Recently I’ve been practising writing Chinese characters. This was always something I planned to leave until after I was able to speak Chinese reasonably well but, on my recent trip to China, I realised just how important it is to learn the characters. I have an appalling memory and so the only way to learn the characters is to practise writing them, a process that I’m finding increasingly insightful. There is so much more to 汉字 than just playing a game of spot the difference.
Now, on to the reason for this post. I scoured the web for a good quality template grid that I could print out in order to practice writing. There are a number of grids available, but none were quite right. All had some form of branding across them (for some reason this bugs me). So, I made my own. Feel free to download and use as appropriate. If it isn’t quite right or you would like an alternative format, let me know in the comments.
Chinese Writing Practice Grid: Download PDF
Thanks so much. I’ve made my own in the past, too, for many of the same reasons you list, but yours looks better. Guide lines, too!
If you are serious about learning to write characters, try http://www.skritter.com
My character ability has gone up considerably using the site. I live in China, so being literate is a major goal of mine. One I’m still working towards!
Perhaps I’m missing something, but why not just use a maths school exercise / workbook?
Nice website.
I have created a learning Chinese website for people who are keen to learn Chinese. If you are interested in learning Chinese, please visit my site, and give me comments or suggestions for improvement.
Thank.
Hi Bill,
Chinese writing grid? Wow… that’s so nostalgic!
Of course, it’s good that you’ve decided to start writing Chinese.
But you see, Chinese cannot be spelt out quite easily as in English.
So you really have to write a lot, practise a lot and remember tons of characters.
你好，比尔。
方块字簿？哇…那多令人怀念啊！
当然，你决定开始学写中文是件好事。
但你看，这中文不像英文那样容易拼出来。
所以，你非得常常书写、常常练习来记起很多的汉字。
Great, I have been trying to learn some Chinese characters, this grid will help me to keep the proportions right.
Glad you find it useful. Feel free to pass it on to anyone else who may need it.
I did use Skritter before they started charging for it and freely admit that it is a wonderful tool. However, I haven’t (yet) managed to justify paying for it. Drawing characters using a trackpad still seems a little clunky and the vocabulary management interface still had significant issues. But, the main reason is that I need to reduce my dependence on the computer for learning Chinese. My teacher already has to write characters font-perfect before I’m able to recognise them. I’ll definitely take another look at Skritter though, recommendations go a long way.
Not missing anything at all. Could even stop in ChinaTown and pick up some real writing practice pads. For my part, this is sheer laziness, far easier just to hit print whenever I need something to practice on.
A book would have the advantage of keeping everything in one place, but I’m trying to minimise the number of things I carry around with me.
Oh OK I see. I treasure my old Chinese text books and writing practice books from Mandarin 101 (1996) !
Thanks for the encouragement Min Min. I have subscribed to your site and will be following along from now on. Looking forward to picking up a few tips along the way.
Thanks for stopping by. I haven’t been writing nearly as much Chinese as I should be. Time for a renewed focus on my Chinese studies I think.
I’ve just had a look at your blog, Hello, London! 你好，伦敦！Helo, London! ハロー·ロンドン！, and have to say I am impressed. I long for the day when I am able to blog in multiple languages. What I am thinking of though is tweeting in multiple languages. 140 characters really shouldn’t be too hard to translate and it would really make me think about what it was that I was posting on Twitter.