Stage Linguistique wrote:

>
> > A Hànzì, although analysable,
> > cannot be broken down into stand-alone units (your
> > 'blocks'),
>
> [Marco] (Never talked about "blocks". Perhaps you mean
> "components".)
>
> In an earlier post, you said Hànzì character-like
> elements could be broken down into *smaller*
> components (or whatever term you used). Well, those
> ultimate, smaller components have no phonetical value.
> That's what I meant; and that's the difference with
> Egyptian.

Might I suggest you look at this site:

http://www.zompist.com/yingzi/yingzi.htm

for an overview of how Chinese characters work.

--Ph. D.