What Character Is That?: An Easy-access Dictionary of 5,000 Chinese Characters (Chinese and English Edition) [Paperback]

Ping-gam Go (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2002

Ping-gam Go creates a dictionary ideal for the western student. This dictionary has been referred to as the Chinese Rosetta Stone . A must for every Chinese language student, it is the only dictionary where characters are looked up using the English word of the root (named the radical ), of a character instead of the number of strokes or the pronunciation of the character. Learning a mere 43 of the most common radicals will unlock 4,000 of the 5,000 characters in this dictionary. This dictionary teaches how to identify the radical and also provides the etymology to help with memorization. Practice exercises teach how to locate and identify the most common radicals appearing in characters found on a walk through Chinatown or on a Chinese menu.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Too bad that this book cannot be rated to TEN stars. This book definitely proves that the concept of learning over 5,000 Chinese characters is in fact POSSIBLE. For anyone who thinks that learning all of those characters is impossible, BUY THIS BOOK. This book shows all of the necessary radicals, or "roots" of those characters-thoroughly, which is fundamental to learning Chinese characters. In addition to the radicals, each character is given it's pinjin pronounciation WITH it's definition. I am talking about over 5,000 characters here! Note that a Modern Chinese/English dictionary is also useful in learning to read Chinese text. Yet, if you want to learn how to read the fundamental 5,000+ Chinese characters, then this book is a good way to start. --na1mixer, Spring City, USA, amazon.com

This book is an excellent, step by step approach to the world of deciphering unknown Chinese characters. The best thing about this reference tool is that ANYONE can read its very understandable explanations and begin to search the meanings of Chinese characters. While this is not a dictionary in the traditional sense of the word, this "dictionary" is designed for the non-Native speaker and therefore alphabetizes Chinese radicals by their English names/meanings. To anyone familiar with Chinese Radicals, they are a fundamental part of learning the language and being able to become an independent learner/reader. This is an AWESOME first step resource in learning the concept, use and functionality of RADICALS. Once comfortable with the use of this "dictionary", one can confidently graduate into the labyrinth that is a real Chinese dictionary, as there are different modes of organizing dictionaries and often one finds one needs several varieties of dictionaries. Well worry not as this tool has the potential of exposing one to 5,000 characters. What I especially like about this resource is the following: (1) It starts very slowly and proceeds step by step; (2) It has some easy to follow, confidence building quizzes at the beginning; (3) Its characters are in semi-large print that makes duplication easy to do; (4) It has **BOTH** Traditional & Simplified characters; (5) It also has multiple reference charts that makes finding characters quick and easy. This book is such a must to any beginning or intermediate level student. I should know as I teach Chinese in a middle school and I found this book so useful that I ordered 2 class sets for my students. I had six graders busily looking up unknown characters after a couple days practice. Now, instead of continuously asking me what a character means, they grab one of the "dictionaries" and look up the character themselves. You have no idea what a difference in their confidence levels this has made!!!! Trust me folks--save yourself alot of time and hassels, if you are at the beginning to intermediate level, this book is the ultimate primer for radicals and accessing unknown characters! --Fernando Marra Lopez, Bethesda, MD, amazon.com

This dictionary is a "must" for all Americans who want to easily learn to read ,write and speak Chinese. To tour and work in mainland China, I needed a dictionary which would allow me, a non-native speaker, to read Chinese characters on maps, street signs, menus etc. I found all other "Chinese to English" dictionaries at bookstores in the USA totally useless to me. Why? They were organized phonetically by Chinese words in alphabetical order. This meant I had to already know Chinese to find out what the character meant! I was a Yale language major many years ago, joined the Foreign Service and taught English in Brazil. Several years ago, at age 64, I returned to my earlier profession and taught English in southern China. With the help of this extraordinary book, I was able to read and write letters in Chinese characters. It also helped me learn to speak Chinese at the basic level in both Mandarin and Cantonese dialects. I am now 66 years old and continue to learn. Recently I happily married a Chinese woman from Beijing who is only 50 years old. Without Mr.Go's books, I doubt that my new, great happiness in life would be possible. --Walter C. Sterling, Jr, Hillsboro, NH, amazon.com

About the Author

Ping-gam Go, who descended from the Fukien province in China, was born in Java, Indonesia. He traveled abroad for his education, earning degrees in physics and mathematics from the University of Amsterdam and post-graduate degrees in geology from Imperial College of Science & Technology in London and Leyden University in Holland. Ping-gam Go worked for Elsevier Publishing Company in Amsterdam as a science editor on the English translations of all Nobel Prize lectures. The Nobel Foundation in Sweden recognized him for his work as editor and for his contributions to these translations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Simplex Publications; 2nd edition (May 1, 2002)
• Language: Chinese, English
• ISBN-10: 0962311359
• ISBN-13: 978-0962311352
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #735,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fair introduction to characters, but not great, December 11, 2000

By 

Leo Dirac (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: What Character Is That?: An Easy-access Dictionary of 5,000 Chinese Characters (Chinese and English Edition) (Paperback)

This book tries to teach written chinese and provide a small reference dictionary. To an extent, it succeeds at both of these goals. But in my experience, it's not the best work out there to reach these goals.

Using a real chinese dictionary is not obvious to a beginning student. Think about it -- you can't exactly alphabetize chinese characters. This dictionary is actually no easier to use than a real dictionary, but it does offer explicit instructions on the organization, written for somebody who doesn't know chinese well. (I've seen dictionaries that only offer instructions in Chinese.)

It has a useful list of radicals (character building blocks), which is almost enough to justify the book. The dictionary is ordered by the english name of the radical. This is limitting and non-standard, and requires you have to remember this book's names of the radicals (e.g. is that filed under D for door or G for gate?)

That's about all the nice things I can say about this book. The non-dictionary part is poorly organized to the point that it's not clear what each page is supposed to be saying. Really poor typesetting compounds the problem. The dictionary is very small and incomplete. I can't imagine the memorization drills it offers helping anybody.

For somebody just starting to learn written chinese, I highly recommend _I Can Read That!_ (Sussman) instead to introduce basic concepts of written chinese. After that, a small book on radicals, a general language book that includes written chinese, or even a real dictionary should be accessible.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must read" prior to seeking a good chinese dictionary., June 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: What Character Is That?: An Easy-access Dictionary of 5,000 Chinese Characters (Chinese and English Edition) (Paperback)

In my stuggles with the Chinese I have encountered many dictionaries and text books. This is probably the best comprehensive introduction to Chinese that I've seen. If you're going to China, taking Chinese classes or if you just want to read a Chinese menu, this probably will not be the last or most comprehensive book that you will want but it is the very first book that you must get! Reading it will make all future encounters with Chinese significantly demystified and much more user-friendly. Best of all, you will learn to navigate through a Chinese to English dictionary with ease. Buy it, and enjoy!

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A definite MUST HAVE for learning about written Chinese!, April 24, 2000

By 

mixer "na1mixer" (Spring City, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Character Is That?: An Easy-access Dictionary of 5,000 Chinese Characters (Chinese and English Edition) (Paperback)

Too bad that this book cannot be rated to TEN stars. This book definitely proves that the concept of learning over 5,000 Chinese characters is in fact POSSIBLE. For anyone who thinks that learning all of those characters is impossible, BUY THIS BOOK. This book shows all of the necessary radicals, or "roots" of those characters-thoroughly, which is fundamental to learning Chinese characters. In addition to the radicals, each character is given it's pinjin pronounciation WITH it's definition. I am talking about over 5,000 characters here! Note that a Modern Chinese/English dictionary is also useful in learning to read Chinese text. Yet, if you want to learn how to read the fundamental 5,000+ Chinese characters, then this book is a good way to start.