Is writing short stories a good way to learn Chinese?

[Meng Lelan]

...which is what I've been thinking of doing.

What do you guys think?

Are there any magazines that publish short stories written by amateur writers in Chinese?

[roddy]

You can publish them here

I don't know of anyone publishing short stories by foreigners. I think I've seen books along the lines of 'stories about my life in China by foreigners, in China' but not short stories. There's a market for columns along those lines in newspapers, but it doesn't pay well. You could try to sell stories to something like 故事会 I guess but I think it might be more hassle than it's worth. You'll probably get more readers just posting it on a Chinese forum.

As for will it help your Chinese - it's likely to make you want to write things you can't say yet, so you'll need to look up the vocab and check your grammar, so yes, it'll stretch you. And obviously if you can get feedback that'll flag up issues you haven't spotted.

If you like writing short stories anyway, then go for it - I always say one of the best ways to learn Chinese is to do things you'd normally do in English, in Chinese.

[Meng Lelan]

Ah, I wasn't thinking of selling my stories. More like doing it as a hobby. I know in the States there are amateur short story publications in English run for and by amateurs. So I don't know if the Chinese equivalent exists in the States or in China.

I have no interest in writing narcisstic stories about being such a great laowai in China. I was a lousy laowai and I don't care. I'm not in China anymore and I don't care. I just wanna write in Chinese even though I'm here in the States.

But yeah, I'll consider publishing them here in this forum. Something along the lines of a semi-fictional story of my ongoing search of a real relationship with a real Chinese guy here in the States, or something like that. Whatever.

And yeah, feedback from the forum would help.

[roddy]

All the portals will have a 原创 section where anyone can sign up and post their own work. Here's Sina's - look for the 投稿 link.

[Meng Lelan]

So how come this forum doesn't have one?

[YuehanHao]

I have been writing short stories as I try to learn Chinese. But I am not sure I think what I am doing is a good way to learn. Actually, perhaps I should probably stop doing it if I want to speed up my learning process and use flashcards and focus more on repetition of the same words and grammar until I have a really firm grasp of them. If one can confine oneself in writing stories to the vocabulary and grammar in the lesson one is currently working on (and other past lessons), then I think the exercise of writing stories can be a good benefit for learning. But I tend to get carried away with the latest story idea and compromise on or totally abandon the recent vocabulary and grammar that never seem to fit into my narrative. So I continue to write in a clumsy and unrestrained way with only slow improvement because the effort is lacking in didactic method. But it is fun, so I do it. I believe even running like a tortoise can allow one to finish the race if given enough time. We'll see how long I live.

约翰好

[imron]

So how come this forum doesn't have one?

It does Feel free to post away.

[skylee]

I would wonder about the quality of the language if a story is written by a learner, and would not want to read it if it costs anything. I recall a thread recommending some Chinese writing by a foreigner found on the internet and frankly it was disappointing.

I posted my travelog (very boring and personal stuff) on this website (the chat forum iirc) and got some readers. And on their advice I've set up my blog (even more boring and personal). I think you should try posting your stories on the Chinese corner as imron suggested.

[scott-chen]

I think it is a good method ,In this way you will learn many new words by yourself ,and it can also increase your interesting in learning Chinese ,For the book you can look at 读者 It has many short sotries.

[Meng Lelan]

For the book you can look at 读者 It has many short sotries.

I've heard good things about 读者, is there free online edition? I'm in the States so I guess subscribing to the hard copy costs a lot.

[imron]

http://www.duzhe.com/

See also this thread regarding subscribing.

[atitarev]

Writing Chinese for practicing is good but it would be even better if you always have a good (willing to help) reader. I find writing emails to friends or exchange partners efficient, especially if they let me better ways to express the same things .

[calibre2001]

I'm sure that practicing writing helps consolidate what you already know. The problem (well not necessarily) if you want to upgrade the level of you penmanship (is that spelt correctly?) to that of a college educated person especially in creative writing.

You have to read lots and lots of chinese to actually develop to that level. And it's not an easy path since chinese vocab is a boundless universe on its own. Otherwise the writing level could just well be too simple and lacking in expression and depth.

[rezaf]

I just wrote a silly story in Chinese corner. Please read it and correct my mistakes.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/26-traditional-vs-simplified-characters191