ABOUT THE SPEAKER
ShaoLan Hsueh - Technologist, entrepreneur
ShaoLan want to help people understand China's culture and language, and to bridge the gap between East and West.

Why you should listen

ShaoLan is an entrepreneur, angel investor, geek, writer, traveller and dreamer. She is the founder and creator of Chineasy, which she launched after her TED Talk in Long Beach, California in 2013.

In just over three years, she has built Chineasy into one of the most popular methods of learning Chinese across the Internet with several hundred thousand fellow learners. Her first book, Chineasy, The New Way to Read Chinese, was launched in March 2014 and has been translated into 18 languages. Her next book, Chineasy Everyday, was launched in March 2016.

ShaoLan is a tech entrepreneur with extensive business experience. At the age of 22, while studying for her MBA, she wrote four best-selling books on software in Taiwan, and her books were bundled by Microsoft. She co-founded pAsia, one of the major players on Internet in Asia in 1990’s. After a second masters degree at the University of Cambridge, she began Caravel Capital in 2005 to advise young tech companies.

Chineasy represents a return for ShaoLan to her artistic upbringing and in many ways a design project. This project is the culmination of her life’s journey through the East and West. Her aim is to help people to understand China, Chinese culture, its language and to bridge the gap between East and West. Her next step is to help Chinese children to enjoy and appreciate the beauty of their own language. 

 

More profile about the speaker
ShaoLan Hsueh | Speaker | TED.com
TED2013

ShaoLan: Learn to read Chinese ... with ease!

Aprende a ler chinés ... con facilidade!

Filmed:
4,781,742 views

Para os estranxeiros aprender a falar chinés é unha difícil tarefa. Mais aprendermos a ler os bonitos, a miúdo complexos ideogramas do chinés escrito pode ter menos dificulade. ShaoLan durante unha simple lección axudanos a recoñecer as ideas que hai detrás de cada ideograma e o seu significado -- construíndoos desde as súas formas máis simples até os conceptos máis complexos. Ela chámao: Chineasy
- Technologist, entrepreneur
ShaoLan want to help people understand China's culture and language, and to bridge the gap between East and West. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
Growing up in Taiwan
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Crieime en Taiwan
00:14
as the daughter of a calligrapher,
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sendo a filla dunha calígrafa,
00:16
one of my most treasured memories
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unha das miñas máis prezadas lembranzas
00:18
was my mother showing me the beauty, the shape
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é a miña nai aprendéndome
a beleza, a feitura
00:21
and the form of Chinese characters.
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e a forma dos ideogramas chineses.
00:24
Ever since then, I was fascinated
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Desde entón, fiquei fascinada
00:27
by this incredible language.
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por esta incríbel linguaxe.
00:29
But to an outsider, it seems to be
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Mais para un estraño semella
00:32
as impenetrable as the Great Wall of China.
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tan impenetrábel coma a muralla chinesa.
00:35
Over the past few years, I've been wondering
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Desde hai xa tempo levo cavilando que,
00:38
if I can break down this wall,
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se son quen de fender esta muralla,
00:40
so anyone who wants to understand and appreciate
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así quen queira entender e aprezar
00:42
the beauty of this sophisticated language could do so.
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a beleza desta sofisticada
linguaxe poderá facelo.
00:46
I started thinking about how a new, fast method
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Dei en pensar que un método novo, rápido
00:51
of learning Chinese might be useful.
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para aprender chinés podía ser útil.
00:54
Since the age of five, I started to learn how to draw
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Desde os cinco anos empecei
a aprender a debuxar
00:58
every single stroke for each character
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cada trazo de cada idiograma
01:01
in the correct sequence.
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na súa secuencia correcta.
01:03
I learned new characters every day
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Apredín novos idiogramas cada día
01:05
during the course of the next 15 years.
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durante os 15 anos seguintes.
01:08
Since we only have five minutes,
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E como só temos cinco minutos,
01:10
it's better that we have a fast and simpler way.
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é mellor que utilicemos
un xeito rápido e simple.
01:14
A Chinese scholar would understand 20,000 characters.
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Un erudito chinés recoñece
20.000 idiogramas.
01:17
You only need 1,000 to understand the basic literacy.
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Só é necesario 1000
para entender un texto básico.
01:22
The top 200 will allow you to comprehend
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Os 200 máis usados nos permitirán entender
01:26
40 percent of basic literature --
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o 40% da literatura máis asequíble,
01:29
enough to read road signs, restaurant menus,
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dabondo para ler sinais de tráfico, menús,
01:32
to understand the basic idea of the web pages
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as ideas máis básica das web
01:35
or the newspapers.
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ou dos xornais.
01:37
Today I'm going to start with eight
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Hoxe empezarei con oito
01:39
to show you how the method works.
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para amosarlles como funciona o método
01:41
You are ready?
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¿Preparados?
01:43
Open your mouth as wide as possible
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Abran a boca todo o posíbel
01:46
until it's square.
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até que sexa un cadrado
01:48
You get a mouth.
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Velaí unha boca.
01:50
This is a person going for a walk.
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Esta é unha persoa camiñando.
01:53
Person.
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Persoa
01:57
If the shape of the fire is a person
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Se a forma do lume é unha persoa
01:59
with two arms on both sides,
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con dous brazos a ámbolos lados,
02:02
as if she was yelling frantically,
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coma se estivese berrando desesperada,
02:04
"Help! I'm on fire!" --
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Axuda, ¡estou ardendo!
02:07
This symbol actually is originally from the shape of the flame,
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A orixe deste ideograma
procede da forma dunha chama
02:11
but I like to think that way. Whichever works for you.
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mais a min me gusta imaxinalo así.
02:15
This is a tree.
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Esta é unha árbore:
02:18
Tree.
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Árbore
02:20
This is a mountain.
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Isto é unha montaña:
Montaña
02:24
The sun.
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O sol.
02:29
The moon.
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A lúa.
02:34
The symbol of the door
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O ideograma de porta parece un par
02:36
looks like a pair of saloon doors in the wild west.
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de portas dun bar do salvaxe oeste.
02:41
I call these eight characters radicals.
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Chamo a estes oito ideogramas: radicais.
02:45
They are the building blocks
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Son os bloques de construción
02:47
for you to create lots more characters.
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para crearmos moitos máis ideogramas
02:51
A person.
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A persoa.
02:53
If someone walks behind, that is "to follow."
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Se alguén camiña detrás significa: seguir.
02:57
As the old saying goes,
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Como di o vello refrán:
02:59
two is company, three is a crowd.
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Dous son compañía e tres son multitude.
03:03
If a person stretched their arms wide,
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Se unha persoa estrica ao ancho os brazos,
03:06
this person is saying, "It was this big."
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esta persoa está a dicir:
"éra así de grande".
03:10
The person inside the mouth, the person is trapped.
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Unha persoa dentro dunha
boca está atrapada,
03:14
He's a prisoner, just like Jonah inside the whale.
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É prisioneira, como Xonás na balea.
03:20
One tree is a tree. Two trees together, we have the woods.
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Unha árbore é unha árbore.
Dúas árbores: un bosque
03:24
Three trees together, we create the forest.
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Tres árbores xuntas: unha selva.
03:27
Put a plank underneath the tree, we have the foundation.
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Pon unha prancha debaixo d
a árbore e tes unha cimentación.
03:31
Put a mouth on the top of the tree, that's "idiot." (Laughter)
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Unha boca enriba dunha árbore
e tes un idiota (risas)
03:35
Easy to remember,
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Doado de lembrar
03:37
since a talking tree is pretty idiotic.
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xa que unha árbore faladora
é algo estúpido.
03:42
Remember fire?
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¿Lembran o lume?
03:44
Two fires together, I get really hot.
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Dous lumes xuntos é calor
03:47
Three fires together, that's a lot of flames.
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tres lumes xuntos son moitas lapas.
03:50
Set the fire underneath the two trees, it's burning.
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O lume debaixo de dúas árbores: arder.
03:54
For us, the sun is the source of prosperity.
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Para nós o sol é unha fonte
de prosperidade
03:58
Two suns together, prosperous.
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Dous soles xuntos: próspero
04:00
Three together, that's sparkles.
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Tres xuntos: muxicas.
04:02
Put the sun and the moon shining together,
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O sol e a lúa lucindo xuntos:
04:04
it's brightness.
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brillo.
04:05
It also means tomorrow, after a day and a night.
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Significa tamén: "mañá",
despois do día e da noite.
04:10
The sun is coming up above the horizon. Sunrise.
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O sol que ascende sobre
o horizonte: amencer
04:14
A door. Put a plank inside the door,
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Unha porta. Unha prancha
dentro dunha porta
04:17
it's a door bolt.
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é o pechadura.
04:19
Put a mouth inside the door, asking questions.
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Unha boca dentro dunha porta: preguntar
04:22
Knock knock. Is anyone home?
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Toc, Toc, ¿hai alguén na casa?
04:26
This person is sneaking out of a door,
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Esta persoa está a axexar desde a porta,
04:28
escaping, evading.
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escapar, fuxir.
04:31
On the left, we have a woman.
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Á esquerda, temos unha muller.
04:33
Two women together, they have an argument.
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Dúas mulleres xuntas teñen unha discusión
04:36
(Laughter)
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(risas)
04:38
Three women together, be careful, it's adultery.
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Tres mulleres xuntas, coidado: adulterio.
04:44
So we have gone through almost 30 characters.
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Levamos case 30 idiogramas.
04:48
By using this method, the first eight radicals
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Con este método con 8 idiogramas
04:51
will allow you to build 32.
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construiremos 32.
04:53
The next group of eight characters
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O próximo grupo de 8 idiogramas
04:55
will build an extra 32.
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formará outros 32.
04:57
So with very little effort,
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Así que con moi pouco esforzo
04:59
you will be able to learn a couple hundred characters,
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seremos quen de aprender
varios centenares,
05:02
which is the same as a Chinese eight-year-old.
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igual que un neno chinés de oito anos.
05:04
So after we know the characters, we start building phrases.
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Despois de saber os idiogramas
empezamos coas frases.
05:08
For example, the mountain and the fire together,
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Por exemplo: a montaña e o lume xuntos,
05:10
we have fire mountain. It's a volcano.
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temos unha montaña de lume: un volcán.
05:13
We know Japan is the land of the rising sun.
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Sabemos que Xapón é
a terra do sol nacente.
05:17
This is a sun placed with the origin,
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O Sol seguido de Orixe,
05:20
because Japan lies to the east of China.
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porque Xapón está ao leste de China.
05:23
So a sun, origin together, we build Japan.
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Con Sol e Orixe facemos Xapón.
05:27
A person behind Japan, what do we get?
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Unha persoa detrás de Xapón, ¿que temos?
05:30
A Japanese person.
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Un xaponés
05:33
The character on the left is two mountains
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O idiograma da esquerda son dúas montañas
05:36
stacked on top of each other.
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unha enriba da outra.
05:38
In ancient China, that means in exile,
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Na antiga China significaba: exilio,
05:41
because Chinese emperors, they put their political enemies
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porque os emperadores
enviaban os seus inimigos
05:44
in exile beyond mountains.
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políticos alén das montañas.
05:46
Nowadays, exile has turned into getting out.
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Hoxe significa: saír
05:51
A mouth which tells you where to get out
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Unha boca que nos di por onde saír
05:54
is an exit.
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é unha saída.
05:56
This is a slide to remind me that I should stop talking
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Esta é a diapositiva que
me indica que debo parar
05:59
and get off of the stage. Thank you.
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de falar e saír do escenario. Grazas
06:01
(Applause)
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(aplauso)
Translated by Xosé María Moreno
Reviewed by Alicia Ferreiro

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
ShaoLan Hsueh - Technologist, entrepreneur
ShaoLan want to help people understand China's culture and language, and to bridge the gap between East and West.

Why you should listen

ShaoLan is an entrepreneur, angel investor, geek, writer, traveller and dreamer. She is the founder and creator of Chineasy, which she launched after her TED Talk in Long Beach, California in 2013.

In just over three years, she has built Chineasy into one of the most popular methods of learning Chinese across the Internet with several hundred thousand fellow learners. Her first book, Chineasy, The New Way to Read Chinese, was launched in March 2014 and has been translated into 18 languages. Her next book, Chineasy Everyday, was launched in March 2016.

ShaoLan is a tech entrepreneur with extensive business experience. At the age of 22, while studying for her MBA, she wrote four best-selling books on software in Taiwan, and her books were bundled by Microsoft. She co-founded pAsia, one of the major players on Internet in Asia in 1990’s. After a second masters degree at the University of Cambridge, she began Caravel Capital in 2005 to advise young tech companies.

Chineasy represents a return for ShaoLan to her artistic upbringing and in many ways a design project. This project is the culmination of her life’s journey through the East and West. Her aim is to help people to understand China, Chinese culture, its language and to bridge the gap between East and West. Her next step is to help Chinese children to enjoy and appreciate the beauty of their own language. 

 

More profile about the speaker
ShaoLan Hsueh | Speaker | TED.com