Practicing character writing

Shadowdh

状元
Hi there, getting back into studying Chinese again after a few years and one thing I have not seen (either through my lack of observation or its just not there) is a practice for writing chinese characters element to the program... something like a page that shows the character its stroke order and then has a space for you to practice writing it over and over... it could have a bit that indicates correct stroke order and then makes sure you get that order right... is there anything like that? esp helpful for tablets with pens and phones too for that matter...
 

Shun

状元
Hi Shadowdh,

I agree this may be very useful for beginners, but this space appears to be filled by Skritter already. If you don't know Skritter, I suggest you try it for that purpose. Caveat: I have never used it.

For practicing writing, I used to employ checkered paper with 5mm squares; I drew every character on a square made up of four small squares, simulating real Chinese handwriting paper. If you cover up whatever you have written previously, you can repeat a character many times and get better and better.

Cheers,

Shun
 

pdwalker

状元
Also, the very fact that you can use pleco to "draw" the characters on your phone when inputting them during a test at least guarantees that you'll know the character well enough for pleco to recognize it.

*cough* my writing is terribly ugly though *cough*
 

pdwalker

状元
Further thoughts: if you really want to practice writing, then follow Shun's suggestion - write with pen and paper.

I remember, I tried inkstone before and then stopped. All it will teach me is the correct stroke order (which I can learn and practice from Pleco anyway), but will will not actually help me practice drawing nicely since it "completes the strokes" for you after you've drawn your line.

I'd rather see how I've drawn it and continue practicing until I draw it correctly, rather than have a program draw it nicely for me.
 

Shadowdh

状元
Hi Shadowdh,

I agree this may be very useful for beginners, but this space appears to be filled by Skritter already. If you don't know Skritter, I suggest you try it for that purpose. Caveat: I have never used it.

For practicing writing, I used to employ checkered paper with 5mm squares; I drew every character on a square made up of four small squares, simulating real Chinese handwriting paper. If you cover up whatever you have written previously, you can repeat a character many times and get better and better.

Cheers,

Shun
thanks for the pointers re software...

yeah I used this (and still do when practicing) when I did my degree but was looking for a more simple or easy way to do it using the tablet or my note as it will be easier to whip that out while waiting for whatever rather than pulling out pens and pads...
 

Shadowdh

状元

Shadowdh

状元
Also, the very fact that you can use pleco to "draw" the characters on your phone when inputting them during a test at least guarantees that you'll know the character well enough for pleco to recognize it.

*cough* my writing is terribly ugly though *cough*
lol the last time I did a test it had to be from memory :D and my chinese writing is better than my english in terms of tidiness... ;)
 

Shadowdh

状元
Further thoughts: if you really want to practice writing, then follow Shun's suggestion - write with pen and paper.

I remember, I tried inkstone before and then stopped. All it will teach me is the correct stroke order (which I can learn and practice from Pleco anyway), but will will not actually help me practice drawing nicely since it "completes the strokes" for you after you've drawn your line.

I'd rather see how I've drawn it and continue practicing until I draw it correctly, rather than have a program draw it nicely for me.
yeah thats a point, I wouldnt want the program to complete or make it nice... after all thats not the point of practicing... I would rather it keep it as I have written it thus make sure I get it right...
 

pdwalker

状元
I have a suggestion

If you have an ipad pro and a apple pencil, you could use that to annotate a PDF with the character grid on it.

If you have a phone with a stylus, that could also work (samsung?)

If you use a iphone (larger is better), there are some "pen" input devices that you might be able to use to practice drawing correctly

The first option is as close to pen and paper as you are going to get without using pen and paper.
 

Shadowdh

状元
I have a suggestion

If you have an ipad pro and a apple pencil, you could use that to annotate a PDF with the character grid on it.

If you have a phone with a stylus, that could also work (samsung?)

If you use a iphone (larger is better), there are some "pen" input devices that you might be able to use to practice drawing correctly

The first option is as close to pen and paper as you are going to get without using pen and paper.
interesting... good ideas...
 

Shun

状元
These templates may be ideal for training. Unfortunately, they're only partly empty, but the characters could be removed using Acrobat Pro or Illustrator. If you'd like me to remove them, I can give it a try.
 

Attachments

  • L6HZ.doc.pdf
    234.8 KB · Views: 709
  • L7_HZ.pdf
    251.7 KB · Views: 651
  • L8HZ.pdf
    274.5 KB · Views: 682
  • writing_paper_320.pdf
    322.3 KB · Views: 727

Shadowdh

状元
awesome thanks...

I will give it a try but dont have pro anything lol... but an idea is I could scan one of the sheets I have for character writing and save it as a pdf then uses the annotate feature... that would work right...?? many thanks for all the help and suggestions...
 

Shun

状元
You're welcome! I will try to create a version without the Chinese characters in them and upload it here. Then you could use the files directly for annotating.
 

Shun

状元
It was easier than I had thought, please find attached the Hanzi sheet.

You could also use some painting app on the tablet/phone, like ArtRage. You can make nice brush characters using one of these.
 

Attachments

  • Hanzi sheet.pdf
    231.7 KB · Views: 777
Hanzi grids can create a lot of grids, with or without repetition of characters and many options
 

Attachments

  • HanziGrids.png
    HanziGrids.png
    170.5 KB · Views: 676

pdwalker

状元
Here Shun, you can use this one. Two pages in case you want to print double sided, with the characters removed.

As Furio says, hanzi grids allows you to create whatever template you'd like for AUD 10. The website is https://www.hanzigrids.com/ and for free you can create some simple ones.
 

Attachments

  • HZ.pdf
    108.8 KB · Views: 666
Top