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muyongshi -



Quote:

writing is legible it is ok.

What counts as legible????



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heifeng -

yes, your Chinese 'writting' (hehe) will get better . The longest duration of my actual 'journal'
writing (or at least a notebook with somewhat frequent entries) lasted for over a year. A year or
so after graduation I realized that I had forgotten so much of what i had learned. After writing
for a while I saw some improvements and after more than a year I looked back and could see very
significant overall improvement and was able to correct my millions of cuobie zi and grammar, and
a bunch of other thing I had written incorrectly before. (Although I did learn characters the old
fashion, actually writing on paper way during my elementary Chinese classes, we were usually
encouraged to type our papers in Chinese, so I definitely ran into problems later on b/c of this)
However, keeping a journal and looking back did indeed cause me to chuckle...

and one day I hope I can say the same for my English










gato -



Quote:

What counts as legible????

I think it'd be very hard to say in words, but you'll know when you see it. What would say if you
are asked what's considered legible handwriting in English?










889 -

It's boring as can be, but writing out text over and over and over seems the best way to automate
those hand and finger movements.

And have someone look over your shoulder from time to time before any bad habits become ingrained.










muyongshi -



Quote:

(Although I did learn characters the old fashion, actually writing on paper way during my
elementary Chinese classes, we were usually encouraged to type our papers in Chinese, so I
definitely ran into problems later on b/c of this)

What I do especially when I was first learning and having to write a paper I would type it first
so I wouldn't lose my train of thought as I struggled through characters or if I completely forget
on all together...Then I would copy it onto paper (my teachers would prefer it written to help my
writing but there is only ever a max of 2 people in my class besides me so it's not a problem). I
found this worked in 3 ways: 1) Helped me get my thoughts down 2) Rewrite helped me with the
characters 3) Rewrite also let me find my mistakes and places where it just wasn't well written...

I still use this method now but mainly for reason 3...










gougou -



Quote:

was able to correct my millions of cuobie zi

How do you do that, when you are writing for yourself? I would imagine that you just keep on using
them. Or is your diary publicly accessible? I quite enjoy those random rants you post on here










gato -



Quote:

Handwriting input for SMS is a good idea. My current phone can't do it, but it does have stroke
order input, and I've been thinking of splashing out on a new device lately, so . . .

You can do this on the PC, too, when you are writing the odd email in Chinese or posting on
中文角 here.

This free Windows-based handwriting recognition IME that I mentioned in another thread seems to be
very good. I have a graphics pad. It might be harder with a mouse. But give it a try. It's free.
http://www. /showth...723#post127723
飘雪智能手写辨识系统 V3.0










heifeng -



Quote:

Or is your diary publicly accessible?

omigod, I tore up and flushed my old diary after my first year in China once I got passed that
writing 'hump'. The writing was so bad I didn't want anyone to see it's contents. Although I
consider that journal the dark ages of my Chinese writing it did serve it's purpose.

On as far as how to correct cuobie zi, later on, when you are no longer completely 'guessing'
you'll discover you either had no idea what you were writing or mindlessly wrote the wrong
character. I personally had some crazy cuobie zi so later on it was easy to find them...I mean I
literally made up how to write characters or left off radicals, (or even worse only had the
radical correct), added or deleted the dian stroke somewhere, or wrote another character with the
same pinyin.

OR you can get a friend to look at your writing and circle the problem characters. It will also
cause him or her to chuckle. So don't be shy go ahead and make someone's day










gougou -



Quote:

So don't be shy go ahead and make someone's day

Should anybody feel so inclined, may I recommend this thread.










DrWatson -

Roddy, thank you for your post. I now know what it feels like to experience schadenfreude.

Like you, somewhere along the way I quit trying to remember how to write the characters. This
happend to me when I stopped formal study in the classroom and started working full-time. In
formal classes all essays and assignments had to be handwritten but in the professional world
everything is done with a computer. And like you, I tried intially by using words rather than
characters. I ended up not being able to continuous with this way for the same reason--it was too
time consuming. So I ended up following a character list (the JLPT for me since I'm based out of
Japan). I practice writing the traditional form of the character, and then remember the
pronunciation in Mandarin and Japanese. It is slow when I go by characters, but I don't get as
tired of it. When I was doing it with words it was just getting overwhelming.

For handingwriting, I gave up on ball pens. I recommend getting the "brush" style felt pens that a
lot of people use for writting addresses on envelops and what not. With those pens you have to
force yourself to be a little more careful. At first it was not going well because it took longer
to write, but after I became used to writing with these pens, as well as correctly following
stroke orders, I feel more comfortable.

As for writing speed, I honestly haven't found an answer to it. I don't think I'll ever write as
fast as I can in English, and I'm not sure how to quit thinking about the shape of the characters
that are more than the basic five hundred or so. This is something I guess I have just taken for
granted. When I watch my Taiwanese friends or Japanese coworkers write they use a shorthand to
make it quicker. I guess that is really the only way to speed things up.

As for practicing, I can't think of many ways. For me the only way I get regular practice is when
I take notes. I have always prefered paper and notebooks to computers, so when I am reading
reports or books for work, I take notes in a notebook. The only other way I can think of is
writing letters. But then again it is hard enough to get replies to e-mails these days, letters
would probably take even longer!

The wubi input method also seems like a really good idea though. Seems tough to learn at first,
but it does seem like a good reinforcement method.












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