I need a prioritized list of Chinese Characters to study/learn. Where can I find this?
I will be living and working in Shanghai this coming summer. In my recent trip to Beijing, I was pleased at how many Chinese symbols I knew from my study of Korean, but it is not enough to get around in areas where English is not available.

I want to take an approach of learning 1 - 2 symbols/day from now until I arrive in Shanghai since I think that is a realistic rate. I do not need to read newspapers, but I want to be able to follow street signs and get an idea of what types of shops I am looking at as a minimum.

My wife is Korean and knows many more symbols than I do (because she had to learn Hanja in school ... but that was more than 30 years ago). She also wants to refresh and learn the prioritized characters like I do.

Question

I need a prioritized list of Chinese Characters to study/learn. Where can I find this?
I will be living and working in Shanghai this coming summer. In my recent trip to Beijing, I was pleased at how many Chinese symbols I knew from my study of Korean, but it is not enough to get around in areas where English is not available.

I want to take an approach of learning 1 - 2 symbols/day from now until I arrive in Shanghai since I think that is a realistic rate. I do not need to read newspapers, but I want to be able to follow street signs and get an idea of what types of shops I am looking at as a minimum.

My wife is Korean and knows many more symbols than I do (because she had to learn Hanja in school ... but that was more than 30 years ago). She also wants to refresh and learn the prioritized characters like I do.

Answer

I found this website really good: http://mandarinposter.com/resources/
There are free downloads of radicals and they have a poster of the top 1500 characters if that is any use to you

Answer

Well, there really is no list of prioritized Hanzi. Some books say they have one, but that is just a selling gimmick. You have no choice but to go the whole hog. Get the following:
Remembering the Simplified Hanzi: James W. Heisig.
This is by a long way the best method for learning. You'll learn a lot more than two a day, I assure you.

There's even a website to help you revise:
http://hanzi.koohii.com/

Answer

use HSK lists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyu_Shuiping_Kaoshi

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Hi Steve, Nice see you again! :D
 
I suggest this website.
http://user.chollian.net/~han4u/hanlove/c-love1.htm

and,
if you have android phone..
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=superk.hanja

as you are a korean language learner, you can use "천자문".
"천자문" is , korean learn the Chinese Characters 천자문(1000 characters) first. :)

wow, great! you are in china! have a great day there :)

Answer

There is an app for iOS and Android called Chinese Writer
(Review of the app here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7MDzlZCYQk )

I've learned loads of character off of this app, I typically learn 20-25 new characters a week, rotating, and reintroducing old characters as needed. This app is a perfect way to learn characters if you have an iPhone or android device. The app is basically a game where you have to complete tracing or writing a character (in the right stroke order) in a short amount of time (you can go back and review your mistakes after wards), so not only do you get to recognize characters, but you're also learning to actually write them, something even native Chinese people are able to do less and less as technology has eliminated the need to physically write characters in most instances. A great, great app.