
Q: What basic knowledge of Chinese characters is needed to learn the Easy Chinese Code™ (ECCode™ for short)?
ANS:
The basic knowledge of Chinese characters required by mastering the ECCode™ is illustrated as
the
knowledge structure in the following figure.
Knowledge Tree of ECCode™
问:学习【汉易码™】都需要用到哪些汉字基础知识?
答:
掌握【汉易码™】所需的汉字基础知识如下图所示知识结构。
【汉易码™】知识树
Q:Why should the ECCode™ simplify the classification of Chinese character structures? Will this affect foreigners'understanding of the beauty of Chinese characters?
ANS:
ECCode™ not only simplifies the structure classification of Chinese characters, but also
simplifies the
stroke classification of Chinese characters. Among them, the classification of Chinese strokes simplified
by ECCode™ is in accordance with the Chinese information processing specifications. Here we no longer
explain why the classification of Chinese strokes should be simplified in this way.
So, why should ECCode™ simplify the structure classification of Chinese characters? This involves the
complexity of a system. Reliability studies show that the complexity of a system is proportional to the
number of objects it deals with. That is to say, the more objects a system needs to be categorized and
processed, the more complex the system is, and the more difficult it is to learn and master the knowledge
about it. For example, there are at least 14 kinds of Chinese character structure according to the
traditional classification method, and if the encoding rules are formulated according to the 14 kinds of
Chinese character structure, which undoubtedly increases the complexity of the encoding solution. However,
ECCode™ only divides the structure of Chinese characters into two categories and four sub-categories,
which greatly reduces the complexity of the encoding solution. This is a basic requirement of Chinese
character encoding for its learnability.
In the same way, according to the stroke classification of the traditional Chinese character theory, there
are 26 strokes in hard-pen writing and 78 strokes in brush-writing of regular script. The Chinese
Information Processing Standard classifies all Chinese strokes into five basic strokes, and the other
strokes are classified into these five basic strokes according to their characteristics. Obviously, this
processing method of Chinese information processing standard greatly reduces the complexity of Chinese
character encoding solution.
In fact, before the advent of the computer, the content of Chinese character teaching and its teaching
methods can abide by the the model based on the traditional Chinese character theory which has already
formed. However, in the virtual world of the Internet, if Chinese characters want to challenge David
Moser's pessimistic assertion of "A Losing Battle (of Chinese characters): The Internet" in his book A
Billion Voices: China’s Search for a Common Language, or, in other words, if Chinese language wants to
internationalize in the context of the Internet, we must reshape the teaching content of Chinese
characters on the premise of maintaining the characteristic attributes of Chinese characters, so as to
satisfy the "equal national treatment of Chinese computer" for Chinese and foreign users in the virtual
world.
For example, if both of a foreign adult Chinese learner who has never lived in China and a Chinese pupil
have mastered 500 Chinese characters, Which of them types faster ? Although foreigners may be more skilled
in keyboard fingering, they may know the characters "蜂" and "蜜", but they may not necessarily know the
meaning of "蜂蜜" and "蜜蜂" because they lack the language environment in which Chinese phrases could
naturally accumulate in their lives. Obviously, without the natural accumulation of phrases in the
language environment, when foreign Chinese users use Pinyin input method, they will encounter more
coincidental codes than Chinese users - they have to use more mouse to select target Chinese characters,
which makes their skilled keyboard fingering useless. This is a typical phenomenon of "unequal national
treatment of Chinese computer", and it is also an important reason why German Sinologist Professor Andreas
Guder calls for the cultivation of Chinese character keywriting ability in teaching Chinese as a foreign
language.
Therefore, Chinese character teaching in the future should be based on the application of Chinese
characters in the two worlds of "virtual and real", and under the condition of no "wiping out" Chinese
characters, the Chinese literacy education in the virtual and real world should be guided by a more
systematic, non-conflicting theory of Chinese characters based on the unified cognition.
As for whether such a unification of Chinese character teaching theories focusing on the two worlds of
virtuality and reality will affect foreigners'perception of the beauty of Chinese characters, this need
not be worried. Because we have said that this improvement of the traditional Chinese character theory is
not a "revolution" or a complete abandonment of the inherent characteristics of Chinese characters, it is
just to reconstruct the narrative method while maintaining its inherent characteristics, and to integrate
the theory of Chinese character teaching in the virtual and real world, so as to enhance the scientificity
of Chinese character theory compared with traditional Chinese medicine theory.
问:【汉易码™】为什么要把汉字结构的种类进行简化?这样会不会影响外国人对于汉字之美的认识?
答 :
【汉易码™】不仅对汉字的结构划分进行了简化,而且也对汉字的笔画种类划分进行了简化。其中,【汉易码™】对汉字笔画种类划分的简化符合中文信息处理规范,这里就不再解释为什么要对笔画种类划分做这样的简化处理了。
那么,【汉易码™】为什么要对汉字结构的种类划分进行简化呢?这涉及到一个系统的复杂度问题。可靠性研究表明,一个系统的复杂度,与其所要处理对象的种类数量的成正比。也就是说,如果一个系统需要分门别类处理的对象越多,这个系统的复杂度就越高,学习和掌握这个系统的难度就越大。例如,汉字结构依照传统划分方法,至少有14种之多,依照十四种汉字结构分别制定编码规则,那么,这无疑就增加了编码方案的复杂程度了。但是,【汉易码™】只把汉字结构划分为两大类四小类,这就大大降低了编码方案的复杂程度了。这是汉字编码对于易学性的一项基本要求。
同样的道理,汉字笔画依照传统汉字理论来划分的话,硬笔书写里面有26种笔画,毛笔楷体书写则多达78种之多,中文信息处理规范却把所有汉字笔画归类为5种基本笔画,其他各种笔画依据其特点而分别归属于这五个基本笔画。显然,中文信息处理规范的这种处理方法大大降低了汉字编码方案的复杂程度。
事实上,在计算机没有问世之前,汉字教学内容及其教学方法可以延续传统汉字理论业已成型的模式。但是,在互联网这个虚拟世界里,汉字要想挑战莫大伟(David Moser)在其著作《A Billion Voices:
China’s Search for a Common
Language》中所言的“互联网:(汉字的)一场失败的战役”之悲观论断,或者反过来说,汉语要想实现互联网背景下的国际化,我们就必须在保持汉字特征属性的前提下,对其教学内容进行重塑,以便满足虚拟世界里面中外汉语用户享有“平等的中文电脑国民待遇”。
例如,同样是掌握了500个汉字,一位不曾在中国居住的外国成年汉语学习者和一位中国的小学生相比较,谁打字汉字的速度会更快呢?
尽管外国人键盘指法可能更加娴熟,但是,由于他们在生活当中缺乏汉语词组自然积累的语言环境,所以,他们可能认识“蜂”和“蜜”这两个字,却不一定知道“蜂蜜”和“蜜蜂”的含义……。显然,缺乏了词组自然积累的语言环境,外国汉语用户使用拼音输入法时,就会比中国用户更多地遭遇重码的苦恼——他们得更多地用鼠标挑选目标汉字而致使他们娴熟的键盘指法没有了用武之地。这就是典型的“不平等的中文电脑国民待遇”现象,也是德国汉学家顾安达教授呼吁对外汉语教学当中应该重视汉字键写能力培养的一个重要原因。
所以,未来的汉字教学,应该立足于“虚实”两个世界的汉字应用,在不“革”汉字“命”的情况下,以更加系统的、彼此不冲突的、统一了认知的汉字理论来指导虚实两个世界的汉语识字教育。
至于这样的、着眼于虚实两个世界的汉字教学理论之统一,会不会影响外国人对于汉字之美的认知,这大可不必担忧。因为我们说了,这种对传统汉字理论的改良,不是“革命”,不是彻底抛弃汉字固有的特征属性,而是在保持其固有特征属性情况下的叙述方法的重塑,并把虚实两个世界的汉字教学理论进行一体化设计,借此增强汉字理论较之中医理论更多的科学性。
Q:How to avoid the phenomenon of "pressing the gourd and floating the ladle" in the design process of the ECCode™?
ANS:
The computer encoding solution of Chinese characters is grafted on the English keyboard, which undoubtedly
brings a problem, that is, the solution is limited by the keyboard design. In addition, there is no
unified measurement standard, which leads to a variety of Chinese character encoding solutions with
different focus. Some focus on easy learning and neglect efficiency, such as pinyin encoding method; Some
focus on the efficiency of text input and neglect the easy to learn, such as WuBi; Others claim to take
into account the above two indicators, but either using the number keys and function keys instead of the
English alphabet keys, or using various other keys on the keyboard in addition to the alphabet keys, which
highlights the defect of neglecting the probability layout feature of the English keyboard, instead of
giving full play to the users' advantage of the skillful fingering of the keyboard in the phonetic
language countries.
Even because of the various defects of Chinese character keyboard input solutions, some people put the
hope of learning Chinese characters by using electronic dictionary for foreigners on various recognition
technologies (such as handwriting recognition, scanning recognition...), and want to abandon the keyboard,
which foreign people are the most familiar with and is also the best interactive tool for human-computer
conversation. However, as the most familiar human-computer interaction tool for foreigners, keyboard has
already been an objective existence, so if wanting to assist foreigners to learn Chinese characters and
provide a paperless office way for them who take Chinese as working language in the Internet era, it is
inevitable for a Chinese character encoding solution to directly face the problem of keyboard application,
and avoiding this problem is not the best way.
Therefore, we believe that before designing a Chinese character encoding solution, we should first design
and develop a set of performance index system to evaluate the merits and demerits of the solution. Only in
this way can we avoid the phenomenon of "Each says he is right", so that we can find the best solution
under the guidance of a unified evaluation index system and avoid the situation of "being unable to attend
to everything at one time ".
Of course, before elaborating which performance indexes should be included in the evaluation index system
of Chinese character encoding solution, we should also clearly realize that: as a grafting technology, or
as a set of rules system created from nothing, it should be an unrealistic dream to master these rules
without experiencing the process of learning the rules. However, the complexity or simplicity of the rule
system itself is completely in the research scope of this evaluation index system. That is to say, there
is no absolute "idiot" rule system in the world; for any new knowledge, if it needs to be applied, it will
always take a little time for people to learn and master it.
In fact, after comprehensive research, we found that a set of scientific encoding evaluation performance
index system for Chinese characters should at least include the following aspects:
1.Learnability: that is to say, the rules are simple, easy to remember and not easy to forget; suitable
for foreigners having learnt Chinese for three or four months;
2.Few encoding rules, easy to master;
3.Low rate of coincidental codes: it's the best that the rate of coincidental codes is lower than Wubi,
and the typing speed is faster;
4.Good standardization, no conflict between rules: For example, on the one hand, the traditional Chinese
character theory emphasizes the rules of stroke order, on the other hand, it tells foreign Chinese
learners that there is a radical "囗" in the character "国" and a radical "匚" in the character "区"; However,
when foreigners learn to write these two Chinese characters correctly, they cannot write out these two
radicals according to the rules of stroke order; This is not only the place where the traditional Chinese
character theory must make itself more systematic, scientific and need to improve its content in order to
cater to the information processing of Chinese characters, but also the place where the Chinese character
information encoding solution must respect the rules of stroke order;
5.High input efficiency: Not only must have the very high typing speed, also must have the very high input
accuracy rate -- i.e. must have the very low ratio of mistyping;
6.Psychological rules suitable for Chinese characters writing: The order of Chinese characters' appearing
in mind is "first sound, then shape, they are a whole";
7.Suitable for the habit of "blind typing": Aiming at the mainstream application scenarios of Chinese
character information processing, it is better to use only letter keys instead of various function keys
and number keys in Chinese character encoding solution;
8.Follow the principle of probability layout: Abide by the probability layout principle of each letter key
in the keyboard design, and lay the foundation of key position structure for efficient typing.
Considering the comprehensive consideration of the above eight aspects, the ECCode™ avoids the phenomenon
of "pressing the gourd and floating the ladle" to the greatest extent.
问:【汉易码™】设计过程当中如何避免了“摁下葫芦浮起瓢”这种现象?
答:
汉字的计算机编码方案是嫁接在英文键盘之上的,这就毫无疑问地带来了一个问题,那就是这种解决方案受到了键盘设计的局限。再加上没有统一的衡量标准,这就导致出现了各种各样着眼点不同的汉字编码方案了。有的着眼于易学而忽视了效率,例如拼音编码方案;有的着眼于文字输入效率而忽视了易学性,例如五笔字型;还有的自称兼顾上述两种指标、但却要么不用英文字母键而使用数字键和功能键,要么就是在字母键之外还使用了键盘上的各种其他键,从而凸显了其忽视英文键盘的概率布局特征之缺憾,反而无法发挥拼音语言国家的人键盘指法娴熟的盲打优势。
甚至因为汉字键盘录入的种种缺陷,而导致有些人把适合外国人利用电子字典学认汉字的希望寄托于各种识别技术了(例如手写识别、扫描识别……)、却想要彻底抛弃键盘这个外国人最熟悉的、人机对话最佳的交互工具了。但是,键盘作为外国人最熟悉的人机交互工具,已经是一种客观存在了,辅助外国人学认汉字以及互联网时代为外国汉语用户提供无纸化办公的手段,都不可避免地需要汉字编码直面键盘应用的难题,而回避这个问题则不是上上之策。
所以,我们认为,在设计一个汉字编码方案之前,首先应该设计和制定一套评价汉字编码方案优劣的性能指标体系。只有这样,才能避免“公说公有理婆说婆有理”这个现象,使大家在一个统一的评价指标体系的引领之下寻得最佳的解决方案,从而避免了“顾此失彼”。
当然,在阐述汉字编码评价指标体系究竟应该包含哪些性能指标之前,我们还应该清楚地认识到:作为一项嫁接技术,或者说,作为一套凭空创建的规则体系,想要不经历学习规则的过程就可以“零基础”地掌握这些规则,这应该是不现实的一种梦想。而规则本身的复杂或简单程度,则完全是这个评价指标体系的研究范围。
也就是说,世界上没有绝对的“傻瓜式”的规则体系;对于任何新知,如果需要加以应用这种新知,那么总是需要人们付出一点时间去学习和掌握。
实际上,经过综合研究,我们发现,一套科学的汉字编码评价性能指标体系至少应该包括以下几个方面:
1.易学性:就是说,规则简单,易于记忆,不易忘记;适合初学汉语三四个月的外国人学习、掌握;
2.编码规则少,易于掌握;
3.低重码率:最好重码低于五笔字型,打字速度快;
4.规范性好,规则之间不冲突:例如传统汉字理论一方面强调笔顺规则,另一方面又告诉外国汉语学习者“国”字里面有个部首“囗”
、“区”字里面有个部首“匚”;但是,当外国人学习正确书写这两个汉字时,却依照笔顺写不出这两个部首来。这既是传统汉字理论为了迎合汉字信息化处理而必须使自己更加系统、科学、需要改良其内容阐述的地方,也是汉字信息编码方案必须尊重笔顺规则的地方。
5.输入效率高:既要有很高的打字速度,也要有很高的输入正确率——即要有很低的打错字比率;
6.适合汉字书写的心理学规律:汉字在脑海中复现的秩序是“先音后形,音形一体”;
7.适合“盲打”习惯:以汉字信息处理的主流应用场景为目标,汉字编码方案最好只用字母键,而不要使用各种功能键和数字键;
8.概率布局原则:遵守键盘设计当中各个字母键位的概率布局原则,为高效打字奠定键位结构基础。
鉴于上述八个方面的综合考虑,【汉易码】就在最大限度上避免了“摁下葫芦浮起瓢”的现象之发生。
Q:Has TCFL really met the needs of Chinese application in the Internet era?
ANS:
Acturally, this question can also be asked, "In the age of the Internet,
what other aspects of TCFL need to be improved so as to keep pace with the times?"
As we all know, in the real world, the cultivation and application of Chinese ability are mainly reflected
in the
four aspects of Chinese listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, the emergence of the Internet
has
changed this situation, especially for the foreigners who study and use Chinese, because 99.5% of them
lack the
Chinese language environment in which Chinese vocabulary could accumulates naturally, which makes it more
difficult
for these people to apply Chinese in the virtual world. That's why David Moser, an American Sinologist,
came to the
pessimistic conclusion that Chinese langauge was "losing the battle of languages" in the Internet" (See
Chapter 15
"A Losing Battle: The Internet" in A Billion Voices: China's Search For A Common Language by David Moser).
In fact, in the face of the virtual world of foreigners' Chinese learning and application, the biggest
difficulty
of TCFL is that the efficiency of searching electronic dictionaries is insurmountable. For example, when
an Arab
learns German, he can master German letters and phonetic symbols in two months. After that, he can
independently
and efficiently search for new German words in any time and space. However, it also took him two or three
months to
master the Chinese Pinyin, the basic strokes of Chinese characters and some common radicals of Chinese
characters,
it didn't mean that he had the convenience of Dictionary inquiry for learning new Chinese characters.
To thicken the broth further, Tom in the picture above who was studying Chinese language did not know the
character
"李", and no one around him could tell him how to pronounce the Chinese character "李", or what its pinyin
is,
furthermore, he hasn't mastered the Chinese character query method such as stroke (According to David
Moser [莫大伟]in
his article "Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard" complaining foreigners learning Chinese character dictionary
query
method, just like learning a time consuming art)···. That is to say, Tom in the picture can't input the
new
character "李" into the e-dictionary at this time. In fact, just at this very time, Pinyin has lost any
value to
Tom! And the significance of modern science and technology for teaching foreigners to master the correct
writing of
Chinese characters has disappeared.
Therefore, as far as the current teaching of TCFL is concerned, its task setting is far from meeting the
needs of
foreigners in the Internet era for all-round application of Chinese. Specifically, it can't satisfy the
interactive
application of foreign users of Chinese language between the "virtual and real world". Considering that
foreigners
are most familiar with the application of keyboard, and keyboard is also the most convenient and cheap
human-computer interaction tool so far, Chinese character keylearning and keywriting based on keyboard is
an urgent
problem to be solved in the future teaching Chinese as a foreign language.
In short, the future TCFL should be based on new technology and new invention, and expand the four aspects
of
listening, speaking, reading and writing in TCFL to five aspects of listening, speaking, reading, writing
and
keytyping. In this way, it can bear the great expectation of foreign Chinese learners and users for the
comprehensive application of Chinese in the Internet era.
问:目前对外汉语教学真正满足了互联网时代的汉语应用需求了吗?
答:
其实,这个问题也可怎么问,“在互联网背景下,目前的对外汉语教学还有哪些方面需要做与时俱进的完善呢?”
众所周知,在现实世界里,汉语能力的培养及其应用主要体现在汉语的听说读写这四个方面
。但是,互联网的出现改变了这种状况。尤其是对于学习和使用汉语的外国人来说,由于他们当中99.5%的人缺乏汉语词汇自然积累的汉语语言环境,这就使得这部分人群在虚拟世界中的汉语应用更加地困难。也正因为如此,美国汉学家莫大伟(David
Moser)才得出了汉语正在“落败于互联网”这个悲观的结论(参见莫大伟著作《A
Billion Voices: China's Search for a Common Language》的第十五章“A Losing Battle: The Internet”)。
实际上,目前对外汉语教学面对外国人虚拟世界的汉语学习和应用时,其最大的困境就在于查询电子字典的效率障碍难以逾越。例如,一个阿拉伯人学习德语,他可以用2个月的时间掌握德语字母和音标,并在此之后,他就可以独立、高效地在任何时空下查询德语新单词了。但是,同样是花费两三个月的时间,在他熟练掌握了汉语拼音和汉字基本笔画以及一些常有的汉字偏旁部首之后,他并不享有这种汉字生字学习的字典查询之便利性。
具体点说,图中的Tom遇到了这个“李”字不认识,身边又没有人能够告诉他这个汉字“李”应该如何发音、或者其汉语拼音字母是什么——他还没有掌握诸如笔画一类的汉字查字法(据莫大伟[David Moser]在其文章《Why
Chinese Is So Damn Hard?》中吐槽外国人学习汉字字典查询方法,就如同在学习一门艺术一样极其耗费时间)……,也就是说,此时图中的Tom没有办法把这个生字“李”输进电子字典里面。每当这个时候,汉语拼音对于Tom来说,就失去了任何价值!而现代科技对于教授外国人掌握汉字正确书写的意义也荡然无存了。
所以,就目前的对外汉语教学而言,其任务设定远不能满足互联网时代外国人对于汉语全方位应用的需求。具体地说,就是不能满足外国汉语人口在“虚实两个世界”的交互应用。考虑到外国人最熟悉键盘的应用,同时键盘也是迄今为止最为便利廉价的人机交互工具,因此,基于键盘的汉字键学和键写就是未来对外汉语教学不得不面对的一个亟待解决的问题。
总之,今后的对外汉语教学应该在立足新技术新发明的基础之上,把对外汉语教学当中的听说读写四个方面拓展到听说读写键五个方面。这样才能承载起互联网时代外国汉语学习和应用者对于汉语全面应用的厚望。
Q:How to think the price of ECCode™ software is expensive or cheap?
ANS:
Obviously, the question of whether ECCode™ software is expensive or cheap should be measured in terms of
the total cost of achieving the Chinese learning objectives. If a tool can give full play to the learner's
initiative and make it convenient to have the chance to achieve the task goal of Chinese vocabulary which
traditionally takes several decade months to master in a few months, then compared with the cost of
traditionally achieving the task goal of this kind of vocabulary, do you think the price USD 100 of
ECCode™ Software is expensive or cheap? And the answer is obviously self-evident.
In fact, the idea of ECCode™ is that it neither wants to make learning new Chinese characters more
difficult than learning new words of other alphabetic languages, which actually has already made learning
Chinese become a marathon competition, nor does it want learning Chinese to become a "noble" activity. It
is better for Chinese learners to easily use the same tool, for example a keyboard, to look up new Chinese
characters in an e-dictionary as they use it to look up new words of alphabetic languages in an
e-dictionary. In this way, Chinese learning could no longer be radically different from learning other
languages in terms of information tool using.
In a word, the wish of ECCode™ is to let Chinese language enjoy "Equal National Treatment of Computer" in
front of information equipment and let foreigners fully feel Chinese Power Made Easy!
问:如何看待ECCode软件的价格是贵还是便宜?
答:
如何看待ECCode™软件的价格是贵还是便宜这个问题,显然要从汉语学习目标达成的总成本方面来衡量。如果一种工具能够充分发挥学习者的主观能动性、让其很方便地有机会在几个月里面就能够达到传统上需要几十个月才能掌握的汉语词汇量之任务目标,那么与传统上达成这种词汇量的任务目标所付出的成本比较,您说ECCode™软件100美元的这个定价是贵了呢,还是便宜了呢?显然,答案不言而喻。
实际上,ECCode™的想法是:既不想让学习汉语生字比学习其他拼音语言的新单词更难而导致学习汉语成为了一项马拉松比赛,也不想让学成汉语成为一项“贵族”活动。最好是用户查学拼音语言的新单词使用什么工具(例如键盘),那么他们就用什么工具方便地查学汉语生字。这样,在信息设备的使用方面,就可以让汉语学习不再迥异于其他语言的学习了。
总之,ECCode™的愿望就是让汉语在信息设备面前享受到“平等的电脑国民待遇”,让外国人充分感受到"汉语能力养成挺轻松"!
Q:Would foreign Chinese learners like to spend time remembering the Chinese Letter Table of ECCode™?
ANS:
This is an interesting question. While the motivation to learn Chinese is still strong at an initial
stage, if memory work is like a sprint rather than a marathon, then many people will be willing to spend
some time to memorize the Chinese Letter Table of ECCode™ based on the common sense of "Haste makes
waste".
As to the question raised by many Chinese teachers, an Italian female student from Capital Normal
University, after listening to the lecture of ECCode™, made a good answer with her experience of learning
to play piano when she was a child.
She explained:
In order to remember which piano key position in the music score each finger corresponds to, at that time,
the teacher had to paint children's fingernails in various colors in a very troublesome way to facilitate
memory. Although this method is very troublesome, it can make children remember the corresponding
relationship between fingers and piano keys quickly, which speeds up the their mastery of piano fingering.
So it's the same thing to spend some time memorizing the Chinese Letter Table of ECCode™, so that Chinese
learners can independently learn Chinese characters faster and expand their Chinese vocabulary quickly in
short time.
Listen, how well she said it! After listening to her explanation, as the author who doesn't want to
"boast", my suspended heart finally falls to the ground. After all, "Cat Tom cann't take the place of
Mouse Jerry to explain her attitude towards the problem that only she would encounter"!
问:外国人会愿意花时间记亿ECCode™汉字字母表吗?
答:
这是一个很有意思的问题。在学习汉语的动机尚处强烈的起始阶段,如果记忆工作犹如短跑而不是马拉松,那么相信很多人会基于“欲速不达”的常识而愿意花点时间记忆ECCode™的汉字字母表的。
对于很多中国老师提出的这个疑问,首都师范大学的一位意大利女学生在听了ECCode™的讲座之后,用她自己小时候学弹钢琴的经历做了很好的回答。
她解释道:
为了记住每个手指对应乐谱中的哪个钢琴键位,那时老师不得不每次很麻烦地把孩子们的手指甲涂成各种不同的颜色,以方便记忆。虽然这种方法很麻烦,但却能够让孩子们很快记住手指与钢琴键位的对应关系,这就加快了孩子们掌握钢琴指法的速度了。所以
花点时间记忆ECCode™汉字字母表,也是同样的道理,这样就可以方便汉语学习者更快地自主学习汉字、在短时间内快速扩大汉语词汇量了。
大家听听,她说得多好!听了她的解释,作为不想“自卖自夸”的笔者,我悬着的一颗心总算落了地。毕竟,“汤姆猫怎么能够代替杰瑞鼠来解答鼠类才会遇到的问题之感受呢”!
Q:Is Chinese character KEYLEARNING and Chinese culture teaching contained in Chinese characters contradictory?
ANS:
Some teachers of Chinese as a foreign language always feel that the method of "Chinese character
keylearning" based on keyboard, which disassembles Chinese characters to achieve the purpose of inputting
them into an information equipment, can not achieve the effect of "face-to-face teaching of Chinese
characters", which can spread the excellent Chinese culture hidden behind Chinese characters through the
explanation of them. Based on this doubt, they seem to have some resistance to the modern,simple, and
convenient way of Chinese character keylearning.
So, is there a contradiction between Chinese character keylearning and the teaching of Chinese culture
contained in Chinese characters?
To answer this question, we'd better take a look at how about the spread of Chinese culture (stories,
sayings...) hidden behind Chinese characters having gone before the invention of keylearning. We can try
to ask the Chinese around us to see how many people know:
●Why the Chinese character "富" is composed of ["宀"+"一"+"口"+"田"];
●Why the Chinese character "休" is composed of ["亻"+"木"];
●Why the Chinese character "穷" or "窮"is composed of ["穴"+"力"] or ["穴"+"身"+"弓"];
●......
In fact, the results of such surveys are not satisfactory. Perhaps when the respondents were learning
these Chinese characters, their teachers might have introduced the "Formation of Chinese Characters" of
hieroglyphs and the Chinese philosophy hidden behind them in class. However, in daily life, people usually
use their literal meanings more often and forget the stories and culture hidden behind these characters.
It can be seen that any test mentioned above can reveal the difficulties of teaching Chinese culture
hidden behind Chinese characters, which existed for a long time before the advent of Chinese keylearning
method.
Okay,another question comes: the emergence of the technology of Chinese character keylearning has
aggravated the difficulty of spreading the cultural and philosophical thoughts carried by Chinese
characters, or has it eased or even effectively solved this difficulty?
We know that before the emergence of Chinese character keylearning technology, there were many animation
resources or text materials on the Internet to introduce the cultural background story or Chinese
philosophy hidden behind Chinese characters. However, on the one hand, due to the fragmentation of these
resources, there isn't any e-dictionary covering the content from the meaning interpretation of the
Chinese characters to the thoughts and culture hidden behind them; on the other hand, the more critical
problem is that there is no efficient and convenient way for foreigners who are just learning Chinese to
put the Chinese characters they don't know or can't read into the electronic dictionary, so that they
cannot make full use of this kind of dictionaries containing Chinese cultural and philosophical thoughts.
In fact, this is the two indispensable aspects of Chinese cultural communication. In particular, if the
second problem is not well solved, even if the first problem is solved, it is only a low-efficiency way of
cultural communication which gets half the result with twice the effort. On the contrary, as for the
foreign Chinese learners, if the problem of Chinese character input and retrieval in the electronic
dictionary has been solved well, it will lay a technical foundation for the efficient use of the
electronic dictionary which includes the spread of Chinese culture and philosophical thoughts.
Therefore, we can judge from this that the emergence of Chinese keylearning technology will certainly
promote the internationalization of Chinese and the spread of Chinese culture carried by Chinese
characters.
In fact, even for us Chinese, we can also ask sucha a question: among today's educated people, why is the
proportion of people who master the Chinese culture and thought contained in Chinese characters far lower
than that of 70-80 years ago?!
In fact, it has both the negative effect of simplification of Chinese characters and the result of the
invisible hand of pragmatism operating in the dark. Especially when the pace of life becomes faster,
people generally cherish their time like gold, and strive for the short-term "yield rate" of time
investment, many people are often satisfied with knowing the meaning of Chinese characters and are not
willing to spend more time to understand why it is "this meaning", i.e., people tend to only seek
"results" instead of "causes", only seek to know what it is but not want to know why it is.
However, we can imagine:
If it is easy to understand the culture and philosophical thoughts hidden behind the Chinese characters,
and it can be easily accessible by using fragmented time, without the need to set up face-to-face teaching
courses with restricted range of target audience in a specific place at a specific time, what kind of
attitude will people have towards the culture and philosophical thoughts hidden behind the Chinese
characters which could help them to improve their personal accomplishment?
Obviously, if the "marginal benefit" of this fragmented time investment is very considerable, then
foreigners learning Chinese will also be willing to make some investment in language learning with a
higher cost-effectiveness ratio.
In a word, the Chinese character keylearning is not contradictory to the teaching of Chinese culture
contained in Chinese characters. On the contrary, people can make full use of the advantages of
information technology to promote the spread of Chinese culture carried by Chinese characters.
For example, after Chinese characters are easily keywritten into an Encyclopedia of Chinese characters in
the future- (only when Chinese characters are input into the computer can computer technology be used to
learn them; therefore, this step is a very important), they can watch the animation interpretation of
Chinese culture and philosophical thoughts hidden behind the Chinese characters anywhere and anytime.
There is no doubt that compared with the "face-to-face teaching" method with a small audience, the way of
Chinese character keylearning has more advantages in the use of time and space, and can promote the
dissemination of Chinese culture contained in Chinese characters more in depth and breadth.
问:汉字键学与教授蕴藏在汉字里面的中华文化相矛盾吗?
答:
有对外汉语教师总感觉着基于键盘的、把汉字拆解开来以达到输入信息设备目的的“汉字键学”方法,无法实现“面授汉字”所能达到的、借由汉字讲解来传播蕴藏在汉字背后的优秀中华文化之效果。基于这种疑惑,他们似乎对汉字键学这种现代化的汉字学习的简便方法始终抱有着某种抵触情绪。
那么,汉字键学与教授蕴藏在汉字里面的中华文化之间是相互矛盾的吗?
要想回答这个问题,我们最好先来看看在汉字键学方法问世之前,蕴藏在汉字背后的中华文化(故事、说法……)的传播情况怎么样吧。我们可以尝试着问问身边的中国人,看看有多少人知道:
●为什么“富”字是由【“宀”+“一”+“口”+“田”】组成的?
●为什么“休”字是由【“亻”+“木”】组成的?
●为什么“穷”或者“窮”字是由【“穴”+“力”】或者【“穴”+“身”+“弓”】组成的?
●……
实际上,这种调查的结果不会令人满意。也许被调查者当初在学习这些汉字的时候,他们的老师可能在课堂上介绍过象形文字的“造字法”及其背后所蕴藏的中国哲学思想。但是,在日常生活当中,人们更多地是用其字面释义而往往忘记了蕴藏在这些汉字背后的故事和文化。
可见,随便做一个上述所言的测试,就可以发现,教授汉字背后蕴藏的中华文化之困难,早在汉字键学方法问世之前就存在很久了。
那么,汉字键学技术的出现,是加重了汉字所承载的文化和哲学思想的传播困难了呢,还是缓解甚至有力地解决了这种困难?
我们知道,在汉字键学技术出现之前,网络上已经有很多动画资源或文字资料在介绍汉字所承载的文化背景故事或中国哲学思想了。但是,一方面由于这些资源的碎片化而没有在一本汉字字典当中揽括从字意解释到汉字所承载的思想文化方面的内容;另一个方面则更为关键的问题就是没有一种高效的、方便初学汉语的外国人把他不认识、不会读的汉字弄进电子字典的方法,使得他能够很方便地充分利用这种汉字文化思想字典。实际上,这是汉字文化传播不可缺少的两个方面的问题。尤其是第二个问题如果没有很好地得到解决的话,即使是解决了前面第一个问题,也只是事倍功半的一种低效率的文化传播方式。与之相反,对于学习汉语的外国人来说,如果汉字在电子字典当中的输入检索问题很好地得到了解决,那么,就为揽括了汉字文化思想传播的电子字典之高效的利用奠定了技术基础了。
所以,我们可以由此判断,汉字键学技术的出现,必将在促进汉语国际化的同时也将有助于促进汉字所承载的中华文化的传播。
其实,即使是针对我们中国人,也可以问问,为什么在今天的受教育者当中,掌握汉字蕴藏的中华文化思想的人数之比例要远远低于七八十年前呢?!
实际上,这既有简化字的负效应,也有实用主义这个“看不见的手”在暗中运作的结果。尤其是在生活节奏变得更快、人们普遍惜时如金、更强求时间投入的短期“收益率”的情况下,很多人也就往往只满足于知道汉字的意思而不愿意花更多的时间去了解为什么是“这个意思”了,即人们往往只求“果”而不求“因”、只求知其然而不想知其所以然了。
但是,我们可以设想一下:
如果了解汉字背后蕴藏的文化和哲学思想很容易、利用碎片化的时间即可触手可及、而无需在特定的时间去特定的地点开设受众面大受制约的“面授”课,那么,人们对于提高个人修养的、蕴藏在汉字背后的文化和哲学思想又会是一种什么样的态度呢?
显然,如果这种碎片化的时间投入的“边际效益”十分可观,那么学习汉语的外国人也会乐于为“费效比”更高的语言学习方面做点投入了。
总之,汉字键学不但与教授蕴藏在汉字里面的中华文化不矛盾。相反,人们还可以充分利用信息技术的优势来促进汉字所承载的中华文化的传播。例如,在未来把汉字便捷地键写进汉字大百科全书之后——(只有把汉字输进电脑了才能利用电脑技术学习汉字;所以说这是非常重要的一步),就可以随便观看有关汉字背后蕴藏的中华文化之动画诠释了。这种方法,比起受众面极小的“面授”方式来说,在时间和空间的利用方面则更具优势,更能在深度和广度上促进汉字所载中华文化的传播工作。
总之,汉字键学不但与教授蕴藏在汉字里面的中华文化不矛盾。相反,人们还可以充分利用信息技术的优势来促进汉字所承载的中华文化的传播。
例如,在未来把汉字便捷地键写进汉字大百科全书之后——(只有把汉字输进电脑了才能利用电脑技术学习汉字;所以说这是非常重要的一步),就可以随便观看有关汉字背后蕴藏的中华文化之动画诠释了。
毫无疑问,比起受众面极小的“面授”方式来说,汉字键学这种方法在时间和空间的利用方面则更具优势,更能在深度和广度上促进汉字所载中华文化的传播工作。
Q:What is the encoding process of ECCode™?
ANS:
The reason why ECCode™ is simple is that it has a strict flow path to compile the code of a
Chinese character. General users can master the principle of Chinese character encoding of ECCode™ with a
little practice. The following is a flow chart of the encoding of ECCode™. As for the specific encoding
method, please choose a corresponding Starter Tutorial according to your knowledge background of Chinese
characters (referring to "Download Starter
Tutorials of Keylearning and Keywriting for Chinese Characters").

Encoding Flow Chart of ECCode™
问:【汉易码™】的编码流程是什么?
答:
【汉易码™】之所以简单,就是其对汉字代码的编制有严格的流程可循。一般用户稍加练习,即可掌握其汉字编码原理。下图是【汉易码™】编码的流程图。具体编码方法请根据自己的汉字知识背景情况选择不同的入门教程(参见《汉字键学与键写入门教程下载》)。
