Best of the Yoyo Chinese Blog: Top Reading & Writing Chinese Characters Posts

Learning to read Chinese characters -  汉字 (hàn zì) - is one of the most intimidating parts about studying Chinese.  Sometimes Chinese characters scare people so much that they decide not to study this language at all!

The truth is, learning to read and write Chinese characters is one of the most fun, rewarding aspects of studying Chinese.  Because of how they work like building blocks, studying Chinese characters gets exponentially easier the more you learn.

Most importantly: learning to read and write Chinese characters reveals the beauty and logic behind this language.

We've gathered our top posts about reading and writing Chinese characters and put them all in this super post.  Bookmark this page!  These posts are like a free mini-course full of useful insights that will help you face the challenge of learning to read and write Chinese with confidence.

If you're ready to start learning Chinese characters, we hope you'll also check out the free lessons at the start of our Chinese character courses, which cover the most common 600 characters.  These 600 characters combine to form nearly 80% of all written Chinese, so check it out:

And if you've already been studying Chinese characters, take a look at our NEW Character Reader Course.  It's a totally unique course based on 3 original Chinese language comic books that will help you make the jump from memorizing characters to reading actual sentences and stories in Chinese.  

Try the first two units for free:

And now, without further ado, on to the top posts on the Yoyo Chinese blog about reading and writing Chinese characters! 

Discover the logic behind Chinese compound words, and how understanding the most common root characters can help you read Chinese words you've never seen before.

Learn how to text in Mandarin Chinese!  We collected some of the most popular Chinese texting slang, abbreviations, and emojis for you to use the next time you text a Chinese-speaking friend:

Learn how a handful of basic Chinese characters can unlock a Chinese menu, with lots of great insights to Chinese characters and food culture.

The ultimate guide for setting up a Chinese keyboard input on your computer or mobile device, with step-by-step instructions.

Handwriting Mandarin Chinese may not be necessary with modern technology, and is not required to learn to speak Chinese.  But there are many practical benefits to practicing handwriting Chinese characters - and being able to read handwritten Chinese!

Chinese signs are hard to understand, even for Mandarin learners who've studied Chinese characters. That's because these signs aren't written in everyday language. See 6 words you'll need to understand to decipher Chinese signs.

Many Chinese characters have a phonetic component that gives you a clue about its pronunciation.  Reading this post, you'll learn how to pronounce Chinese Characters you've never read before.

Learn how to tell which way to read these tricky Mandarin Chinese characters with more than one pronunciation.

Wrong Chinese tattoos can be one of the most hilarious things if you're aware of what the mistakes are. We've put together 5 of the funniest Chinese language errors ever inked onto someone's skin.

Are you trying to type the Mandarin Chinese character or 汉字 (hàn zì) for "female" - 女 (nǚ) -but it isn't coming up?  We'll tell you how to do it!

Step-by-step instructions to learn how to type Mandarin Chinese pinyin with tone marks on Windows or Mac OS.

Our 'Best of the Yoyo Chinese Blog' series pulls together the most read, liked, and shared posts from our blog, organized by topic.  

Check out our other "Best of Posts": 

• Best of the Yoyo Chinese Blog: Top Business and Working in China Posts 
• Best of the Yoyo Chinese Blog: Top Eating and Drinking Posts
• Best of the Yoyo Chinese Blog: Top Love and Dating in China Posts