This is such a great example of design and illustration being used for a creative social cause! Shaolan is an incredibly multi-talented lady who, together with Brave New World and illustrator Noma Bar, has created Chineasy to “bring down the great wall of Chinese language and allow Eastern and Western cultures to communicate freely”.
“Chineasy’s goal is to allow people to learn to read Chinese easily by recognising characters through simple illustrations. The magical power of the Chineasy method is that by learning one small set of building blocks, students can build many new words, characters, and phrases. Master a few sets of building blocks and your learning will accelerate to a whole new level. With very little effort, learners will be able to read several hundred Chinese characters and phrases and gain a deeper understanding of the historical and cultural influences behind the vocabulary.”
It’s really fascinating when you start going through it, the images and individual building blocks of bigger words and phrases really paint a picture of the thinking behind the language and the culture, and there are helpful pronunciation soundbites to go with each word.
Check it out for yourself and maybe learn some Chinese!
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