Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Chinese Character Fast Finder allows users to find Chinese characters
based on their appearance alone, without knowing their pronunciation,
radical or stroke count. This reference book has been designed for serious
learners of Chinese as well as readers with an interest in written Chinese.
Convenient features include printed thumb-index marks for rapid access to
any character; all the characters prescribed for the Chinese government’s
official HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Koshi) Language Proficiency Test, and
simplified characters and their pinyin pronunciation.
About the Author
Laurence Matthews has worked as a university lecturer, a research
manager , and as an airport consultant in Japan. In this work he uses his
knowledge to bring order to the confusing world of kanji identification.
Product Details
- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Tuttle Publishing (March 15, 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN: 0804836345
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds.
- Average Customer Review:
based on 3 reviews.
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Customer Reviews
| 2 of 2 people found the following review
helpful:
It's, well, FAST!, May 6, 2005
This is an awesome reference. In just a few minutes I could find nearly
any character. The thumbed index that you can cut yourself, if you so
choose, makes the lookup much faster. (Initially I used a razor blade but
finally just used scissors.)
If you happen to look up the character in the "wrong" place, instead of
cross-referencing characters to another page, he just shows them on the
page in grey. That way, you know they really don't belong there but, hey,
since you found them, the meaning is provided.
He also includes traditional characters in the appendix.
It is really a well thought out reference. |
| 2 of 2 people found the following review
helpful:
Remarkably easy, March 21, 2005
| Reviewer: |
Indi (Singapore) |
Call it a crutch, a shortcut, or whatever you wish..this book makes the
process of looking up characters remarkably easy. I would consider it the
best investment I have made in a language book thus far. It doesn't
replace the need for a good dictionary. But if one is stumped as to the
meaning of a character, this book dissects it, and gives various meanings.
Then with the pinyin in hand, it is much easier to look up a word in the
dictionary. |
| 3 of 3 people found the following review
helpful:
It really works!, March 11, 2005
As this book is really meant to be an locator/index of Chinese
characters, I thought it should be able to do just that. So, before
purchasing it, I looked up one or two characters and found it only took a
couple of seconds!
This is far better than using the radical index of a dictionary if you
don't know the hanyu pinyin. At times the radical for a character can be
quite arbitrary. I believe it is no longer the case, but apparently
characters could, in the past, be listed under a radical it had nothing,
seemingly, to do with.
Careful! The thick black line for page 68 of the thumb-index is misdrawn,
causing me the need to re-stick my #68. Frustrating!
An alternative for home use is the Wenlin Chinese Dictionary software,
which makes looking up characters a breeze if you can handle the mouse ok.
But on the run this won't be possible, until they bring out their PDA
version - IF you can afford a PDA. At only about $32 in Australia the
Chinese Character Fast Finder is a great buy!
Laurence Matthews also has a Kanji Fast Finder out too. |
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