Lantern Languages

7.2 – the Ancient Chinese characters for day, month, water and fire

In the next part we get to learn about some of the early history of 8 Chinese pictographs. The teacher shows us the ancient forms of each of these characters and we learn how these characters came to be the ones we recognise today.

00.57 – Teacher – 同学们你们发现了吗？每一个事物旁边都有一个奇怪的符号，这是什么呢？可能有的同学知道，这是我们的祖先在三年前根据事物的样子，创造出来的汉字。是不是很有意思啊?

Xiànzài nǐmen kěyǐ zìjǐlái dú yī dú le。 Kàn tú shàng de xiǎo gūniang zài tíxǐng nǐmen zhèngquè de dúshū zīshì ne。

Now you can read it by yourself. Look at the girl in the picture, a reminder of the correct posture to sit in when reading.

2.46 – Teacher – 身坐直脚方平，双手拿书向外倾，准备好了吗？开始读书吧！

 Shēn zuò zhí jiǎo fāng píng, shuāngshǒu ná shū xiàngwài qīng, zhǔnbèi hǎole mǎ, kāishǐ dúshū ba.

Sit still, feet flat, hold the book with both hands, are you ready? Start reading the book!

2.55 – Student – 4. 日，月，水，火。日，月，水，火，山，石，田，禾。

Rì， yuè ， shuǐ， huǒ。 Rì yuè ， shuǐ， huǒ， shān， shí， tián， hé。

Sun, moon, water, fire. Sun, moon, water, fire, mountain, rock, field, corn.

3.09 – Teacher – 读好了，把书轻轻的放下，同学们刚才有同学说，发现图片上的事物和古汉字和要学的生字特别像。他们到底哪里像呢？现在我们就一起来找一找。

Dú hǎo le. Bǎ shū qīngqīng de fàngxià， tóngxuémen gāngcái yǒu tóngxué s shuō, fāxiàn túpiàn shàng de shìwù hé gǔ hànzì hé yāo xué de shēngzì tèbié xiàng. Tāmen dàodǐ nǎlǐ xiàng ne? Xiànzài wǒmen jiù yìqǐlái zhǎo yī zhǎo.

Reading is finished, please gently put your books down. Students, the pupil just found that on the picture the ancient Chinese characters, the things they represent and the modern characters that we are studying today look very similiar. Now, let’s examine areas where they look alike.

3.25 – Teacher – 先来看日，日就是太阳, 这是古汉字的日，仔细观察，你们发现了什么？

Xiān láikàn rì. Rì jiùshì tàiyang, zhè shì gǔ hànzì de rì， zǐxì guānchá, nǐmen fāxiàn le shénme?

First look at the character 日, this character means sun.  This is the ancient character for sun, what do you notice?

3.35 – Student – 我发现古汉字的日字圆圆的，和太阳很像，跟现在使用的日字的区别就是，一个是圆的，一个是放的。

Wǒ fāxiàn gǔ hànzì de rì zì yuán yuán de， hé tàiyang hěn xiàng gēn xiànzài shǐyòng de rì zì de qūbié jiùshì。 yīgè shì yuán, yīgè shì fàng de.

I discovered that the old characters are round just like the sun. The difference between the ancient and new characters is the old one is round and the new one has straight lines.

7.3 – Chinese pictograms

In the next part of our class our teacher introduces us to the topic of Pictograms. This is illustrated by continuing our examination of the character for sun 日 and looking at how this character actually looks like the thing it represents. The Chinese word for pictograms is 象形字.

3.48 – Teacher – 对古人就是依据太阳的样子，创造了日这个字，多有智慧呀！

Duì gǔrén jiùshì yījù tàiyang de yàngzi， chuàngzào le rì zhège zì ， duō yǒu zhìhuì ya！

Yes，the ancient people based the character for the sun on the appearance of the sun, very clever!

3.54 – Teacher – 像日字这样，古人根据事物的样子创造了一个又一个的汉子。这就是象形字.

Xiàng rì zì zhèyàng, gǔrén gēnjù shìwù de yàngzi chuàngzào le yīgè yòu yīgè de hànzi. Zhèjiùshì xiàngxíngzì.

In the same way as they created the character to represent the sun, the ancients created more and more characters based on the appearance of things. These are called pictograms.

The ancient Chinese character for moon

4.04 – Teacher – 现在我们再来看看古汉字的月，仔细观察，你发现了什么？

Xiànzài wǒmen zàilái kànkan gǔ hànzì de yuè zǐxì guānchá ， nǐ fāxiàn le shénme?

Now let’s look at the ancient Chinese character for moon, look carefully, what do you notice?

4.10 – Student – 月亮有时候会变成弯弯的月牙。古人大概是模仿月牙的样子，创造了月字。

Yuèliang yǒushíhou huì biàn chéng wānwān de yuèyá， gǔrén dàgài shì mófǎng yuèyá de yàngzi chuàngzào le yuè zì

Sometimes the moon becomes a curved crescent moon, the ancients must have copied that curve when they were coming up with the character for the moon.

4.20 – teacher – 古人就是根据日和月形状上的不同，创造了这两个字啊，让人一看就能知道字的意思。

Gǔrén jiùshì gēnjù rì hé yuè xíngzhuàng shàng de bùtóng， chuàngzào le zhè liǎng ge zì a ， ràng rén yīkàn jiù néng zhīdào zì de yìsi。

The ancients must have produced their characters for sun and moon based on the different shape of the  sun and moon. This allows people to ascertain their meaning.

4.31 – teacher – 这节课中的生字都是象形字。同学们请你们看看这些生字和图片中的事物古汉字，哪里像了呢？

zhè jié kè zhòng de shēngzì dōu shì xiàngxíngzì。 Tóngxuémen qǐng nǐmen kànkan zhèxiē shēngzì hé túpiàn zhòngde shìwù gǔ hànzì nǎlǐ xiàng le ne.

All the words in today’s class are pictograms. Students please look at the characters and the things on the picture, where are the similarities?

The Ancient Chinese character for field

4.42 – student – 我觉得字和图中的田地一样，都是方方正正的。

Wǒ juéde tiān zì hé tú zhòng de tiándì yīyàng， dōushì fāngfāngzhèngzhèng de。

I think the character for field and the picture of the field look similar, but are square.

The ancient Chinese character for fire

4.50 – student – 我觉得最初的火字特别像图中燃烧的火苗。现在的火字变成只有上半部分像火苗，下半部分像火堆。

Wǒ juéde zuìchū de huǒ zì tèbié xiàng tú zhōng ránshāo de huǒmiáo。 Xiànzài de huǒ zì biànchéng zhǐyǒu shàng bàn bùfèn xiàng huǒmiáo， xiàbàn bùfen xiàng huǒduī。

I think the very earliest character for fire looks a lot like the burning flames on a bonfire. Only the top part of the modern character looks like flames, the lower part looks like the pile.

The ancient Chinese character for mountain

5.05 – student – 图上有三坐山峰，和山字很像。山字中间的一竖特别长，就像图上的那座高的山峰。

Tú shǎng yǒu sān zuò shānfēng hé shān zì hěn xiàng. Shān zì zhōngjiān de yī shù tèbié cháng, jiù xiàng túshǎng de nǎ zuò gāode shānfēng.

There are mountain peaks on the picture, which is similiar to the chacarter for mountain. The vertical stroke in the middle of the character 山 is longer, just like in the picture. 

5.16 – teacher – 这位同学特别会观察。山就是连绵起伏高高低低的，所以山字的竖页高低不同。

Zhèwèi tóngxué tèbié huì guānchá. Shān jiùshì liánmián qǐfú gāogāodīdī de, suǒyǐ shān zì de shù yè gāodī bùtóng.

This student has good observation skills. Mountains do undulate continually, so the character for mountain has vertical strokes of different heights.

5.26 – student – 老师禾我不知道是什么也能给我讲讲吗？

Lǎoshī hé wǒbúzhīdào shì shénme yě néng gěiwǒ jiǎng jiǎng mǎ？

Teacher I don’t know the character for grain, can you tell me about it?

5.32 – teacher – 遇到不懂的，就问一问是的好的学习习惯。

yùdào bùdǒng de， jiù wèn yī wèn shìde hǎode xuéxí xíguàn。

Asking when you come across something you don’t understand is a good study habit.

5.32 – teacher – 同学们我们来一起看图片中的植物和禾最初的写法。它的字形像不像一颗结了穗子的庄嫁呢？禾一般就是指谷类作物，象形字多有趣呢！

Tóngxuémen wǒmen lái yīqǐ kàn túpiàn zhòng de zhíwù  hé zuìchū de xiěfǎ. Tā de zìxíng xiàng bù xiàng yī kē jiéle suìzi dezhuāngjià ne. Hé yībān jiùshì zhǐ gǔlèi zuòwù. xiàngxíngzì duō yǒuqù ne.

Students, let’s look together at the picture of the grain and way the character was written. The top of the pictogram looks just like the picture with the ear drooping down from the stalk. The character is in use as a general word to cover all cereal crops. 

7.4 – a matching game for learning the meaning of new characters

Next our student shows a matching game that they have made for memorising the meaning of new characters. Why not give this game a go yourself?

5.52 – teacher – 有一个同学，把要学的生字图片上的事物和古汉字做成了卡片，做起了找朋友的游戏。一起来看看吧。

yǒu yī gè tóngxué bǎ yào xué de shēngzì túpiàn shàng de shìwù hé gǔ hànzì zuòchéng le kǎpiàn, zuò qǐ le zhǎo péngyou de yóuxì yìqǐlái kànkan ba.

One students has made cards of the characters she wants to learn and their equivalent pictures. She is playing a game where she has to match the characters with the picture. Let’s watch.

6.08 – student –  这是古时候的水，看它都像弯弯曲曲的水流呀。这是我们现在的水，这是石，这是山。

Zhè shì gǔshíhou de shuǐ kàn tā dōu xiàng wānwānqūqū de shuǐliú ya。 Zhè shì wǒmen xiànzài de  shuǐ， zhè shì shí， zhè shì shān。

This is the ancient character for water, look at how the strokes are like the meandering flow of a river. This is stone, this is mountain.

6.29 – teacher – 给生字找朋友卡片游戏多好玩啊！课下同学们也可以做一做这个游戏。

Gěi shēngzì zhǎo péngyou kǎpiàn yóuxì duō hǎo wán a ！ Kèxià tóngxuémen yě kěyǐ zuò yī zuò zhège yóuxì。

Finding the matching picture for the character is a fun game. Students can also play this game after class.

6.35 – teacher – 看生字朋友跑到屏幕上了，快读一读：日。早上太阳升起就是日出，傍晚太阳落下了就是日落。太阳一升一落就是一日。

Kàn shēngzì péngyou pǎodào píngmù shàng le, kuài dú yī dú rì. Zǎoshang tàiyang shēngqǐ jiùshì rìchū, bàngwǎn tàiyang luòxià le jiùshì rìluò. Tàiyang yī shēng yī luò jiùshì yīrì.

Look our new word friends have jumped up onto the screen, read it quickly: day. When the sun rises in the morning that is sunrise, when it sets in the evening that is sunset. The sun rises and then it sets, that is a day.

6.35 – teacher – 在来读读这个字：月。月亮的形状总是在改变的，不同的形状，就有不同的名字。看圆圆的月亮叫什么？对教满月. 那弯弯的月亮呢？教月牙。

Zài lái dú dú zhège zì： yuè. Yuèliang de xíngzhuàng zǒngshì zài gǎibiàn de, bùtóng de ， jiù yǒu bùtóng de míngzi. Kàn yuán yuán de yuèliang jiào shénme? Duì jiào mǎnyuè. NǎWānwān de？ Ye yuèyá

Read this character again: moon. The shape of the often changes and these different shapes have seperate names. What is the name of this round moon? Full moon. And this curved moon? A crescent moon.

Having seen some two character words including moon, we now look at some two character words related to the Chinese character for fire.

6.35 – teacher – 火字有哪些有词语朋友呢？

Huǒ zì yǒu nǎxiē yǒu cíyǔ péngyou ne？

Which word friends does the character fire have?

7.13 – student – 我想到有火苗，火花，火光。

Wǒ xiǎngdào yǒu huǒmiáo， huǒhuā ， huǒguāng.

I think of flames, sparks and blaze.

7.17 – teacher – 火能帮人类做很多事情，可是也会带来火灾。同学们可千万不要玩火呀。

Huǒ néng bāng rénlèi zuò hěnduō shìqing， kěshì yě huì dàilái huǒzāi. Tóngxuémen kě qiānwàn bùyào wánhuǒ ya.

Fire brings many benefits to mankind, but it can also lead to disaster. Students, don’t play with fire by any means.

7.5 – Another game and some reading to practice our new characters

7.26 – teacher – 词语小火车开过来了。同学们你们能帮天字叫上词语朋友吗？

Cíyǔ xiǎo huǒchē kāi guòlái le。 Tóngxuémen nǐmen néng bāng tiān zì jiào shǎng cíyǔ péngyou mǎ？

The small word bus has arrived. Students can you help me with the words friends of the character for field.

7.35 – student – 天字我想到的词语是水田，田地，和种田。

Tiānzì wǒ xiǎngdào de cíyǔ shì shuǐtián， tiándì ， hé zhòngtián.

For the character field, I can think of paddy field, farmland，and farming.

7.40 – teacher – 给生字交词语朋友你们的积累会越来越多。图片没有了，想想着食物的样子，再来读读这几个字吧。

Gěi shēngzì jiāo cíyǔ péngyou nǐmende jīlěi huì yuèláiyuè duō。 Túpiàn méiyǒu le， xiǎngxiangzhe shíwù de yàngzi ， zàilái dú dú zhè jǐge zì ba。

By thinking of the words related to each character your vocabulary will grow and grow. The pictures have gone, can you read the characters.

7.58 – teacher – 老师现在想考考你们， 小手指到那个字，就请你读出那个字。

Lǎoshī xiànzài xiǎng kǎo kǎo， nǐmen xiǎoshǒu zhǐ dào nàge zì， jiù qǐng nǐ dúchū nàge zì。

Teacher now wants to give a test. When the hand goes to a character please read it aloud.

8.06 – teacher – 日，月，水，火，山，石，田，禾。

rì， yuè ， shuǐ， huǒ， shān， shí，tián， hé.

day, moon, water, fire, mountain, stone, field, grain.

8.30 – teacher – 如果你都能读准，说明太了不起了。

Rúguǒ nǐ dōu néng dú zhǔn， shuōmíng tài liǎobuqǐ le。

If you can say these words correctly, then your speaking is great.

8.34 – teacher – 这八个象形字朋友，同学们都认识了。

Zhè bā gè xiàngxíngzì péngyou tóngxuémen dōu rènshi le。

The students know all of these 8 pictograms.