basic writing

[taylor04]

I've studied Chinese for 3 years and lived in China for a year. My speaking, listening, and reading are pretty decent with a very good foundation. But, I can't write more than 50 characters. I've never wanted to learn, I still see it as useless outside of tests(with a small benefit to remembering new characters). But I need to learn for tests... Was wondering if anyone had some good ideas on improving writing, I've just been copying my textbook and am seeing improvement. Is there any website with printable character writing books you see kids using?

[anonymoose]

You could try nciku.com. It provides animations for most characters, so you can see the conventional stroke order proportions of each character. You should quite quickly get an instinctive feel for how characters are written, and eventually you should be able to write any character even if you haven't seen it before. Then just practicing characters out of your book should be no problem.

However, I advise you also to try and write things out by listening to some audio (for which you have the script so you can compare afterwards), or translating from your native language. The reason I say this is that it is very easy to copy characters when you can see them in front of you, but when you need to recall them without prompting, it can be somewhat more difficult, especially if you don't practice.

[Hofmann]

Handwriting quick-fix: read this.

Better not-so-quick-fix: read 万卷专业书法教材:田英章硬笔楷书技法. ISBN 9787313050564. It has grids and red characters inside that you can trace. Simplified Chinese only.

The real deal: watch this playlist. Then watch this video series. Watch episodes 1-14. For episodes 15-365, pick episodes that interest you. (I recommend 16, 25, 26, 37, 28, 42, 44, 47, 51, 55, 58, 60, 61, 80, 90, 130, 360.) There is a table of contents here. While watching the series, start copying models (with a brush) when you're ready. Those who have good handwriting with a brush usually have good handwriting with a pen. The converse isn't true though.

Edited November 15, 2009 at 10:04 AM by Hofmann

[taylor04]

Good websites, thanks

[muirm]

I really like Skritter. Paired with an inexpensive tablet input device so you can actually write with a pen, it is the best way I have found to study characters.

It's not free, though.

[knadolny]

I have found that you just need a serious amount of practice. Writing is still my weakest area.

My wife and I were long distance for a long time (4 years) so I had a lot of chances to write her letters in Mandarin. I would first type them out on my computer which requires being able to formulate clear sentences and using proper grammar (another difficulty). Afterward I would take that and write the letter by hand. That's probably not the best way to learn but was my approach.

My teachers at Cornell recommend writing a daily journal in Chinese. Basically just write and practice some every day.

My handwriting is still like a kindergarten Chinese student, but I'm getting better.

[taylor04]

Skritter is amazing, I tried it out and bought a tablet. It has helped me learn how to write 200 characters in less than week (all of which I passively knew), I tried the whole writing a journal thing, and it would be great for more advanced writers, but having to look up every single character takes too long. The best part is, I'm learning how to write characters faster and faster, hopefully will hit 1000 before Christmas. Thanks for all the advice!