Exploring Chinese Culture -
Chinese Characters
“偏旁部首”英語怎麼說？
漢字何時起源？
共有多少個漢字？
漢字除了中國還有哪些國家用過？
漢字難學嗎？
Is Chinese difficult to learn？
你可能經常聽到這樣的話：
You may often hear people say：
我想學漢語，但是漢字太難了。
I want to learn Chinese， but Chinese characters are too difficult。
不少想學漢語的人在開始學習之前可能都有這樣的想法。
Quite a lot people who want to learn Chinese think this way before taking up Chinese。
實際上，當你瞭解漢字之後會發現漢字並不難學。
In fact， you will find it not so hard to learn after you get to know the Chinese characters。
與拼音文字大不相同，漢字具有它獨特的規律。
Different from alphabetical languages， the Chinese characters have its unique discipline。
漢字最早起源於圖畫，是人們對事物形象的描繪，也就是最初的象形文字。
The Chinese characters， originated from pictures， were people’s depiction of things， or the original hieroglyphical characters。
看到這個字，你會想到什麼？
What will you think of when you see this character “日”？
它是從這個圖案演變而來的，它表示太陽。
The character was evolved from the graphical representation of the sun。
它就像一個圓形，中間有一個點。
It is like a circular form with a dot in the middle。
也許你會問，太陽中間為什麼會有一個點呢？
You may ask why there is a dot in the middle of the Sun。
原來 人們直視太陽的時候，太陽中間強烈的光線，就像一個亮點。
In fact， when people look directly at the Sun， the strong light in the middle of the Sun is like a light spot。
可見，古人有著多麼敏銳的觀察力啊。
It is clear that ancient people had acute observation。
漢字從起源到現在已經有幾千年的歷史了。
Chinese characters have the history of several thousand years。
世界上最早產生的幾種象形文字，例如古埃及的象形文字和印第安人的瑪雅文字，
Humans generated several kinds of hieroglyphical characters，such as the hieroglyphical characters in ancient Egypt and Indians’ Mayan characters，
因為種種原因後來都已經失傳。
were lost later due to a host of reasons。
只有漢字歷經數千年的演變而延續至今。
Only Chinese characters have gone through several thousand years of evolution and remain until now。
這是我們看到的最早的漢字，它們被寫在龜甲以及獸骨上。
These are the earliest Chinese characters we have seen which were written on tortoise shells and beast bones。
字形有大有小 筆道很細。
There are big and small forms of characters with slender strokes。
每個字都像是一幅小孩子的圖畫。
Every character is like a small kid’s drawing。
這個字像不像女子跪坐的樣子？
Does this character look like a woman kneeling？
它表示“女人”的意思。
It indicates the meaning of a “woman”。
實際上，雙膝跪地，兩手交於腰間，正是古代中國婦女的儀態。
In fact， kneeling down the two knees and the two hands crossed on the waist is just the bearing of ancient Chinese women。
它演變到現在是這樣的。
It has evolved into the current form of the character “女”。
“月”字就像夜空中一輪彎彎的月亮；
“月” is like a crescent moon；
“人”字就像一個伸直了手臂彎曲站立的人的樣子；
“人”is like a person who is standing with straight arms；
“手”字就像是一個有著五根手指以及手腕的手掌；
“手” is like a palm with five fingers and a wrist；
“山”字就像是連綿起伏的山峰。
“山” is like rolling peaks。
經過發展之後漢字在象形的基礎上又發展出了其他的造字方法。
After its development， other methods of word-formation were developed based on the hieroglyphical characters。
如果你接觸過一些漢字，就會發現很多漢字都可以拆成不同的部分。
Many Chinese characters can be taken apart into different parts。
並且很多漢字中都有著相同的部分，它們被稱作“偏旁”。
Plus， many Chinese characters share the same parts， which are called components or basic structural parts。
英文中26個字母可以隨意組成一個單詞。
The 26 English letters may be formed into words freely。
漢字雖然沒有字母，但是不同的偏旁也可以組成不同的漢字。
Though Chinese characters have no letters， different structural parts may form different Chinese characters。
這個偏旁是由“手”變化而來的。
This structural part conveys the connotation of a hand。
當你看到帶有這個偏旁的字，你會發現這些字基本上都有與手的動作相關的意思。
When you see characters with this structural part， you may find that these characters are basically related to the motion of hands。
漢字中表示聲音的偏旁約有1300個，表示意思的偏旁約有250個。
Among Chinese characters， there are 1，300 basic structural parts indicating different sounds and 250 indicating different meanings。
這些不同的偏旁可以組成不同的漢字。
These different structural parts may form different characters。
據統計，漢字有80%以上是由這種方法構成的。
According to statistics， over 80% characters are formed in this way。
到底有多少漢字，至今沒有一個確切的統計。
There has no exact statistics on the total number of Chinese characters。
只有從字典中尋找到大概的數字。
Only approximate figures can be found in dictionaries。
二十世紀已出版的《中華字海》中收錄了漢字85000個。
85，000 Chinese characters have been included in Chinese Thesauruses published in the 20th century。
這麼多的漢字可怎麼記得住啊？
How to remember so many Chinese characters？
不要擔心。
Do not worry。
漢字雖然眾多，但是日常使用的漢字，僅僅幾千個而已。
Though there are numerous Chinese characters， there are only several thousand daily-used ones。
據統計，1000個常用漢字能覆蓋約92%的書面材料，2000字可覆蓋98%以上，3000字時已經能夠覆蓋到99% 。
According to statistics， 1，000 commonly-used characters can cover nearly 92% of written documents， 2，000 characters may cover over 98%， 3，000 —— 99%。
你知道嗎？
Do you know？
漢字不僅在中文中使用，日文中也有漢字。
Chinese characters are not only used in China， but also in Japan。
日本國在歷史上很長一段時間內都沒有文字來記錄自己的語言。
No characters were used to record the language for a long period of time in Japanese history。
大約公元四世紀時，漢字透過朝鮮大量傳入日本。
In about the 4th century AD， Chinese characters were introduced into Japan in large quantities through Korea。
日本人最初把漢字作為表示聲音的符號使用。
At first， the Chinese characters were used as symbols to indicate sound。
後來這些漢字逐漸演變成日語的假名。
Later， they gradually became kana。
朝鮮語 越南語之中也同樣有漢字的身影。
There are Chinese characters found in Korean and Vietnamese。
何不嘗試著寫幾個漢字呢？
Why not try to write several Chinese characters？
你會發現其中的樂趣的。
You may find the pleasure。
漢字
Chinese character
偏旁
Radicals， structural parts
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