Playbooks
An App That Highlights the Phonetic Component First
Want an app that highlights a character's phonetic component before you draw it? Decoding the parts first makes dense characters learnable. Here is how it helps.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
Etymology Breakdown Plus Writing: the Right Combo
An algorithm that breaks a character into its etymological parts is a learning aid, not a substitute for writing it. Here is how decomposition and recall fit together.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
Outlier Etymology vs Skritter Tracking: Which You Need
Outlier explains why characters are built as they are; Skritter drills writing them. They are not rivals but two halves. Here is how understanding and recall fit together.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
The Etymology Method vs Rote for Memorizing Hanzi
Etymology makes characters meaningful; rote makes them a grind. Here is how they compare, and why understanding plus from-memory writing beats blind repetition.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Essays
Outlier Linguistics + a Writing App: a Pairing
Outlier Linguistics explains why characters look the way they do. A writing app makes you produce them from memory. They are not integrated, but they pair beautifully. Here is how.
Lawrence Arya··5 min
Research
Which Part of a Hanzi Character Holds Its Meaning?
No single stroke carries a character's emotional meaning. In Hanzi, meaning lives in components and radicals, especially the heart radical. Here is how to read it, and why writing reveals it.
Lawrence Arya··5 min