Exactly. It’s useless without characters.
- Pinyin doesn’t distinguish homophones (e.g., 是 shì ‘to be’ vs. 事 shì ‘matter’).
- Reading fluency requires recognising characters instantly - pinyin won’t get you there.
4. Cramming Instead of Spaced Repetition
Binge-learning 50 characters in one sitting and then forgetting them all by morning? Classic mistake. Use spaced repetition tools like Anki or other memory hacks to reinforce characters over time.
5. Skipping Handwriting Practice
If you’re only typing, you’re missing out. Writing by hand forces you to engage with the structure of characters, making them stick better. Even if you’ll mostly type, handwriting helps recognition.
6. Not Learning in Context
Memorising characters in isolation is like learning English by staring at a dictionary. Read simple texts, watch shows with subtitles, or use apps that teach characters in sentences. For example, Chinese anime lingo can be a fun way to pick up practical vocabulary.
7. Giving Up on Similar-Looking Characters
Characters like 未 (wèi, ‘not yet’) and 末 (mò, ‘end’) look nearly identical, but tiny differences matter. Slow down and pay attention to stroke length and direction.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 未 | wèi | not yet |
| 末 | mò | end |
8. Not Reviewing Old Characters
That character you learned last month? Yeah, it’s gone if you don’t review it. Schedule regular refreshers - even just a few minutes a day - to keep characters active in your memory.
Chinese characters are tough, but they’re not impossible. Avoid these pitfalls, and you’ll save yourself a lot of frustration. Now go practise 爱 (ài, ‘love’) until it doesn’t look like a spider anymore.
