Welcome to learn Mandarin online in Unit 2 of SKMLifestyle’s Chinese Language course. I hope you have already finished all the 5 lessons presented in Unit 1 (check out all lessons from Unit 1). In Unit 2, our focus will be to learn Chinese characters that are used more often than others (e.g. the most frequently used characters). I have prepared the 100 most common mandarin Chinese characters list exclusively for my readers. These characters will be available with Lesson 1-5 of Unit 2. These are the most frequently used Chinese characters. In order to ensure a comprehensive list, I have discussed each and every character in the list with my native Chinese speaker colleagues.
In fact, I just can’t imagine to learn Chinese without learning these 100 basic Characters. Moreover, I intend to introduce you to Chinese grammar as soon as possible. However, it’s just difficult to proceed further until you master and memorize these characters in letter and spirit.
100 most common mandarin Chinese characters list
Follow the lesson index for the most frequently used Chinese characters. To keep the learning process simple and manageable, I have divided these 100 characters in 5 parts. As such, each lesson will introduce you 20 new Mandarin Chinese characters.
- Lesson 1 – first twenty characters.
- Lesson 2 – 20 more characters
- Lesson 3 – 20 new most frequently used Mandarin Chinese characters
- Lesson 4
- Lesson 5
how many Chinese characters are there?
Well, nobody knows the actual number of characters. I have discussed this question with my native Chinese friends quite a few times. It seems that they can recognize nearly 4000-5000 characters. However, if you master 500-1000 characters, you can interpret a significant amount of modern Chinese literature.
I have already introduced nearly 80-90 characters in Unit 1. And in this unit you will learn more than hundred characters. Since I plan to have more than 20 units, by the time you complete the Chinese Language course, I assure you that you’ll know more than 2000 characters. This is really-really a good number. So I’d suggest you that don’t get too much caught up with how many Chinese characters are there. The main issue is how many you need to know? My interpretation says that for now your focus should be to learn 500 characters first, and master them like anything.
That’s all in Unit 2 of the Chinese Language course.
Feeling confident about the lessons? Cool! Try the Chinese Language Proficiency Test and see how much you now you know Mandarin Chinese. Be brave enough to not look at the answers before evaluating the questions (and of course deciding the answers). 🙂
You can head to the next lesson of the Chinese Language course or go through the previous lesson again.
With the 100 most common mandarin Chinese characters list in hand, I hope now it’s easier to learn Mandarin online.
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Happy mandarin Chinese learning.