My writing is much neater on paper! but i figured i'll show you guys my main practice board.


I try to use it all the time for better experience writing on a board as I will eventually come to a point where I'll need to use one to explain concepts (i already have, for my sciencey stuff)
I use a liquid chalk pen, like the one used in A Beautiful Mind. The glass itself was off a broken coffee table. One day i hope to mount it sideways so i can make use of the bottom part which i have to lie down on the floor to use pretty much.

Problem is the thing is so darn heavy i have no idea what to do. I might buy an el-cheapo thin glass wall with some black cardboard behind it for contrast.

All i know is that i love this thing so much. Cleans easily, writes easily (pens i got off ebay suck though)

I've been watching calligraphy videos to look up stroke order instead of the usual dictionary approach. It's cool and helps my handwriting a lot. Plus writing on graph paper helps a lot. I'll spare you all the "AAAAHHH" pictures.

Edit: Ok, after realizing this wasn't the first page of the thread, I saw you guy's handwriting, and couldn't resist. Here it is:

I bought an a4 sized whiteboard from the 100 yen store which is great.

proper paper would be better, cos its not enough to learn the meaning, the stroke order, the reading, and the primatives.... you gotta learn the proportions too! argh!

http://twentygoals.googlepages.com/KanjiNotebook001.jpg

EDIT: Okay, why isn't it showing up inline, is it too big? -_-

snispilbor Wrote:http://twentygoals.googlepages.com/KanjiNotebook001.jpg

EDIT: Okay, why isn't it showing up inline, is it too big? -_-

Your lines are too straight! As my kanji move down the page, they kinda wobble around.

Your コ look like a ユ. Decent handwriting through.

Here's my chicken scratch. This is just from reviewing in Anki:



Shot it with my cell phone, so it's not quality, but you get the idea.



Here's my stack of reviews since January. A page or two a day, done with a brush pen. That's how I do my RTK reviews. I wanted to fit them all on one sheet, so I crammed them in last night.

EDIT:



Here's some practice calligraphy. I'm just learning to do semi-cursive style. Fun. I love writing with a brush. It feel so... civilized.

scout Wrote:For a good number of those characters, you're seeing the first time I've ever tried writing them. I absolutely agree with Heisig that writing the characters doesn't get you to memorize them, so I generally just try writing them until they feel reasonably balanaced.

Actually, Heisig does tell you to write them, and writing does help you memorize them. What he advised against was writing them over and over and over in the traditional way. Just write each one once as you learn it and as you review it.

I usually just write in the palm of my hand using my index finger rather than actually write on paper when I review, though. I have recently started using paper to write the kanji in my fail pile, though. (I had also switched to paper when learning new kanji, but since I'm now done with RTK1, that's not terribly relevant anymore.)

- Kef

furrykef Wrote:

scout Wrote:For a good number of those characters, you're seeing the first time I've ever tried writing them. I absolutely agree with Heisig that writing the characters doesn't get you to memorize them, so I generally just try writing them until they feel reasonably balanaced.

Actually, Heisig does tell you to write them, and writing does help you memorize them. What he advised against was writing them over and over and over in the traditional way. Just write each one once as you learn it and as you review it.

I guess what I was trying to say is that writing alone generally doesn't get you to memorize them permanently. (I agree it's certainly helpful practice along with creating and reviewing stories.)

That's mostly coming from my experience with classes, where there were a good number of characters that I'd written out several hundred times [in context as part of sentences] over the course of a few weeks or months, only to come back 3-4 weeks after having not written them and finding I couldn't remember how to write them *at all*.

Several Japanese friends have also complained to me about forgetting how to write since they came to the US. It seems like going with the just-writing approach requires many more closely-spaced reps to work vs. something like Heisig which gives you more routes of access to the same data.

You don't need to write the characters over and over. BUT when you review with RTK, you should try to write the character you're trying to remember. Just once. Twice if you make a mistake. No more, really, unless you want to try to work on your style. Writing it just once will help a lot, but writing more than that isn't worth the trouble.

Also, if you're doing sentences, you should try to write the bits of those you're trying to learn. Again, just once when you review the card. I found it helps a great deal, and mirrors reality better than writing the same character over and over again. Reality is having to write a character once and get it right.

rich_f Wrote:http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/6230/...zp2.th.jpg

Here's some practice calligraphy. I'm just learning to do semi-cursive style. Fun. I love writing with a brush. It feel so... civilized.

I like your handwriting
How are you practicing 書道? Are you following a particular book?

No, I'm studying Chinese calligraphy with a woman who teaches at the local Zen center on every other Sunday. I've been going now for a little over two and a half years now. I'd like to find someone around here who can teach 書道, but I haven't had any luck. I know there are some stylistic differences between Chinese and Japanese calligraphy, and I have a few books on 書道, but a book is one thing, and an instructor is something else.

colonel32 Wrote:Here's mine, photoshopped to the nth degree to make the scan visible because I mostly like to write in pencil.

I write the hooks, although for ages I did I right angled ones until I twigged that was just evil Mincho messing me up again.

Your hand writing looks great dude. :D

I still have trouble with the writing, I try way to hard to make it look pretty and everything. I am practicing though to improve on this, to compare, my handwriting is like that of a kid who recently learned how to hold a pen.