A Study of Chinese character acquisition in the digital age

Abstract

The present article explores the ongoing changes in Chinese character acquisition, resulting from the frequent use of multimedia for learning purposes. The current state of character study among Romanian students is presented by taking into account the great difference between the Chinese script and the languages with orthographic writing systems. When learning characters, one should assimilate their form, sound and meaning as a whole. The mechanisms of character study are explained through the character-centred theory, the word-centred theory and by neuroscience. This article analyses the positive and negative influences on Chinese character acquisition brought on by the increasingly prevalent use of multimedia devices, including professional websites and character handwriting applications on smartphones.