The number of non-Chinese people and non-native Mandarin speakers has increase over the last decade. More people have shown fluency in speaking impressive Mandarin some even sounding as good as locals. However the other forgotten ability for mastering Chinese language is written form. Of course many people can text Chinese and read Chinese without a problem, although handwriting has proven to be a tough task for some to master or some people see it as unnecessary component of using Chinese, mainly because we’re living in the age where we communicate by texting and messaging electronically. Anything from sending in an application form, typing up a school report or posting on social media.
Writing Chinese by hand is often skipped over by expats. At most people try to experience writing Chinese while getting instructed in calligraphy class. Another determent is that it takes much time to begin to form legible handwriting as well as being able to recognize other people’s handwriting. Handwritten characters are more difficult to read than perfect computerized fonts.
Other than gaining bragging rights and showing off. Learning to write Chinese is more of hobby than acquiring a bonafide skill. It’s fun to look at, although over the years I have only used Chinese writing to sign off on contracts and company applications that requires info in full Chinese text, otherwise all else only needs the text to be typed.
I wanted to brush up on my writing skills and maintain my penmanship ability, so I ordered these “handy” Chinese writing drill books. These books have strokes orders numbered to assist in writing as well as have the characters traceable while using disappearing ink. The ink is visible for about a minute and a half before it will disappear on its own, allowing infinite use of the books or until you run out of ink. The book also has full complex characters and full written sentences to trace over, to get a feel for writing more fluidly, at a quicker pace, and get used to writing to relay a message and not just writing a character over and over without purpose. These books are essentially the training wheels of handwriting. I sometimes try to get in a few reps and trace for 5-30 minutes a day and try writing the characters inside the blank sketch boxes. You can find these in Chinese book stores, Taobao or if you're not in China, you can find these kind of trace books on Ebay or Amazon.
Some of the books have stories and short poems that use the same characters that you are training to write in order to better recognize their use, their meaning, and become familiar.
Other Handwriting tips I’ve used to practice written Chinese was participating in a calligraphy class to practice stroking or water stroking on the concrete ground. Both of these settings are good for getting some instant feedback on how you’re doing in your writing, because locals will come by and take a look then critique. Lastly, I would try getting some freestyle writing done with markers and whiteboards.
Nowhere near perfect but I'll get there.