Chinese Language Forums - Chinese Etymology Institute

I have discussed the issue of the difficulty of learning Chinese written language with the following facts.

1. It (the Chinese traditional character set) was viewed as the culprit for China’s demise and was despised by the entire Chinese people (the scholars and politicians) in the 1920s. And, it was viewed as the reason for the super high illiteracy in the country because of its difficulty for the native Chinese. Finally, it led the event of abandoning the traditional character set in 1958.

2. The humility and agony experience of one learned sinologist was discussed, and it turned out to be a universal experience for all people who learns Chinese as the second language.

3. The debate among Western sinologists was also discussed. Both schools view the Chinese character set which is ad hoc and chaotic, and it makes the Chinese written language very difficult theoretically as Chinese system of writing is similar to the hieroglyphic signs of the Egyptians and that they do not express their concepts by writing, like most of the world, with a few alphabetic signs, but they paint as many symbols as there are words. Thus, taking 10 to 20 years of agonizing study becomes the rite of passage for mastering Chinese written language.


However, even with the above facts, my new Chinese etymology is making a claim, “The Chinese written language can be mastered in “3” to “6” months to a point of being able to read the current Chinese newspaper by anyone who knows not a single Chinese word at the beginning, by learning it with my new Chinese etymology .”

How absurd this claim can be, from 20 years to 6 months? However, this claim can be tested or proved in two ways.

a. By testing – Can anyone do it (existential introduction)? And, can everyone do it (universal proof)? In fact, a major work on both cases was done, and those case studies are available at http://www.chineseetymology.com/

b. With theoretical proof – This claim is based on a theoretical framework that the Chinese characters are composed of from only 220 roots. And, the meaning of each and every word can be read out from its face. Thus, there is a new etymology memory algebra.

With only 220 root words (R), it generates 300 commonly used compound roots (also as sound modules, M). Thus, R + M = 220 + 300 = 520. With these 520, all 60,000 Chinese written words are generated. That is,
etymology memory algebra is R + M = R x M

By learning only 520 and some rules, the entire Chinese word set can be mastered. For the three premises of this theoretical framework ,
i. Premise one ---- All (each and every) Chinese words are composed of from 220 roots,
ii. Premise two ---- The meaning of every Chinese word can be read out from its face,
iii. Premise three ---- etymology memory algebra,
there are two ways to prove them.

1. With 100% test ---- each and every word is tested. Of course, this can be done and was done. It becomes a dictionary. However, this is not a place for a dictionary. Furthermore, a dictionary is not a best tool to show the detail of a theoretical framework.

2. With reduction proof ---- As the Chinese word set is an axiomatic system , it has axioms, laws, theorems, etc.. And, each of them can be tested with reduction proof (the universal proof) which consists of the following steps.
a. Existential Introduction --- to show that the premise is true, at least, in one instance.
b. Universal proof --- for an “arbitrarily” chosen word, the premise is true.

Under each premise, there are many laws and theorems. And, I will provide the universal proof for each of them. I have showed 11 cases that both the “premise one” and the “premise two” are true for them. This is enough for the existential introduction. However, I will provide the existential introduction on some attributes of those two premises.

i. They apply and grow horizontally, such as in words (孕, 秀), (悉, 釋).
ii. They apply and grow vertically, with the example of (夕, 多, 夠).

孕 (pregnant) = 乃 (still going or not yet finish) over 子 (child), the child is not born yet.
秀 (youthful) = 禾 (grain) over 乃 (not yet ready), the grain is not yet ready to be harvest.
悉 (knowing) = 釆 (animal’s footprint) over 心 (heart), with the animal’s footprint, the tracker knows in his heart.
釋 (explanation) = 釆 (animal’s footprint) + 睪 (watchful or surveillance), knowing the animal’s footprint, something can be explained.
多 (many, unlimited) = 夕 (night) over 夕 (night), there are unlimited many “night after night”.
夠 (enough) = 多 (unlimited many) + 句 (a completed sentence or to end), to end the unlimited many means enough.


The above examples have showed the “Existential Introduction” for the first two premises. Many of you might now be able to find more examples yourselves. However, you will not be able to dissect and to decode the words 睪, 乃 and 子 without learning this new Chinese etymology.