Bilingual Q&A 6: Talk about writing Chinese characters

Children who have never written Chinese characters want to "copy" when they see Chinese characters. Watching the process of how they "copy" is full of strange things, whether it is the order of the strokes they write, the direction of the strokes, the way the strokes are connected to each other, etc., it must be amazing. "It's an eye-opener" for parents who "can write Chinese characters".

In addition, I also remember the arguments among the teachers when I was teaching, arguing about who was right and who was wrong about the "stroke order", and why the children's "typos" kept recurring. You will find that even when adults write, certain strokes of certain words may not be consistent. Whether certain so-called typos are really typos (for example, "quan", does it mean a person or a person)? Sometimes the printed version and the written version are inconsistent. I want to be busy clarifying these disputes, which is already very tiring.

I am just sharing my experience here, hoping that adults who teach children to write can have some direction and help children develop some basic habits so that they will not be at a loss. I never encourage my children to write before they go to elementary school. I think it is more important to read more. Of course, we also see a few children who like to write, so we hope that adults will have a basic understanding of how to teach children to write Chinese characters. As for how to "practice" writing and remember how to write each word, it is not our topic and focus. We also hope that parents wait until their children are 5 years old, when their small muscles are more mature/developed, before they start writing. It is more ideal.

—-》Understand the Chinese characters:
Strokes have names and directions,
Multi-stroke characters have a certain relationship between the stroke order and the strokes.
Many Chinese characters have different parts assembled according to regulations.

The above names, order, relationships and rules, etc., are generally used by teachers and parents to teach students to write;
---》However, when children learn to write, they may not know or remember the direction, order and relationship between each stroke, nor may they have a clear understanding of the structure of the entire character, so "mistakes/disobedience" often occur. .
---》Adults "do not" need to "over-analyze" a word in advance before teaching children to write, because children who are new to writing may not remember everything. It is best to remind the names, patterns and parts of these strokes "by the way" while writing. Encourage them to pay attention to the details between the strokes, then let them write and practice directly.
---》Never write a line more than 10 times at a time, but practice it multiple times. Do not write a word more than 5 times at a time. If you practice multiple times, you can consolidate it better. Try to let them input directly as a whole. After they accumulate some words, as they grow older, they will be able to analyze and classify them, find out the rules, and reduce errors.

—-》Understand the causes of common typos:
When children practice writing, adults often see mistakes that occur during the "transition period." Adults sometimes do not have to correct them excessively. They must give children time and opportunities to correct their own mistakes through their own observation and understanding. In addition, , and some errors are temporary and will disappear with age.
I divided the so-called typos in the transition period into two categories and tried to explain the reasons why they happened:

(1) The relationship between strokes is wrong/a small part is missing or confused/the whole word is flipped, resulting in a typo (see typo item 1 below)

For example: when there are close strokes in the text, the two separate strokes will be regarded as a connected stroke, or the connection relationship between the strokes will be wrong.
For example: individual tiny strokes, such as a dot, are often missed.
For example: flip the whole word
----》The reason is that it is a staged manifestation of children's development, and it is often an error caused by the influence of "visual tendency". As the child grows up, these types of errors will disappear.

(2) False words and non-words caused by incorrect positioning of components: (See typos items 2 and 3 below)

"Fake characters" means placing the character parts in the positions they have always occupied (that is, in compliance with the principles of character creation). There are no errors in theory, but they form "non-existent" Chinese characters. We call them "fake characters"
---》The incidence rate of this is very high. When the input characters are more unstable, it is easy to match/migrate different parts of the learned characters with each other.

"Non-character" means mistakenly placing character parts in positions that are "not" the ones they always occupy (that is, not following the rules of character creation), resulting in "non-existent" Chinese characters, which we call "non-character".
----》The incidence rate of this is not high, but it will happen.

Children who have never written Chinese characters want to "copy" when they see Chinese characters. Watching the process of how they "copy" is full of strange things, whether it is the order of the strokes they write, the direction of the strokes, the way the strokes are connected to each other, etc., it must be amazing. "It's an eye-opener" for parents who "can write Chinese characters".

In addition, I also remember the arguments among the teachers when I was teaching, arguing about who was right and who was wrong about the "stroke order", and why the children's "typos" kept recurring. You will find that even when adults write, certain strokes of certain words may not be consistent. Whether certain so-called typos are really typos (for example, "quan", does it mean a person or a person)? Sometimes the printed version and the written version are inconsistent. I want to be busy clarifying these disputes, which is already very tiring.

I am just sharing my experience here, hoping that adults who teach children to write can have some direction and help children develop some basic habits so that they will not be at a loss. I never encourage my children to write before they go to elementary school. I think it is more important to read more. Of course, we also see a few children who like to write, so we hope that adults will have a basic understanding of how to teach children to write Chinese characters. As for how to "practice" writing and remember how to write each word, it is not our topic and focus. We also hope that parents will wait until their children5After age, small muscles are more mature/It is ideal to start writing only when you are developed.

-》Understanding Chinese characters include:
Strokes have names and directions,
Multi-stroke characters have a certain relationship between the stroke order and the strokes.
Many Chinese characters have different parts assembled according to regulations.

The above names, order, relationships and rules, etc., are generally used by teachers and parents to teach students to write;
---"However, when children learn to write, they may not understand or remember the direction, order and relationship between each stroke, and they may not have a clear understanding of the structure of the entire character, so "errors/"Unruly" situations often occur.
---》Adults "do not" need to "over-analyze" a word in advance before teaching children to write, because children who are new to writing may not remember everything. It is best to remind the names, patterns and parts of these strokes "by the way" while writing. Encourage them to pay attention to the details between the strokes, then let them write and practice directly.
---》Never write one line at a time10practice more than once, but practice multiple times, and do not exceed one word each time5Practice it over and over again, and you will be able to consolidate it better. Try to let them input directly as a whole. After they accumulate some words, as they grow older, they will be able to analyze and classify them, find out the rules, and reduce errors.

-》Understand the causes of common typos:
When children practice writing, adults often see mistakes that occur during the "transition period." Adults sometimes do not have to correct them excessively. They must give children time and opportunities to correct their own mistakes through their own observation and understanding. In addition, , and some errors are temporary and will disappear with age.
I divided the so-called typos in the transition period into two categories and tried to explain the reasons why they happened:

(1) The relationship between strokes is wrong/A widget is missing or confused/The entire word was flipped, resulting in a typo     (See typo item below1）

For example: when there are close strokes in the text, the two separate strokes will be regarded as a connected stroke, or the connection relationship between the strokes will be wrong.
For example: individual tiny strokes, One thing, for example, is often missed.
For example: flip the whole word
----》The reason is that it is a staged manifestation of children's development, and it is often an error caused by the influence of "visual tendency". As the child grows up, these types of errors will disappear.

(2) False characters and non-characters caused by incorrect positioning of parts:(See typo item below2和3）

"Fake characters" means placing the character parts in the positions they have always occupied (that is, in compliance with the principles of character creation). There are no errors in theory, but they form "non-existent" Chinese characters. We call them "fake characters"
---》The incidence rate of this is very high. When the input characters become more unstable, match the different parts of the learned characters with each other./Migration can easily happen.

"Non-character" means mistakenly placing character parts in positions that are "not" the ones they always occupy (that is, not following the rules of character creation), resulting in "non-existent" Chinese characters, which we call "non-character".
----》The incidence rate of this is not high, but it will happen.



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【know(1) stroke name, direction, (2)order,(3) the relationship between strokes and (4) combination of parts]

(1) Basic stroke name and direction
---"Forever"8A basic stroke name.

(2) "stroke order" aspect
---"(A) from left to right (B) from top to bottom (C) first horizontally and then vertically, first horizontally and then vertically. (D) symmetrical parts (for example: Guai), first in the middle, then left and right. Including words, first outer, then inner, last seal, etc.

(3) Relationship between strokes:
The relationship between "strokes" is divided into5kind:

-----》"No contact at all" between strokes. For example: the two "horizontal" strokes of the character "二" do not contact each other.

-----》The "perfect contact" between strokes is the perfect connection between the "stroke ends" of the two strokes. For example: mouth.

-----"Perfectly crossing" between strokes, such as "cross", the "horizontal" and "vertical" cross each other and pass through each other.

-----》"Semi-contact" between strokes. For example, the "horizontal" and "vertical" strokes of the character "上" are in contact, but they do not "pass" through each other.

----》"Half contact and perfect penetration" coexist between multiple strokes. For example: sheep, rain, the vertical strokes in the middle, some of them pass through the horizontal strokes, and some are only half-contact.

 

(4) component combination of Chinese characters/very well

In this regard, children will also summarize it after they have written a lot of words. When adults teach writing,"not necessarily"Prior analysis is required.

 

4-A: Single Chinese characters (proportion of approx.20%）

---》The whole word is a complete word. For example: I, person,

 

4-B : divided into2Parts: (parts are not equivalent to radicals)

---"(B-1) left and right half (the highest proportion, about50%): For example: Mom, okay.

---"(B-2) upper and lower half (accounting for approximately15%), for example: suddenly, snow.

---"(B-3) upper left package, for example: original, room, tail.

---"(B-4) lower left package, for example: get up, this, climb.

---"(B-5) upper right bag, for example: bag, gas.

---"(B-6) comprehensive bread, such as: back, because, round.

---"(B-7) Three breads, for example: Tong, Pi, Han.

 

4-C : divided into3parts:

---"(C-1)superior/lower left/Lower right, for example: Sen, Ye, Zu.

---"(C-2) upper left/upper right/Next, for example: prize, piano, cry.

---"(C-3))Left/Upper right/Lower right, for example: singing, riding, etiquette.

---"(C-4)superior/中/Lower: For example: nose, sell, cover.

---"(C-5)Left/中/Right, for example: tree, do, butterfly.

 

4-D : divided into4or more parts:

---》There is a left/中/right, below1parts. For example: fun.

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{Conclusion}

I often use the term "camera" to describe children using their eyes to learn Chinese characters. Therefore, some people say that learning to read and write Chinese characters is as absorbing as "pictures". However, I am not sure whether Chinese characters are "equal" to pictures. Just realize that children's reading and writing are "integrated" into their brains at the same time. The details of the relationship between strokes are not so stable and require constant "strengthening" to consolidate. This is why "Guan Zi" needs to be read several times, not just once, before it can be remembered. "Writing" requires writing many times before you can remember how to write.

I am not opposed to writing, but I hope that children in preschool can spend their "golden" learning time on "reading and literacy" instead of writing.

 

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