Chinsym indexing systems for Chinese characters
Making Chinese characters easy to lookup and easier to learn
One of the biggest challenges with learning to read Chinese characters is looking them up. Yes, you can use your smart phone camera to instantly lookup and/or translate Chinese characters, but if you want to learn to read Chinese characters, in your own way (i.e. not by following a course syllabus) it helps to have a means of looking up Chinese characters (whether simplified or traditional) that is easy.
For shape sorted as well as phonetically sorted indexes of Characters according to the 6 HSK levels, check out the links below:
HSK 1, HSK 2, HSK 3
HSK 4, HSK 5, HSK 6
Shape based indexing systems
One way to make Chinese character indexes easier to use is to make them shape based. In addition it can help if the indexes are consistant in which part of the character the shape is taken from. With initial indexes in the Chinsym system, characters are indexed (and grouped) according to their initial element. This is the left-most, top-most, or outer-most part of the character.
The E1 or Initial Element index for Traditional Chinese characters
The initial index for Traditional Chinese characters is the e1 ("e" is for "Easy" as in "Easy to look up") index.
This index has 12 basic shapes at the top level and for each shape, up to 16 sub-shapes.
The S1 or Initial Element index for Simplified Chinese characters
The initial index for Simplified Chinese characters is the s1 ("S" is for "simplified") index.
This index has 12 basic shapes at the top level and for each shape, up to 16 sub-shapes.
The E3 or Final Element index for Traditional Chinese characters
The final index for Traditional Chinese characters is the e3 index.
This index has 12 basic shapes at the top level. The number of sub-shapes varies.
The S3 or Final Element index for Simplified Chinese characters
The final index for Simplified Chinese characters is the s3 index.
This index has 12 basic shapes at the top level. The number of sub-shapes varies.
The C1 or Initial Element Cangjie index for Traditional Chinese characters
The initial element cangjie input code based index for Traditional characters is the C1 index.
It indexes and groups characters according to their cangjie input codes and sub sorts them based on the the shape of their initial elements.
Cangjie input codes are based on 24 basic symbols, each of which is associated with 24 letters of the alphabet. And so for this index, there are 24 basic shapes, each with various numbers of sub-shapes.
The C1S or Initial Element Cangjie index for Simplified Chinese characters
The initial element cangjie input code based index for Simplified characters is the C1S index.
It indexes and groups characters according to their cangjie input codes and sub sorts them based on the the shape of their initial elements.
Cangjie input codes are based on 24 basic symbols, each of which is associated with 24 letters of the alphabet. And so for this index, there are 24 basic shapes, each with various numbers of sub-shapes.
The Radical index for Traditional Chinese characters
The radical index for Traditional Chinese characters is a departure from the usual radical indexing method. First of all, radicals are sorted by shape. Second of all, within each radical grouping, characters are sorted by radical placement and shape.
While not an "ideal" lookup system, it offers the advantage that characters with the same radical can have related meanings.
Making Chinese characters, and words, easier to learn
Making Chinese characters easy to lookup is only a starting point to making Chinese characters easier to learn. The indexes themselves don't just serve as a way of looking up characters, but they also serve as a way of seeing characters in different contexts.
In one index you can see characters with the same initial element. In another, characters with the same final element.
When it comes to word lists for each character, rather than limiting words associated with a character only to words that begin with that character, instead, you can see any word that contains the targeted character.
As with the different indexes, seeing the same character in different positions in different words and phrase can make it easier to learn the meaning of a character (as well as the words that contain it).
Learning to type Chinese characters
Apart from being able to lookup Chinese characters easily, one of the biggest skills that can aid Chinese character learning is learning to type Chinese characters using a shape based input system. To that end, the character entries for both simplified and traditional characters include their cangjie input codes. This input method is build into operating systems, and if it isn't, is easy to download, and perhaps more importantly, is free.
As well as offerning an easy way to input characters, based on their shape, the cangjie input system also offers a simple way of remembering characters (or their elements) for short periods of time.
