​华裔文

Hwayih Woen

A Complete Guide to Writing English in Chinese Characters

HOW TO USE THIS WEBSITE

An Online Reference Tool

As the title suggests, this website is a complete guide on how to use Chinese characters to write the English language.  The user from the outset must clearly understand this point because the layman's stereotypical misunderstanding conflates this system with the construction of an entirely new and bona fide language.  That is to say, the content of this online reference is not a constructed language in the tradition of, for example, Volapük, Esperanto, or Ido. Rather, what is presented here is strictly an orthographic system, one that will enable the knowledgeable user to read a string of Chinese characters and read aloud a perfectly formulated spoken English sentence on the basis of what is functionally—though not technically—a one-to-one graphical-spoken correspondence.  

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The full spectrum of this system exists as a series of interlocking intersections across multiple linguistic and orthographic concepts; however, full and immediate functionality only requires the student to learn the content contained within the "Phonetic Characters" tab. Therefore, for those seeking to immediately begin studying the system for the purpose of achieving base-level functionality as soon as possible, skipping directly to the "Phonetic Characters" tab while disregarding any of the expository material in the "Introduction" tab and/or any of the expansionary material elsewhere on the site is certainly an option. Precisely speaking, this “base-level” functionality—the exclusive use and implementation of the content in the "Phonetic Characters" tab—is what is known as the “junior script,” according to the internal nomenclature of this system.  For an immediate step-by-step guide to learning the Hwayih Woen Junior Script, please refer to the Hwayih Woen Junior Script Worktext.

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However, should the reader intend to progress into the “senior script”—the full implementation of all the design layers inherent to the system—the author firmly recommends a thorough review of the "Introduction" tab and the development history contained therein. Armed with the knowledge of these sections, the reader is in an extremely favorable position to comprehend and make use of the rest of the material contained within this online reference. 

Regarding Phonetic Characters:

Everyone knows that English has 26 letters; however, hardly any native English speaker knows that the language contains 48 sounds, divided across 3 different subcategories.  Hwayih Woen assigns 48 unique Chinese characters to represent these 48 English sounds on a strict 1:1 sound-to-symbol ratio with no exceptions.  This enables the user to phonetically represent on paper any English word, and—by logical extention—any English sentence.  As was already previously mentioned above, this practice of writing out English words and sentences on the basis of sound instead of spelling is called the "Junior Script," and is the natural starting place to begin learning the Hwayih Woen system.  

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This website lists out, free of charge, all 48 phonetic characters grouped within their respective subcategories to facilitate easily repeatable reference look-up.  However, for those individuals who have zero prior experience with Chinese characters and/or find the complexity of the 48 Phonetic Characters to be too overwhelming, this website is pleased to provide a full and comprehensive worktext that demonstrates the tangibility of each Phonetic Character stroke-by-stroke in a way that ensures reliable retention. 

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Please click below for further details.

Regarding Ligatures:

Chinese characters are infamous throughout the entire world because they represent meaning instead of sound.  The only other orthography to accomplish this feat was Egyptian Hieroglyphics, and to the Western imagination, the notion of learning a script completely divorced from any kind of alphabet is terrifyingly overwhelming, not least of which is due to the thousands upon thousands of unique "pictures" that one must memorize in order to be functionally literate even at the most basic level.  This is usually where students of Hwayih Woen arrive at a plateau of sorts in their studies.  After mastering the Junior Script, the elation of being able to write entire documents in Chinese characters starts to gradually ameliorate, because the student turns to a piece of formally published documentation in characters and realizes that he still has no way to decipher the meaning.  This is where the Hwayih Woen ligatures enter the picture. 

Once an individual is able to write out an entire English sentence in the Junior Script, the next step is to begin substituting specific, commonly used words for Chinese logograms based upon their meaning.  In addition to providing an in-depth explanation as to what a "ligature" even is, this website also lists out several common use words—free of charge—along with the logograms that represent them, grouped within their respective subcategories according to grammatical function to facilitate easily repeatable reference look-up.  However, for those who have mastered the Junior Script, but find the long list of ligatures and their subdivisions to be too overwhelming, this website is pleased to provide a Hwayih Woen translation of the McGuffey Eclectic Readers series, which is a natural starting point for sustainably incorporating Chinese characters based upon meaning into one's vocabulary on a scalable, step-by-step sequence. 

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Please click below for further details. 

Support the Project!

A Word from the Creator

Monetary viability is the lifeblood of any enterprise.  My objective is to dedicate myself to this project on a full-time basis as soon as possible.  This will enable me to expand upon the Hwayih Woen system even further and ensure, on an accelerated timeframe, that there is always more content to which the end-user can move on.  The BEST way, by far, to support the Hwayih Woen project is to subscribe to this website's SubscribeStar page, where you will find a growing collection of carefully curated and designed curriculum to master Chinese characters.  In the context of casual discourse, I refer to this collection as the "premium content paywall" to contrast the extensive archive of free material already made available on this website.  Given the plethora of grift that exists across multiple internet platforms, I believe it to be of the utmost importance to ensure that substantive value lies on the other end of any monetary purchase.  If, however, for some reason, you find a subscription to be irrelevant to your current needs, or, after having subscribed, you are still able and willing to monetarily contribute further to the continued existence of this endeavor, I timidly present a Gofundme page to facilitate one-time donations, the funds of which will function as proverbial "start-up capital" for the purpose of transforming this platform into a self-sustaining business model.  

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My sincerest thanks for your consideration. 

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~J.Y. Cheung