How to learn writing Chinese characters

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By Jin Li
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Chinese writing

Because of the complexity of writing Chinese characters, many people that want to learn this language are experiencing lots of trouble. But not all is bad, learning how to write Chinese is not as difficult as people say it is. If you grasp the basics, you will be able to write most words without much trouble.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Step 1

Learn the proper sequence of the strokes. This is very important and will help you remember how to write words. For every word you learn, you must remember the proper order of each stroke.
Step 2

Start from easier words with less strokes. These are basic words in the Chinese vocabulary. In ancient times, the Chinese words are designed to shape like what it describes. For example, the word mountain actually resembles a mountain when it was first invented. However, overtime this characteristic is not so pronounced anymore. But you can still tell that the word mountain actually do resemble mountain in a way.
Step 3

Practice makes perfect. The best way to learn how to write Chinese characters is through lots of practicing. It will be hard to remember the sequence of the strokes, but more practice and experience, it becomes easier.
Step 4

More complicated words are sometimes made from easier words that you learned to write before. So, it makes the learning a lot easier because you have started from easier words.
Step 5

To make things more complicated is the two forms of Chinese words that exist today. The traditional form what is used by Taiwan and used to be used by China in ancient times. The simplified form is used by mainland China and is easier to learn. What’s more important is that once you learned to write simplified Chinese words, you will be able to recognize traditional Chinese without any problems. However, it is not true the other way around.

Comments

ianzi said

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on 6/11/2009 Hey, if you use iPhone, you can check out this application: miaohong ( http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=318015368&mt=8 ), it's very useful for learning writing Chinese character, use your fingers!