Improving writing

[outcast]

I'm looking for ways to improve my now non-existant Chinese writing skills. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Jake Perry]

250 Essential Chinese Characters for Everyday Use

Volume 1: $22.95; Volume 2: $22.95

Buy Together Today: $29.84

www.amazon.com

i highly recommend these books

i cut mine into the 25 lessons

so that i can photocopy the pages

and keep the originals as masters.

[skylee]

Do you mean writing chinese characters or writing like essays/stories in chinese?

Practice makes perfect, right?

[doumeizhen]

In the same boat, and the universal answer seems to be: elbow grease.

I think even if you are learning to write characters as opposed to stories, find short text samples and copy those, repeating characters/passages as necessary. This will help you (ok, us!) with both the characters themselves and with grammar and style.

[xiaojiang216]

I was curious about this as well during my first few years of studies, and I learned a very useful word.

[POP=fan3 fu4 lian4 xi2]反复练习[/POP]

"fan3 fu4 lian4 xi2" means "repeated practice". Also, it also takes time for you to become accustomed and become comfortable with the Chinese characters. Starting out, you might want to look at any texts that you come across in Chinese (whether or not you can read it). Try to write in Chinese whenever you have the chance (why not write the shopping list in Chinese for a change?). Small things like this will help you get comfortable, and as your studies progress, it will become clearer.

NOTE: This is easier said than done.

[td36285n]

Practicing your basics makes perfect characters.

For example, write each character left to right, top to bottom. My first Chinese teacher practically forced me to write like this, so now that every time I write a character, including the ones I've never seen before, I don't have to second guess if my strokes are in the correct direction and order. Hope that helps.

[Jake Perry]

once you are well into

the first 500 characters...

get a buddha board

and buy a nicer brush.

keep a digital camera handy

to preserve your correct zì,

you only have 10-15 seconds

before they disappear:

[outcast]

Thanks guys. The issue I have is that, I learn a character, I can read the character later, but if someone gives me a blank piece of paper and tells me to write the character I can't remember it.

Plus I also do not really know the grammer particularly well (like when should I use 把 sentences).

[Jake Perry]

it's supposed to be easy

to recognize the familiar.

this is why multiple choice

is easier than essay questions.

pacing yourself might be the answer

i'm only learning 10 zì a week

and i can generate all the zì

that i can recognize easily.