How to Write Chinese
It is hard enough to figure out how to speak or understand Chinese. Taking it further, there are some of us that seek the pain of learning how to read Chinese. Then, there is the ultimate challenge — learning how to write Chinese. Are you up for the task?
Where to Learn How to Write Chinese
Writing Chinese characters, or Hanzi (汉字), is primarily taught in schools, and usually only those found in China due to the complexity of the language. While some may learn how to write the basic characters (我，你，他，不，是。。。) it takes a lot more focus and dedication to learn how to write Chinese characters beyond this point. For those who are ready, we will help you learn what you need to learn.
The very first piece of recommendation I can give is to either find a good book that will help you learn Mandarin, or seek an online guide. Our recommendation is to use Skritter, which is a very user-friendly and interactive guide to learning Mandarin online. We have used this with success. What we like best about it is that you can integrate your current Mandarin textbooks into the system so you can practice writing the hanzi online (using your mouse or a writing pad) in conjunction with the text books that you are learning to Read and Speak Mandarin. I would also recommend that you get a book to allow you to write Hanzi using pen (or pencil) and paper.
Chinese Character Basics
Writing Chinese characters is difficult, but feasible if you focus on the basics. For instance:
- write top character strokes before bottom character strokes
- write left strokes before right strokes
- left vertical strokes before top horizontal strokes
- bottom horizontal stroke at the end
- center stroke before what some consider to be “wings”
- horizontal stroke and then crossing vertical stroke
Common Mistakes When Learning How To Write Chinese
The biggest mistake one can make when learning how to write Chinese is to not learn the basic strokes before going forward with trying to write complex characters. Once you learn the basic strokes, the harder characters before easier and easier. Along these lines, focus on learning the basics before you get ahead of yourself with the more complex characters. Go from easy to hard and don’t mix!
Begin Your Hanzi Quest
Stay with this site as we share ideas on how to write chinese caligraphy, how to write chinese characters on a computer, and much more. To get you started, here is one of your favorite videos on writing hanzi.