Easy Characters to Mix Up

Easy Characters to Mix Up Posted by Transparent Language on Jun 1, 2010 in Vocabulary

Every time you learn a new character, you may feel like you’ve met a new person or a new friend. At the same time, just like meeting real people, make sure you don’t mistake your new friend for any lookalikes! Below are some characters which I’ve found easy to mix up.

部 (bu4 – department) 陪 (pei2- accompany)
接 (jie1 – receive/catch) 按 (an4 – according/to press)
楼 (lou2 – building) 数 (shu4 – number)
城 (cheng2 – city) 域 (yu4 – region)
宫 (gong1 – palace) 官 (guan1 – official)
己 (ji3 – self) 已 (yi3 – already)
吉 (ji2 – auspicious) 古 (gu3 – ancient)
旮旯儿 (ga3la2r – corner) isn’t one that I mix up, but it’s a fun example of the beauty and fun of Chinese characters.

There are also some compounds which are easy for me to mix up with each other, one example being 江西 (jiang1xi1 – Jiangxi province) and 红酒 (hong2jiu3 – red wine). Readers, feel free to share your favorite lookalike characters in the comments!

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Ling Xiao:

As native speakers we are probably not aware how often we use idioms and idiomati expressions. But most textbooks don’t systematiclly introduce these to students, expecially students at lower levels. But idioms like 一五一十，十有八九， are so easy for beginners and it could be so much fun to learn and it’s very meaningful. We not only introduce the concept of the unique Chinese “four-character idioms” (chengyu) to kids, but also they learn something that native speakers use all the time. That would help their Chinese become more native-like when they become more advanced. Learning idioms is really 冰冻三尺，非一日之寒 (Rome is not buidt in a day). So we really need them to start from the beginning level.

Ling Xiao, Ph. D.
Chinese Teacher
Lincoln High School
Tallahassee, Florida

Learning website: http://www.idiomaticchinese.webs.com
Course website: http://www2.lincoln.leon.k12.fl.us/xiaol/default.aspx