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Days 1-3: Memorizing Radicals#

Distribution Patterns of Radicals#

Wubi is based on the five basic strokes in Chinese characters: "horizontal, vertical, left-falling, right-falling, and turning." All Chinese characters and radicals are composed of these five strokes.

For example, the character "王" (king) is also a radical. How can beginners quickly find the position of the radical "王" on the keyboard? Let's continue reading to find out.

Keyboard Partition#

The five strokes "horizontal, vertical, left-falling, right-falling, and turning" are divided into 5 groups, and the keyboard is divided into 5 groups accordingly:

① Horizontal Group (一): G F D S A ② Vertical Group (丨): H J K L M ③ Left-Falling Group (丿): T R E W Q ④ Right-Falling Group (丶): Y U I O P ⑤ Turning Group (乛): N B V C X

The remaining Z is a learning key that can replace any of the 25 keys. The usage of Z will be introduced in the next section.

Let's take a look at the character "王" (king). The first stroke is "一" (horizontal stroke), based on which we can determine that it will appear in the first group.

The horizontal group still consists of 5 keys. How can we determine the specific position of the radical "王" in the horizontal group? Clever learners may have already figured it out. We can further divide the 5 keys in the horizontal group into 5 subgroups: "horizontal, vertical, left-falling, right-falling, and turning." Looking at the second stroke of the character "王，" which is also "一" (horizontal stroke), we can locate its key as the first key in the horizontal group, G.

Based on this principle, we can summarize it in a table:

Note: This distribution pattern is applicable to most radicals and serves as a distribution reference, but it is not 100% accurate!

Distribution Chart of Radicals#

Based on the actual distribution chart, let's verify a few radicals:

Conforming radicals: 大 (D), 女 (V), 言 (Y), 禾 (T), 人 (W)...

Non-conforming radicals: 木 (S), 日 (J), 立 (U), 金 (Q)...

Mnemonic Phrases#

It is not recommended to memorize mnemonic phrases, as even the author hasn't fully memorized them. Once you understand the patterns, practice more to master them.

11: 王旁青头戋五一 (G-11, F-12, D-13, S-14, A-15) 12: 土士二干十寸雨，一二还有革字底 (H-21, J-22, K-23, L-24, M-25) 13: 大犬三羊古石厂 (T-31, R-32, E-33, W-34, Q-35) 14: 木丁西 (Y-41, U-42, I-43, O-44, P-45) 15: 工戈草头右框七 (N-51, B-52, V-53, C-54, X-55)

Study Suggestions#

Mastering the distribution patterns of radicals can complete over 50% of the work in memorizing radicals. The remaining 50% requires continuous practice. The best way to memorize radicals is to directly remember their positions. For example, when you see "大" (big), you should immediately think of the third key in the horizontal group, and press it with your middle finger.

Day 4: Principles of Character Decomposition#

Believe me, just by reaching this page, you are already on the path to success. After going through the tedious practice of radicals, the following content will become much easier to understand.

Principles of Decomposition#

Disassembling without Connection#

This is relatively easy to understand. For example, when disassembling the character "好" (good), it is "女" (woman) + "子" (child), which follows a logical order.

Disassembling without Intersection#

Following the previous principle, if radicals must be connected, try to avoid intersections.

For example, when disassembling the character "天" (sky), it should be "一" (horizontal stroke) + "大" (big), not "二" (two) + "人" (person).

Prioritizing Larger Radicals#

When disassembling characters, the goal is to use the fewest radicals to form the character, so try to use larger radicals whenever possible.

For example, when disassembling the character "克" (overcome), the correct decomposition is "古" (ancient) + "儿" (child), not "十" (ten) + "口" (mouth) + "儿" (child).

Writing Order#

Finally, the typing order should be consistent with the writing order. This involves elementary school knowledge, so you can consult your Chinese language teacher. In summary, it is "from left to right, from top to bottom, outside before inside," and so on...

Four-Stroke Input#

Four-stroke input is the most traditional input method, where any Chinese character can be entered using four keys. Of course, there are many shortcuts, which will be discussed in the next section. This section focuses on laying a solid foundation. Four-stroke input can be divided into the following cases:

Characters with 4 or More Radicals#

Enter the first, second, third, and last radicals of the character.

For example, "输" (lose) = "车" (car) + "人" (person) + "一" (horizontal stroke) + "刂" (knife).

Characters with Less Than 4 Radicals#

Enter all the radicals of the character and the "check digit."

The rules for the check digit are as follows:

1. The "zone" of the last stroke of the character is the check digit, which corresponds to the "horizontal zone," "vertical zone," and so on, introduced in the previous section.

2. The structure of the character corresponds to the key in the zone: left-right structure corresponds to 1; up-down structure corresponds to 2; other structures correspond to 3.

For example, when entering the character "吉" (lucky), it is decomposed into "士" (scholar) + "口" (mouth) + F.

The check digit F corresponds to the horizontal zone, and the character has an up-down structure, so it corresponds to the 2nd key in the horizontal zone, which is "F."

Characters that are Radicals Themselves#

First, type the radical itself, and then enter the first, second, and last strokes of the radical.

For example, "五" (five) = "五" (five) + "一" (horizontal stroke) + "丨" (vertical stroke) + "一" (horizontal stroke).

Characters that are the First Radical of the Key#

Each key corresponds to a key-name radical, which is the first radical on that key. There is no specific rule to follow, just remember them. There are 25 radicals in total.

For example, the character "金" (gold) is the key-name radical of Q, so you can directly enter "Q" four times.

Stroke Input#

This is a more advanced operation and is rarely used in practice.

For example, to enter "丿" (left-falling stroke), enter "丿" (left-falling stroke) twice (T) + "L" twice.

Phrase Input#

Two-Character Phrases#

Enter the first two codes of the first character and the first two codes of the second character. This is commonly used in practice!

For example, "检验" (inspection) is decomposed into "木" (wood) + "人" (person) + "马" (horse) + "人" (person).

Three-Character Phrases#

Enter the first code of the first character, the first code of the second character, and the first two codes of the third character.

For example, "老古董" (antique) = "土" (earth) + "古" (ancient) + "艹" (grass) + "丿" (left-falling stroke).

Four-Character Idioms#

Enter the first code of each character.

For example, "天天向上" (always making progress) = "一" (horizontal stroke) + "一" (horizontal stroke) + "丿" (left-falling stroke) + "上" (up).

Phrases with More Than Four Characters#

Enter the first, second, third, and first code of the last character.

For example, "中华人民共和国" (People's Republic of China) = "口" (mouth) + "亻" (person) + "人" (person) + "口" (mouth).

Usage of the Learning Key Z#

Wubi only uses 25 out of the 26 letters of the alphabet, with Z being a learning key that can represent any key for input.

For example, if you want to enter the character "数" (count), you should enter "米" (rice) + "女" (woman) + "夂" (go), but you can't remember the position of the radical "女." In this case, you can enter O+Z+T, and the input method will provide all possible combinations in the candidate box, showing "数 vt." Based on the prompt, you will know that the radical "女" corresponds to V.

Study Suggestions#

Today's learning content may be a bit miscellaneous, so let's summarize:

The principles of character decomposition generally follow people's natural writing habits. Once you understand them, most of your decompositions will be correct based on your own understanding.

For four-stroke input, understanding the basic principles is sufficient. In practice, very few characters require four strokes to input because commonly used characters have been simplified to allow you to input them in 2-3 strokes. The check digit can be a bit tricky, but it is rarely used for commonly used characters.

Phrase input is a commonly used feature in practice, especially for two-character phrases. Basically, you can input two characters in 4 codes!

Day 5: Level 1 and Level 2 Abbreviated Codes#

After learning about radicals and the basic knowledge, you are finally ready to start typing. Since four-stroke input from yesterday is too cumbersome, today we will learn about faster input methods that only require 1-2 keys to input over 600 commonly used characters. Keep in mind that there are only about 3,000 commonly used characters in Chinese.

Level 1 Abbreviated Codes#

Combining the distribution patterns of radicals with the 25 most commonly used characters, we can create level 1 abbreviated codes. Consider it a bonus, as you only need to remember these 25 characters.

Once you memorize these 25 characters, you will find that level 1 abbreviated codes are very convenient. For example, you can input the phrase "我是中国人" (I am Chinese) using only level 1 abbreviated codes.

Level 2 Abbreviated Codes#

There is no need to memorize level 2 abbreviated codes. Just follow the principles of character decomposition to input them. When you input two characters and find that the character you want to input is already in the first position of the candidate box, congratulations, it is a level 2 abbreviated code!

Practice#

https://wubigame.yantuz.cn/

Days 6-7: Consolidation Practice#

By now, you have learned Wubi, but you may still type a bit slowly. You may also encounter some frustrating moments while using Wubi, thinking "Why is this character decomposed like this?" But these are temporary. Through the usage and practice in the fourth stage, you will gradually master this input method.

If during these two days, you bravely replace your Pinyin input method and transform from struggling to fast typing, as a skilled worker, you will find that the theoretical knowledge mentioned earlier is just clouds. You can directly translate a thought into finger movements without thinking about the position of radicals or whether to add a check digit, and so on...

Translated from the website: https://yantuz.cn