Do you know how to look up a Chinese character in a dictionary?

[ken88]

I learned about 200-400 Chinese characters.

 

But I do not know how to look up a Chinese character in a Chinese-English dictionary.

 

Do you know how?

[Randy W]

I learned about 200-400 Chinese characters.

 

But I do not know how to look up a Chinese character in a Chinese-English dictionary.

 

Do you know how?

 

 

By radical (characters are formed by different parts), by the pinyin representation, by number of strokes (this one is the easiest for me), or use character recognition software.

 

The dictionary should tell you which methods it supports.

Edited June 20, 2008 by Randy W (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

Depends on dictionary.

 

Traditional dictionaries use Radical and stroke counts.

 

http://www.amazon.com/What-Character-That-...y/dp/0962311359

 

If you know how to pronounce the characters then by pinyin.

 

http://www.amazon.com/East-3000-Chinese-Ch...y/dp/9576125200

 

By genealogy.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Characters-D...h/dp/0966075005

 

Lastly and my favorite is this one: Chinese Character Fast Finder.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Character-Fi...s/dp/0804836345

[jim_julian]

The key is to know what the first stroke is ... ain't easy.

[Randy W]

The key is to know what the first stroke is ... ain't easy.

 

 

It's left to right, top to bottom, but you're right - it's not easy - the order and direction of EACH stroke matters. To draw the ¿Ú character, you draw the left side first (top to bottom), then the top and the right side in one stroke (from upper left to upper right to lower right), and then the botton (left to right). Never draw a stroke going up, or to the left.

[Smitty]

Another difficulty is the difference between the printed form, like would be in the dictionary, and the way you keep writing it with your finger as you try to count the strokes to look for the radical, or just total stroke count.

 

Also some characters are of course combinations of several radicals, and trying to figure out which radical is the one you want.

 

Perhaps it gets easier with time?

[tonado]

http://www.mandarintools.com/chardict.html

[Randy W]

http://www.mandarintools.com/chardict.html

 

This same website has a lot of Chinese language tools

 

 

http://www.mandarintools.com/

 

If you can cut and paste or in some other way enter the character, this same website has another page to look up the meaning of a character. The one I use is

 

http://www.mandarintools.com/worddict.html

Edited June 22, 2008 by Randy W (see edit history)

[david_dawei]

How to use a Chinese Dictionary

 

Chinese Character Dictionary; Radical Lookup

 

Radical Lookup

Edited June 28, 2008 by DavidZixuan (see edit history)

[esun41]

I just ask my wife and if she doesn't know... I ask the kids...

 

Tried to learn and oh my, very difficult as my fellow CFL'ers have attested to!

 

I use babelfish to translate if the wife is not around but that may not be to reliable I have been told.

[griz326]

It gives a whole new meaning to the whine....

 

"How do I look up a word if I don't know how to spell it..."