Welcome to the World of Sinographs!
We are the leading education platform for Chinese characters.
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What are sinographs?
Sinographs (from Latin sino- ‘Chinese’ and Greek graph ‘sign’) is the proper term for what are commonly called Chinese characters. These are not only the basis of Chinese culture and language, but because of their adaptation in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, sinographs are also a key to the understanding of Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese languages and cultures.
In contrast to the Western concept of alphabets, each sinograph depicts a concrete object or an abstract idea by either pictographic or phonetic hints, or a combination of both.
Whether sinographs are mostly creatively drafted pictograms or mere phonetic indicators is very much a matter of debate and part of the mystery that enshrouds sinographs until today.
Should you study sinographs?
Whether you are learning Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese, or simply out of intellectual curiosity, on this website you will find all you need to master the exciting world of Chinese characters or sinographs.
There are about 2500 sinographs in general use in China and Japan today. While most of these sinographs are identical in their traditional, common forms, the Chinese and Japanese sinographs differ in their degree of simplification. Both in China and Japan, a knowledge of approximately 1000 sinographs is considered the literacy threshold. On the other hand, by mastering about 6000 sinographs, your knowledge is comparable to the most learned native Chinese or Japanese speakers, and superior to the average Chinese or Japanese native tongue.
At Sinographs.com, you may study and get certified according to 16 levels (5500 sinographs in total), with levels 1..9 corresponding to the required knowledge for the Chinese language test HSK in its newest 2021 form, and levels 10..15 corresponding to the required knowledge according to the HCZ test for advanced native speakers of Chinese.
Your Journey to Master the Chinese Script
- Learn about the history of sinographs in our introductory overview and our recommended literature.
- Learn how to efficiently and effectively learn Chinese in our popular e-learning course on Udemy.
- Study sinographs along different levels in our e-learning courses.
- Practise reading and writing with the flashcards available in our online-shop.
- Get certified by passing one of our online-exams or offline by visiting one of the partnering testing centers in China.
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