A Thematic Learning Approach – Exploring Location Words in Chinese Characters

Learning Chinese characters can be challenging due to the complexity and diversity of the symbols. One effective approach is the topic-oriented characters learning method, which focuses on specific themes to make the process more efficient and engaging.

In English and many other languages, people discuss locations using prepositions. In Chinese, 方位词 (fāng wèi cí), or nouns of locality, are used for this purpose. Here is a list of the most common words to describe location:

• 上 (shàng) – up
• 下 (xià)– down
• 里 (lǐ) – inside
• 外 (wài) – outside
• 旁 (páng) – near
• 左 (zuǒ) – left
• 右 (yóu) – right

If you have read my previous post about Chinese numbers and the names of months, you already know how the multiplicative principle works in the Chinese word-building process. For words of locations, it works the same way. Just put面 (miàn) – surface or 边 (biān) – side after the character itself. Here is a list of how it would be used in Chinese:

• 上面 / 上边 (shàng miàn / shàng biān) – top, above
• 下面 / 下边 (xià miàn / xià biān) – below, under
• 里面 / 里边 (lǐ miàn / lǐ biān) – inside
• 外面 / 外边 (wài miàn/ wàibiān) – outside
• 旁边 (páng biān) – nearby
• 左边 (zuǒ biān) – on the left
• 右边 (yòu biān) – on the right

Demonstrative pronouns can also be combined with 边 (biān):

• 这边 (zhè biān) – here (literally means “this side”)
• 那边 (nà biān) – there (literally means “that side”)

After learning just twelve Chinese characters, you can construct many useful Chinese words and phrases. Here’s one more word to add to your vocabulary:

• 无边 (wú biān) – endless, boundless

无 (wú) is used to negate some Chinese words and can be translated into English with the suffix “-less” or prefixes like “non-” or “un-.” Be careful not to confuse it with 五 (wǔ), which means “five” (remember, we learned about it last week?).