Hey guys, during my reviews of kanji, I can remember the primitives and their places but I miss in the size/scale of them and in the little details (like this:堤, I don't write the 8th stroke slightly above the 3rd) that make the kanji look good, is that a big problem? and what should I do?
Thanks

I think the only thing you can do is practice writing those kanji over and over. i do not mean a million times in one sitting. but when you come across them write them down a few times. it just takes time until you get used to writing them and develop a feel for it. Using the square paper that kids use to practice kanji is always helpful.

But just pay close attention to it the first few times you write it and then your hand will remember eventually.

I am not sure if there is a quick way to get used to it other than to just practice writing them over and over.

It's a growing process. Early on, don't sweat the proportions too much. Using squared line paper can help here. As you get more comfortable, you may begin grading yourself harder.

What should begin happen is you get used to many kanji, and your writing skill on all of them translates to more correct proportions on any particular one. Sweating a minor detail early on slows you down. Basically: Don't worry about the paint job when the engine's not fixed yet.

Excuse me, but I'm not sure I see the problem... if you do notice your errors (i.e. the differences between the kanji you write and those you see normally) then it should be easy to correct them with a little practice.
If you meant to say that you are looking for guides for pretty handwriting, there are some books and sites about it. For example, here is an interesting thread. Using the search feature you can find many other informative threads.

Yea scaling and squeezing primitives so they fit takes practise and getting used to. Maybe those copy sheets can help. Squares are divided in 4 and you see more clearly what part of a kanji should be on the left/right/top/bottom and you try to copy that. In time you will get it, remember when you learned writing your ABC, that also started out slanted, not in proportion etc.

Also, 書道(calligraphy) classes help cus you learn about writing in proportion, straightness of strokes, how to place dots etc. It improves your writing ability.

You can also try to write characters like these
火炎燚
車轟
木林森
魚䲜
女㚣姦
日昌晶
etc.
to practise how to squeeze and change the proportions of certain primitives.

Thanks guys
"What should begin happen is you get used to many kanji, and your writing skill on all of them translates to more correct proportions on any particular one." That's what's happening, but VERY slowly,I get it thanks.

i_like_bee_stings Wrote:Using the square paper that kids use to practice kanji is always helpful.

I bought a Doreamon themed squared paper booklet to practice writing my kanji on. Haven't used it yet, but I'm hoping it'll help me improve my kanji.

Is writing kanji by hand so important for you?

Nowadays, most things are typed on computer.

Last thing I wrote by hand in my native language was 5 months ago!

Before that, the last thing I wrote by hand was 1 year and 6 months ago!!

ahibba Wrote:Is writing kanji by hand so important for you?

Actually it is, at least in Asian countries like China and Japan. An ugly handwriting would make you seem uneducated. It's also a bit of pride, my Japanese friends say that in Japan a beautiful handwriting earns you respect. Imagine you're a succesful laywer and then you're asked to write something and your handwriting looks worse than a 5 year old, you will get laughed at. And what better way to wow them than a gaijin writing like a native!

ahibba Wrote:Nowadays, most things are typed on computer.

Last thing I wrote by hand in my native language was 5 months ago!

Before that, the last thing I wrote by hand was 1 year and 6 months ago!!

It's time to get away from the computer.
ところで, I'd like to see you abc handwriting and kana/kanji handwriting

The next step in human evolution will be the development of longer pinky fingers to aid in reaching distant keys faster.

I haven't been to Japan since doing RTK but I found that handwriting was really handy and RTK was a big help when I was in Beijing recently. I was able to communicate on a basic level with taxi drivers and shop clerks and hotel staff by writing kanji on notepads.

In none of these situations did I have a computer handy. Maybe they found my handwriting childish or ugly but they COULD recognize the kanji, and it allowed me to communicate that a water thing in my hotel room had damage / leak (having multiple choices for keywords was helpful as I didn't know how well this would work in modern Chinese) and ascertain that there was no charge for the bottled water in the hotel room (pay? no pay?) and no, I wasn't going to pay 10 times the going rate for the taxi trip etc. (mostly scribbling numbers back and forth, and "other vehicle" -- the taxi that took us the first time). The hotel staff *supposedly* knew English but when I tried to communicate about the faucet problem and bottled water the ONLY word he understood was water, and then he just free associated and guessed: Water too hot? No water? We never would have gotten where I wanted to go that way.... drawing pictures is always an option but it was great to have the shared kanji.

bodhisamaya Wrote:The next step in human evolution will be the development of longer pinky fingers to aid in reaching distant keys faster.

Heh, that's the one thing my hypermobile fingers are good for. Not so great for handwriting, unfortunately, I'm kind of resigned to having childish-looking handwriting in English and Japanese at this point.
Practice does help, maybe print some squares onto paper and try using that, and have a go at getting the individual primitives to your satisfaction before the full Kanji that uses them. I guess using a finer pen/pencil might make it easier, too.

Musashi Wrote:Actually it is, at least in Asian countries like China and Japan. An ugly handwriting would make you seem uneducated. It's also a bit of pride, my Japanese friends say that in Japan a beautiful handwriting earns you respect. Imagine you're a succesful laywer and then you're asked to write something and your handwriting looks worse than a 5 year old, you will get laughed at. And what better way to wow them than a gaijin writing like a native!

Maybe. But I don't think I'll be in a situation where I need to show my kanji handwriting.

In recent years, I use pen on paper tests only, or to draw some devil cartoons for my little sister.

Musashi Wrote:It's time to get away from the computer.
ところで, I'd like to see you abc handwriting and kana/kanji handwriting

My handwriting used to be absolute chicken scratch!

I'm not good at writing nor drawing. I can't even draw a circle!

I think I suffer from motor dysgraphia or something like that. Thank God I'm not a doctor.

I remember that I had another problem when I was in school. I could not write on the board. My writing was either very small to read from distance or very large, and one of my biggest writing problems is that I can't write on unlined paper or board, otherwise my lines slope down to the right.

I've heard that serial killers' handwriting tends to be slanted!

Harrow Wrote:In none of these situations did I have a computer handy.

You can use a PDA instead.

Saif, you are Jordanian, aren't you?

Where do you study Japanese? in University?

Is learning it popular in your country?

ahibba Wrote:Saif, you are Jordanian, aren't you?

Where do you study Japanese? in University?

Is learning it popular in your country?

Yes I am.
I study Japanese like how most of the guys here do, alone!
No, it's not popular, whenever I mention that I'm learning Japanese people ALWAYS ask "Why Japanese?".
BTW, last night I posted on Twitter that I'm not gonna be here (Twitter, Gamespot and Youtube too) for 13 days, which is until my "little" summer vacation ends, because I waste much time on these sites, so this is cheating here, lol
But I'm serious about it, cya in 13 days

Have a nice vacation. Are you from Amman, Irbid, Zarqa, or Karak?