Learning to WRITE hanzi

[Kevinman]

Im a University Student, This is my 2nd year studying chinese, I recognize around 600 charactors but I can only wright like 10....

I have an exam in about a month, and its requiring me to write lots of characters "Write in chinese using 100 charactors about any topic...blahblahb"

I worked it out i need to learn to WRITE 3 different chinese characters everyday to get a decent mark in my exam.

How do I do that? please someone help me!

[Daan]

Have you asked your teacher for advice? I imagine that in a second-year course expecting students to be able to write, the teacher would at least explain some approaches.

You could create flashcards or use an SRS program to learn them. Search these forums, as there's been plenty of discussion on this topic. The most important part is to write all the characters you need to know for your exam many times, until you know them by heart. For example, learn five characters today, then do another five tomorrow and repeat all earlier ones. Repeat until done. And don't forget to pay attention to stroke order.

Of course, only knowing how to write the characters won't be enough to write a decent composition, since that would also require you to have knowledge of the vocabulary and the grammar points introduced in your course.

[querido]

You know enough words already? In pinyin, right?

You could just pick 100 or so common words from those you know and cram them, with or without a flashcard program such as mnemosyne. That's doable. BUT, please do yourself a favor and learn the stroke order rules too as you're doing this.

The online flashcard program Skritter would be one way to get started immediately. It will enforce the stroke order rules. They become automatic very quickly.

Stroke order rules and 100 characters/words in a month? Words you already know? It should be doable.

[skylee]

I worked it out i need to learn to WRITE 3 different chinese characters everyday to get a decent mark in my exam.

Sounds reasonable to me.

[whereishunter]

I would say that you should start writing, a lot of writing is one of the best ways to remember words. Well I know its a new idea

The other option is not to worry about the test!!! Do you really what to spend all your time studying for one test??

[anonymoose]

Just get off your butt and start practicing. 3 characters per day is hardly a big ask.

[roddy]

Yeah, that's nothing. Get onto Skritter(.com), and you'll have no problems.

[taylor04]

The writing part is part of the exam or is it just a writing exam? If you're as lazy as me, you'll just use the characters/grammar points already used in the reading parts of the exam:D

[xiaotao]

Maybe you can write your topic ahead of time. Have a friend help you. Then copy it over and over again. I don't mind writing characters, but I prefer to copy sentences.

[chrix]

I asked on another thread why you wouldn't just combine a notepad with anki instead of signing up for skritter, but the stroke order thing is indeed a good argument.

[taylor04]

I think it's the whole adding fun to learning how to write. I couldn't write 吃饭 for four years because I never saw writing as a worthwhile activity. Skritter came along, and I had fun with it for quite awhile, it was more like a treat to do after studying rather than more studying. I also found the value in learning to write (increased character recognition), got stroke order down, and learned a good 500 characters in a month. However, as I'm getting busier and busier with this semester and preparing for the World Expo, I'll be letting my subscription run out and switching to a pen and paper.

I think Skritter is a fantastic tool for beginners, it teaches them stroke order, characters, etc, all at once. However, with my experience, the characters stick longer by using a pen and paper.

[Lugubert]

Write by hand. After two years of Chinese, I'm now taking a distance learning university course in Japanese. Different from Chinese, we're required to turn in hand written exercises every two weeks. Finally, I'm learning to write, and as an added bonus, I now learn Traditional and in parallel rehearse Simplified. I should have been more conscientious about writing in Chinese.

[chrix]

the way I keep hearing people, it would amount to the same thing if you used a graphics tablet with skritter, right? And skritter would check if you did the strokes in the right order, something your notepad can't do.. Though a notepad would be cheaper

[taylor04]

I have a graphics tablet, all in all it was worth it. But, even though its a graphics tablet and it has the "feeling" of writing, its not the same. It's easier for ME to remember things written on paper

[chrix]

Well, I think that would be the case for me too, though I don't have a tablet and have never put it to the test...

[valikor]

I agree with anonymoose. Learning to write characters is hard (or at least time-consuming) for most people, but learning 100 in a month is extremely easy, and all of the discussions here about methods are almost irrelevant since any and all of them would work. have fun

[jbradfor]

Learning 100 characters in a month for a test and then forgetting some (or all) of them is easy. Learning 100 characters and remembering them long-term as you try to learn the next 100 characters is a bit more challenging.

[Hofmann]

Get a writing instrument and write on paper, as that will most likely be the medium you'll have to use on the exam. Are you sure you need 100 different characters or just 100 characters in length? If it's just 100 characters, I think you just need to practice writing quickly. Writing more and following the stroke order will help you with that, but stroke order might not be as simple as one might think. I don't think it's very reasonable to request 100 different characters. I wouldn't ask a fluent English speaker to give me 100 different English words, embedded in prose that make sense.

[flippant]

How can you be a second year student at a university and still only know 600 characters? Let alone only be able to write 10?

Sorry if this sounds harsh; if it's a smaller, supplementary unit it's sort of understandable.

Good luck!

Edited March 11, 2010 at 11:50 PM by flippant

[chrix]

Well I think it might be a bit too harsh, as we don't know anything about the OP's program (some programs offer supplementary language courses with maybe 2-3 hours per week only)...