LSESNET Web Blog

Most people believe that dyslexia occurs only in alphabet- or phonology-based languages such as English and German.  This is not true.  Dyslexia can occur in any language.

Dyslexia is a language-based disorder involving difficulties in symbol-sound correspondence (phonological processing), the structure of words (morphological processing), and learning to read in alphabetic languages.  It is a condition where the brain is unable to properly translate visual images and sounds into language.  Although learning in Chinese is different from learning English, dyslexia does occur in some Chinese children, but affects them in different ways.

Chinese dyslexia is a relatively common condition among children in Singapore.  Confusion between the English and Chinese phonetic systems can arise when Chinese children learn to read and write English as well.

Your child may have Chinese dyslexia if he manifests these problems:

1. confusion with similar-looking Chinese characters;
2. difficulty in understanding that the same Chinese characters can have different pronunciation and meaning;
3. difficulty in understanding that the meaning of a Chinese character may depend on its context;
4. inability to comprehend that different Chinese characters may have the same pronunciation but different tones or the same pronunciation and tone but different meanings;
5. reversal problems with writing Chinese characters, i.e. difficulty in reading Chinese radicals vertically or horizontally; and
6. problems with the proper sequences of strokes in writing Chinese characters.

Experts recommend these tips:

1. Teach your child at an early age how to read and write using simplified Chinese characters.
2. Familiarize your child with the Chinese language system by teaching him to read with the help of hanyu pinyin.
3. Teach “form study” or the internal structure of the Chinese character to make him understand that Chinese characters consist of components called radicals and that a character consists of a semantic radical (giving a clue to the meaning of the character) and a phonetic radical (offering a clue to its pronunciation).

Copyright © 2007 Dr Noel K.H. Chia. All rights reserved. see Disclaimer