Outlier Linguistics
Are radicals worth learning?
Hey everyone, today I want to share about Outlier Linguistics, a team of linguists dedicated to helping you master Chinese more efficiently. Learning Chinese as a native English speaker presents a unique challenge. Unlike many other foreign languages, the difficulty isn't primarily grammar. Rather, it's the rote memorization of learning thousands of characters. Outlier Linguistics provides resources and tools to boost your memory retention for Chinese characters, making your journey smoother and more enjoyable.
Radicals?
When it comes to learning Chinese characters, most people will recommend starting with radicals. They are often considered the building blocks of Chinese characters, e.g.
氵(三点水) - "three dots" represent characters related to water: 洗、滑、江
艹 (草字头) - "two +'s" represent grass: 花、菜、茶
亻(单人旁) - related to people: 他、们、健
At the start of my Chinese journey, I spent my efforts studying and memorizing the radicals. It was a nice method to help systemize the vast array of characters. However, over time, I slowly became unsatisfied with this approach. Only recognizing the radical in a character does not give me the full picture of the character’s meaning or pronunciation. All I knew was its haphazard association to water, grass, or people.
Outlier Linguistics created their own dictionary with a more comprehensive approach. Rather than focusing on radicals, we should break down the characters into functional components: 1) form, 2) sound, and 3) meaning. Form represents what the character or component pictorially represents. Sound components can be used to guess how the character is pronounced. Meaning components naturally symbolize the definition. Furthermore, the dictionary provides insights into the historical evolution of meanings, offering a deeper understanding of contemporary usage. Check out their blog post to further understand their approach. Here is a sample entry of 草 in their dictionary:
Outlier Linguistics also offers courses covering Chinese history, classical literature, and much more. Currently, I am taking their Intro to Classical / Literary Chinese, and I look forward to sharing my thoughts once completed.
Honest Review
I used their dictionary extensively when I first started learning Mandarin since I was fascinated with how the characters came to be. I loved that it integrates seamlessly with Pleco and provided explanations for both traditional & simplified characters. Understanding functional components proved more beneficial for character recognition than the mere memorization of radicals. These components also recur in other characters, reinforcing memory. However, my usage for their dictionary gradually waned over time. Like radicals, the functional components are helpful in the beginning stages of Chinese learning, but are not worth memorizing. Both should be used for reference only. Ultimately, there are no shortcuts to mastering Chinese characters. It requires diligent character memorization, similar to studying the advanced words for the SAT in English.
Check out my personal tips on how to effectively memorize Chinese characters!
Outlier Linguistics has great products to deepen your understanding of Chinese characters, history, culture, and more. They are also one of the more accessible platforms for English speakers, given that the founders themselves are native English speakers. The dictionary is particularly valuable for those who want to understand the etymology of Chinese characters. With Outlier Linguistics in our toolkit, we should be confident in jumping into the depths of Chinese language and culture.
Looking Ahead
Got any feedback or suggestions?
Is learning how to write Chinese characters worth it?
Passive versus active vocabulary
Best,
Eric