出口 = out + mouth = exit / export

The same two characters mean 'exit' on a door and 'export' on a shipping crate. One idea, two uses.

🎒 What you need

paper and a pen
permission to walk to a market, port road, workshop or shop with an adult

✋ Do this

Learn the five sign characters first and write each one three times by hand.
Notice 出口 chūkǒu and 入口 rùkǒu. 出 is going out, 入 is going in, and 口 is a mouth or opening. Exit and entrance.
Go out and hunt. Look at packing crates, equipment plates, tool boxes, electronics, tyres and imported goods for Chinese characters.
Copy at least five characters you find. Circle any you already know.
Look specifically for 小心 xiǎoxīn — 'be careful' — printed as a warning. If you find it, you have read a real safety instruction in Chinese.
Bring your paper home and read your finds aloud to one person.

💡 Why it works

Sign Chinese is a small, high-frequency vocabulary that repeats endlessly, which makes it the best possible reading practice for a beginner. Finding it yourself, in your own street, is also what proves the language is not confined to a lesson.

🔥 Challenge

Photograph or copy one piece of Chinese writing nobody around you can read, then translate it for them.

📖 New words

出口 chūkǒuexit; export

入口 rùkǒuentrance

小心 xiǎoxīnbe careful

开 kāito open

关 guānto close

📦

Sign Decoder

Tap when you have finished this module.