"刻舟求剑 Kè zhōu qiú jiàn" - Learning Chinese by studying idioms

https://ancientchengyu.com/find-sword/

I find that learning Chinese requires more than studying pinyin and characters. It also requires understanding the characters' contextual history as a group. For example, the Chinese proverb 刻舟求剑 Kè zhōu qiú jiàn (see link above) literally means "mark boat find sword". This does not mean anything by itself. However, if one is to understand the story behind the proverb, then one can understand that the proverb means "stuck in the old ways of thinking and not adapting to the times". Knowing this, a short proverb can carry more meaning than a whole paragraph. Indeed, proverbs are definitely worth studying.

submitted by /u/Hippy_Shine
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from r/ChineseLanguage: a community for people who are studying, teaching, or interested in Chinese! https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/90mh9d/刻舟求剑_kè_zhōu_qiú_jiàn_learning_chinese_by/

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