Of all the topics readers of The Memory Code wrote to me about, learning foreign languages was the most common. At school, I had tried Latin, French and German and I failed every time. I simply couldn’t remember vocabulary, let alone grammar.
Once I became enamoured with memory methods, I joined an adult French class to test them out and discovered that with the aid of memory tools described in Memory Craft, I was able to learn and even enjoy it. So I became ridiculously ambitious and took on Chinese (Mandarin / Simplified script).
This booklet outlines the method I devised over the last few years as I tackled the hardest thing I could imagine to commit to memory: the Chinese language and script.
The Beasts in the title are the animals I use to help remember vocabulary using Pinyin. The Radicals are the fundamental component of the characters and the basis of my memory palace for the characters. It is all explained in the Radical Beasts booklet. The system is designed for beginners learning Chinese with no background in the language or the script. This is not an easy task, and there is some effort involved in using the system. But I assure you, it will make learning Chinese a lot easier.
The Radical Beasts system is designed to be used alongside any Chinese language course.
There are four pdf files which constitute the system. They can all be downloaded from the links below.
1. Radical Beasts booklet
The booklet explains the system. (Radical-Beasts-booklet.pdf)
2. Radical Beasts pinyin initials and finals
This pdf is a table of all the beasts (mostly animals) and their actions which are used to memorise any vocabulary.
(Radical-Beasts-pinyin-initals-finals.pdf)
3. Radical Beasts Radicals
This pdf gives a full list of all the radicals which form the basis of the Chinese Simplified script. It matches the standard Kangxi list, with some adaptations for efficiency for some of the common radicals and special forms.
4. Radical Beasts beastly images
This pdf is a set of images of the beasts with their initial to aid memory and start to give the beasts some character. Some of these are displayed on this page.
(Radical Beasts-beastly-images.pdf)
A fifth file will be available soon for the components in the characters which are not radicals. Meanwhile, how to make up your own meaning for them will be clear from the booklet.
Use your browser ‘s File / Exports as PDF to save the file.
CLICK HERE to download Radical-Beasts-booklet.pdf
CLICK HERE to download Radical-Beasts-pinyin-initals-finals.pdf
CLICK HERE to download Radical-Beasts-radicals-palace.pdf
CLICK HERE to download Radical Beasts-beastly-images.pdf
