Posts tagged Hanzi from the Hanzi Write Practice team.
Classical Hanja and Chinese Hanzi share their structural components almost entirely, since Hanja are classical Chinese characters. The forms map; the readings and usage are where they part.
Reducing characters to flashcard data can drain the art out of them. Here is a case that writing them by hand restores what recognition-only study quietly removes.
Yes, in the sense that matters. Repeatedly writing characters builds procedural memory that makes recall faster and more automatic. Here is what muscle memory really means for Hanzi.
Learning a complex new skill like writing Chinese is exactly the kind of novel, demanding challenge associated with an adaptable brain. Here is the honest version, without the hype.
The memory palace is great for ordered lists, less so for writing characters. Here is what actually works for Hanzi recall: component mnemonics plus from-memory practice.
The forgetting curve describes how fast memory fades without review, and for writing Chinese characters it is steep. Here is why you forget how to write Hanzi, and how spaced repetition flattens the curve.
Most Chinese characters carry a clue to their pronunciation, not in a single stroke but in a phonetic component. Here is how to spot it, and why writing reveals it.