Antonymous Explanation in Reading Chinese

When learners are learning new Chinese words, they may take use of the antonyms to memorize the words. In the same way, the students can also guess the words meanings by using the antonyms in the context when they study Chinese. For example, in the sentence 东方人比较委婉，而西方人比较直接, the students may not know the meaning of 委婉 but the word 直接 might be understandable for those who study Chinese. And you can also find 东方人and 西方人are opposite. And the conjunctive word 而indicates the opposite meanings of the two parts.

Therefore, it is beneficial to understanding the meanings in this way. When teachers teach in Chinese courses in China, they should firstly remind the students of finding the signal words like 而、但是、却 and 不如. If the students see those words when they study Chinese, they can guess the meanings according to the simple words and the context. It is also important for teachers to guide the students to notice the semantic relation in the context.