Learning Chinese will re-wire your brain. OK, this isn't a scientific study I'm referring to - it's only my own experience. But check whether you would pass or fail ...
I was walking through London's St Katherine Docks recently, and there was a little pedestrian bridge near Dicken's Inn. I saw this little sign at the one end ... which basically means that mothers should look after their kids. I guess.
But that's not what I read. Nope. What did you think when you saw the sign (pictured to the right)?
Yeah, me too. I immediately thought about the character for "good" in Mandarin - 好 (hǎo). This is made up of 女 (woman) and 子 (child).
So I was chuckling at myself, taking this picture ... and all the people walking past looked at me really strangely!
(Now would probably be the right time to read a previous post on How to end with 'hǎo'.)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
OK, let's now have some fun ... what other signs make you think of Chinese characters?
- For example, this character would probably be "train". Below I see "fire" and "car". The Chinese word for train is: 火车 (huǒchē, i.e. fire car)
- What could the following signs be? Leave your ideas as a comment below ...
iGoogle collection of "Learn Chinese" feeds
