How to Write Better Chinese Characters - FIX 2 Common Mistakes!

Learn how to fix 2 common mistakes when writing Chinese characters, and make them look better than ever before! This video is perfect for the Chinese language learner who is struggling to write characters (Hanzi/汉字).
RESOURCES
--------------------------------------------------------
Stroke Order Rules: bit.ly/2JvjnkP
Stroke Order Dictionary: www.hanzi5.com
Practice Grids: www.purplecult...
Hanping Lite: bit.ly/312Sw5x
MORE HANDWRITING VIDEOS
--------------------------------------------------------
SECRET to Neat Chinese Characters: • The SECRET to Writing ...
Best type of pen for Chinese: • Which is the BEST Pen ...
Pen Recommendations: • Testing 11 Pens for Ch...
My BEST Handwriting!: • I wrote the Chinese na...
*Thank you Tainara for inspiring this video!
**Since a lot of people asked, the pen I'm using is a Pilot G2 gel pen:)
Buy from Amazon (affiliate): amzn.to/2RVRWp9
✧FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA✧
🔴 KZbin ✈ bit.ly/2JU3IbG
👤 Facebook ✈ / abchinese.youtube
📸 Instagram ✈ / _abchinese
#hanzi #chinesecharacters

[@ABChinese]

Here's the pen I was using in the video! Pilot G2 (affiliate link): amzn.to/2RVRWp9

[@wesleyhong3790]

0.5?

[@ABChinese]

@@wesleyhong3790 0.7 mm, but I'm sure 0.5 mm works fine too:)

[@veggiet2009]

Pilot G2's are so good, whatever the language!

[@milanmelvin5616]

You probably dont care at all but does anyone know of a method to log back into an Instagram account..? I was dumb forgot the login password. I appreciate any tips you can offer me!

[@nathanaeltitus1501]

@Milan Melvin instablaster =)

[@delkor2973]

I struggle with spacing 喜 correctly. Somehow when I am finished it always looks like a radio-tower (very tall but slim)

[@DNYL_]

Same. 鼻 is so difficult to balance too

[@silvervixen007]

You can write certain strokes longer and certain shorter to balance it out. Look at fonts like kaiti etc to see how it's done there

[@ayaaaa8298]

lol

[@linggao2602]

Flatten the 口 and make the horizontal strokes slightly longer.

[@離子ion]

挑”釁”

[@marialikia.127]

When I first started learning I thought "damn! Either I need a fine arts diploma or Picasso as a middle name to write in mandarin!", but it gets better and it is fascinating, you never get bored

[@RaymondHng]

One reads or writes in Chinese, but speaks in Mandarin or speaks in Cantonese.

[@marialikia.127]

@@RaymondHng yes indeed, thank you

[@user-jj9gg2xc9i]

@@RaymondHng 。。。在說我？

[@ABChinese]

I just realized I said "the velocity of my pen is constant"... my high school physics teacher is gunna kill me🥵

[@queenoffortune5052]

Lol😂😂may I ask what pen you used to write your chinese characters

[@ABChinese]

@@queenoffortune5052 It's a Pilot G2 gel pen!

[@Andrew-yl7lm]

@@queenoffortune5052 it hits Mach III :P

[@samwinnick4048]

Instructions unclear. Now when I write Latin characters all that comes out is a long straight line.

[@bshthrasher]

🤣 n1

[@rrrr-je5zc]

Me: daamm he's so good He: this weird 喜 can be fixed... Also me: 👁️👄👁️

[@ABChinese]

😂😂😂

[@stevenwong8821]

The best method to improve your Chinese handwriting and write beautiful Chinese characters is practise Chinese brush-pen writing. Be consistent on practising it maybe one hour each day for a year or so, I guarantee you'll be pleasantly surprised at your newly- improved Chinese handwriting skills.

[@stevenwong8821]

@MLG Joe It goes without saying there are many ways to improve your Chinese handwriting skills and what you say are some good examples. That being said, I still think Chinese brush-pen writing is an all round and fundamental method to improve your Chinese handwriting. A brush-pen is much more flexible and thus more manipulatable. When you've mastered the brush-pen, not only can you produce awesome Chinese calligraphy but also art. I have yet to see a person who is good with the brush-pen but write ugly Chinese characters.

[@cottagearts8467]

I'm learning Japanese, but this really helped with my Kanji! Thanks!

[@komeijisatori6612]

Just don't forget the difference in stroke order in both languages.

[@romangonzalezadrianmaurici6302]

@@komeijisatori6612 there is a difference in stroke order? like why? imagine if that was true for english and spanish.

[@komeijisatori6612]

@@romangonzalezadrianmaurici6302 as for why, idk. But yup there is a difference like in 田 in one you write the inside, top to bottom stroke first, then left to right stroke second, in other it's vice versa. And so many different little differences exist

[@francescofra7917]

kanji are from chinese but the pronunciations and the meanings are different

[@ohayo1225]

@@francescofra7917 but it's just a few characters, the most meaning of them is sameee

[@cirochoco]

Thank you so much for pointing out the details. I am so frustrated by my bad Chinese characters. Your video really helps A LOT!

[@ABChinese]

you’re welcome!

[@silvervixen007]

I agree! I can write them decently fast and correct but they still suck 😥

[@ManchuCLuBMix]

This could definitely help me because I’m teaching myself how to read and write Chinese, but I still can’t do it alone.

[@riodesmf2607]

me too, how's it going for you?

[@user-mg9jc3sw5i]

多写多练

[@joyuna]

This video came at the perfect time. I've been learning Chinese for almost 2 years now, but I just started learning hand-writing a couple weeks ago! 🙏

[@joanlee2382]

I ‘m learning from a Korean background but have always struggled with making the characters fit into a "box" (I don't know why, when Korean characters are even more square than Chinese -- no exceptions!) and this video was really helpful :)

[@matthewvp8507]

Yeah I find making boxes with hangeul easier than with hanzi- maybe because they’re simpler?

[@peterwang5272]

我没有恶意，你们韩国人的宪法都是中文写的，你们韩国人的名字都需要用汉字来区分相同的发音。你们可以去汉化，相当于抹除了自己民族的历史🤣🤣

[@yuebinhu9392]

@@peterwang5272 有必要吗？

[@colinboiTM]

been living in China for more than 4 years and my Chinese still sucks. thankfully I found this Channel. it's so good, and easy to follow! keep going. I'm loving it!

[@tainarak6704]

Thank you ❤️❤️❤️ I hope you can help more people with this video! I need to write an essay this week, I'm going to practice the tips o/

[@jovan6739]

The inward pointing vertical strokes was something I myself noticed from experience and was doing it already but the rest of the tips were truly useful! My characters are far from good but at least they look better now. 谢谢你！

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

As someone who simply began to learn Japanese by myself for fun in lockdown, the principle of changing pressure and pen velocity was something I somehow completely failed to grasp by myself! Thank you.

[@peterwang5272]

你直接学中文吧，日语是从中文借鉴汉字过去的

[@Mochibear_]

Thank you sir! I'm currently learning japanese, but this definitely applies to kanji. I asked some natives why some of my characters didn't flow, but they either didn't want to hurt my feelings and said it was nice or didn't know how to explain it to me. Thanks for the comprehensive video.

[@ABChinese]

Glad this helped with your Kanji!

[@user-qo4rs4xz3d]

I’m in a similar situation (*'▽'*)

[@RobertKaucher]

Something I want to say about the lines vs strokes thing: learn to write cursive well in English and you will naturally do the things that you need to do to start writing Chinese well. We don't learn good penmanship any more in English speaking countries. It's a shame. But if you have a more calligraphic writing in English, you will already know what you need to do in Chinese in regards to the first tip.

[@smbigle9161]

Incredibly grateful! Your guidance is exactly what I needed to better my handwriting and the resources are just phenomenal for a self-teaching person.

[@TheRealCoryKent]

You are clearly a master Chinese character writer!

[@user-sl6sh5ug2y]

これが時間が経つと 早く書くために省略したり、雑になるんだよな というより人に渡す大事なものでない場合はここまで丁寧に書くことは少ない

[@potatoforpresident1804]

This video was so helpful, especially since I had trouble spacing the characters.

[@EnriqueSP]

This video was super useful!! Better than any of the other videos I have seen on characters elsewhere. I really want to apply the new tips that you give!

[@ABChinese]

That's awesome to hear! Thank you!

[@kentemente9527]

Found this over a year later, and it is still SUPER helpful! Thank you so much!

[@lenkakroupova4354]

Receintly started to learn Chinese and couldn't figure out, why my writing is very different from the original text, your tips are very helpful. 谢 谢 🍀🌺🌾

[@lp1a_]

I started learning how to write Chinese two years ago but they all look nothing like the characters in the books. Thank you so much!

[@aryanshrestha6630]

Your handwriting is so pretty! It was so satisfying seeing you write Chinese characters

[@abbycanaco9856]

this is so useful! i've been learning chinese for many years now, and this tips will surely make my writing more beautiful... thank you for this!! :))

[@getsome_milk]

not me watching this as a chinese

[@delulu.Eczema]

Samee

[@yourfavouriteshumai]

my teacher finally won't tear my Chinese hw again, tysm ❤️

[@edwardlim4553]

Difficult to recall character from stroke. It is easy to draw part Eg Using drawing method ㄣ, or フ，L J to FORM 与与马写鸟与吗妈 勺 鸟乌鸦,呜. ㄣ denote bird leg, or horse, pen .counter check with handphone keyboard If forget use voice input Three fingers at the top 彡 to write 手丟拿看 春须 丰(富) 參(加) 训 毛衣 修改, 家 豹爪抓，汤，浅，钱，线 烫 吻

[@lailaaiman5884]

Thank you very much for your video🌸... I also have a good way i want to share it with you... when you return your mobile language into Chinese you can change the font into your favorite font or you want your handwriting to be like it... I tried this way for maybe 2days and felt the different. And thank you again for your video ☺️🌸

[@Mintshake_bunny]

Thank you! The characters that frustrate me the most are definitely 要 and 这, I need to try out these tips to learn to write them better and improve my writing.

[@hexwolfi]

The 女 radical is probably one of the most difficult to balance correctly in my experience. The Japanese method is to write the characters くノ一 (this is also the word for female ninja or _ku-no-ichi_ ) on top of each other.

[@user-zx2zf1ks4w]

I am a Chinese.Since I was a child, I was praised for writing beautifully.I think what the youtuber said is very good❤

[@biologicalguy5861]

I'm not even Chinese and for some reason I teached myself it at home so this helped me do my writing proper

[@AnaMaria.1515]

Greetings from Brazil too! 🇧🇷 I loved this video! Thanks a lot!

[@HanpingChinese]

Thanks for the shout out! 🙏❤️

[@ABChinese]

Not a problem!

[@alexisrodrigues8934]

Thank you. I studied Chinese for 3 years and still looks like first one

[@RiceDummy8]

Beautiful writting

[@user-vz6hd3sm4f]

Although I don’t understand English that much, i get exited to practice; improve my lines , btw I liked ur handwritin it’s pretty beautiful!! They will add Chinese in schools in my country now!! At least I know a little of Chinese so I can get high mark._ . Well I’m interesting in Chinese since I know Japanese and some Korean too, tho I love the hard parts of language xD

[@gintaresprauniute3612]

Nice! I don't see many of these kinds of videos talking about how to perfect your Chinese characters. These were some nice, practical tips, I'll be sure to try them out. Right now I think that my Chinese characters look pretty ok when I write them slowly but when I need to write them quickly all hell breaks loose and they start looking super ugly to me 哈哈

[@MCNeko6554]

My characters don't look too terrible, but these tips will help immensely! I began studying characters with the mindset that this is art made with a brush and tried to keep every part exactly as the example, which makes my writing legible but not like handwriting since I end up using the more simple font styles to practice with.

[@wolfpuppers]

Thank you so much for making this video! I havent been able to find too many good videos on writing chinese characters and I found this one to be very helpful!

[@brian67oq]

碗 I can never push those two components close enough to not look way wrong! Even 邊 is easier to write. I think it's harder to line up a bunch of components horizontally than to stack them, probably because I'm usually writing horizontally. Maybe I should see if the opposite is true in vertical writing.

[@DivineWaffless]

I'm really trying to impress my Mandarin Chinese teacher rn and make her proud even though school just started a week ago 🙃

[@93lozfan]

I'm happy I found your channel it's actually helping a lot with my kanji (Japanese)

[@hongsun5207]

I'm Chinese but I am only a Chinese child , and my family doesn't teach me any Chinese because their so busy , so they told me to learn Chinese on KZbin and i found your videos☺☺☺☺

[@ABChinese]

hope you find them useful!

[@jianxiongRaven]

wow , this all make sense now , why i learn what my teacher taught us

[@silvervixen007]

Yes! Hanping is great! Pleco only has the computer font and it doesn't show you how to write chinese characters apart from the very basic ones.

[@Loerchen]

I have been looking for something like this video for ages! Thank you so much! I will start practicing right away. :)

[@emmaclaire9550]

写”擦“ 太难了，老师救命啊！

[@fangyun005]

I've always wondered why my Chinese characters don't look like this. Thanks for helping me. I will keep practicing

[@nijn3301]

Here because my friend from Taiwan said my handwriting looks like the handwriting of him in primary school 🤠

[@celiasalas2277]

Thank you. Great help to me.

[@littleredhenl.7868]

I decided to go back to the brush... it helped.

[@bruno9260]

I'm a beginner and your video will help greatly. Thank you! Maybe it's just me but I find that being left-handed adds another difficulty to tracing the characters correctly.....

[@babyangelic]

Thank you so much for talking about handwriting. Although there is a lot of content on Mandarin online, this topic is hard to find. This video is extremely helpful since proficiency also includes being able to write neatly. Awesome tips, my handwriting has been looking like a broken printer or something idek

[@edwardlim4553]

Difficult to recall character from stroke. It is easy to write part Eg Using drawing method ㄣ, or フ，L J to FORM 与与马写鸟与吗妈 勺 鸟乌鸦,呜. ㄣ denote bird leg, or horse, pen .counter check with handphone keyboard If forget use voice input Using n (月 also indicate body )to expand into 朋 月 買胃肚肝脏 明用同 counter check with handphone keyboard as long 70% similar, software can give u answer

[@ketamu5946]

Pentel brushpens work great for this

[@Lord_Vertice]

Works for Japanese Kanji too!

[@gujelena3028]

This is a really beautiful video I love it I have Chinese class and this will improve me much better

[@AS-cc4nc]

Pleco also has an add-on that shows the stroke order in the Kaiti font ;)

[@rocketmillion]

i somehow taught my myself how to write like calligraphy and everyone praises me for it

[@louiscabaldi7531]

I like your videos and that you review chinese language learning apps.

[@evanchang859]

汉字的顿笔和运笔你还是没学会，不同的笔画在不同的位置用力是不同的，所以粗细也不同，而不是像你那样把几个横杠竖杠拼在一起就了事了的 You still haven’t learned how to use the strokes and strokes of Chinese characters. Different strokes have different force in different positions, so the thickness is also different, instead of putting together several horizontal bars and vertical bars like you did.

[@Tiananmen8964]

How to write beautiful English sentences Before Good good study, day day up. After Goodly study and daily upward.

[@ChristianJiang]

Ok, I can definitely tell that your handwriting is that of an overseas-born Chinese… For some reason, there are always some common traits that make it stand out! Good job anyway!

[@fatimahmakgatho8968]

I'm actually learning Japanese. Thank you so much

[@willywillycow]

Actually, most of the time the problem is just people not following the writing order.

[@unholycrusader69]

This channel is great for Japanese learners as well! ありがとう！

[@limedwardster]

To make one increase Chinese vocabulary. Must learn how to write creative way.using | expand into 上 下 牛 不 走 土 王 玉 林 米 although u write different however software can recognize It. Try Chinese App. Google translate, or shou gou. Using 囗 ，double L to form 口 expanding 中 田 回，国，甲 早 只....是

[@tatianealbuquerque7046]

Lovely video, it will certainly help me. Learning Chinese from Brazil as well! Cheers o/

[@timgordon2943]

Excellent instructional video!

[@yangfan2440]

I am a Chinese who are learning English, also recently I am practicing my hand writing in Chinese, so I think why can't I learn them both, so I search English video which about characters. here I came.

[@konradmoien4734]

Wow this is what I have struggled for my 6 years of elementary school lol 我認真地跟如何把字寫得漂亮甚至寫成一個形狀搏鬥了五年半 然後在小六我突然開竅了 So that I don’t expect foreigners to learn how to write it perfectly since as a native I used more than a decade to receive 10 years to master it lol

[@hjiang5758]

I suggest you use the shape of a cow's bone to inform your audience. This is a description from ancient calligraphers, that means one or "一" should be written in a thick and thin manner at both ends and in the middle. I can do this even with a ball pen.

[@redpanda6125]

This video is precious! Thank you so much

[@tingenchen7278]

I'm Taiwanese and I can tell you that not many people writes beautifully 😂😂 We really have no patience to write characters slowly. So....寫字不用多好看，只要實用就行了！

[@xz334]

but writing beautiful characters help : )

[@middalai6611]

" 實 用 " 就是 写 " 行草 "。 其实，写字 就是 写 简体、草书，或 繁简 混用。 而 几千年来，印版字 都是 用 " 正體 "。 而 现在的 简体 印版字 最不好 就是 言字旁 变成 " 讠"， 長 变成 "长" ， 实在 不倫不類。

[@peterwang5272]

You are Chinese from Taiwan province

[@satviksworldofgaming4288]

Xtra bonus top:have a good roller ball pen or a good flowing gel pen

[@keeeabdnfjks6800]

Handwritting is a little difficult, 谢谢

[@lunar7237]

This helped, I used to draw very big for chinese characters, if you know what I mean.

[@vinl3499]

Thanks for the tips. It's helpful.

[@madsschramm4233]

im not learning chinese, but the same tips apply to Japanese kanji, which I am struggling with, so thank you very much :)

[@sheherezahade]

Useful! Thanks!

[@niviamaria6208]

Amazing tips! Thank you very much!

[@ambervale6172]

For those who are using this video to get into Chinese calligraphy, the tip about increasing the speed at the hooks and at the end of diagonal strokes should only be used in pen/pencil writing. If you were to do this in brush writing, the strokes will appear too sharp, giving off a gaudy (overly flowery) type of feeling "yan2" 妍 and lacking substance "shi2" 實. Plus in all of my research into brushmanship, there is no technique called the "fling" technique, which so many teachers now teach. The name "ti4" 趯 for the hook stroke sounding like a jumping motion also contributes to this confusion. The brush bristles can actually wear down faster by doing this. A better way of writing the hook stroke is by letting your hand, or even your body, which is best (larger muscles vs smaller ones) pull the stroke into a hook shape. Ironically, in Chinese Calligraphy and paleography, you want to treat strokes as lines (more specifically, dots as lines). This gives the stroke direction and momentum "shi4" 勢 for the next stroke. After all, it's the act of each individual stroke being connected together that makes the character whole.

[@bmariann7783]

Thank you! It was very useful!

[@user-op8gs7eo5h]

哈，看我揮灑自如 呵呵呵🤭

[@jenniechung281]

Thank you. I can now practice how to write my name neatly and nicely :)

[@abigaelj.5970]

This is gold and really easy to follow THANK YOU

[@nuohuamei5976]

Thank you so much.I have been looking for help with writing characters the correct way !

[@bbridgett]

just found this and it's very helpful!

[@ronimomichis716]

It helps me so much.

[@limedwardster]

需是认识中文字。学习部分输入法，要用AI手法，主要你写的字手机的软件，会认识字就好了。让学生知道文字怎样构成。好像学习，口，日，吃，早，唱，喝，，人，大，天，大，头，买卖，这些有关 联顺序,比较容易记住。最好也会一些语音输入法。要跟小孩子讲, 囗 就是中文的 O，月 就是n ，写，马，鸟，不需要用笔划来写字。我这意见可能不好看。写学我的办法进步很快。

[@Lisa-kf4se]

很有用啊！谢谢你！So helpful! 🙂

[@jarethozb07]

What happens if you need to write a really complicated character like the biang (biang biang noodles) It simply wouldn't fit in one of those squares ?

[@unicornbuster]

Really educational, thank you for your work! 🙏

[@Mariajose_19]

Hola, muchas gracias, me parece fantástico el canal, los videos son excelentes, muy didácticos y amenos de de ver. Se aprende con facilidad y es un placer verlos. Éxitos espero seguir disfrutando de ellos.

[@joyrobjoyrob7551]

Thank you for the special tips. 🤗 It's very helpful. My Chinese characters are so awful, worst than chicken scratch. I always want to improve it for a very long time.

[@chinaball_gov]

I struggle writing 高 lucky I saw this video

[@aggacara2013]

Thanks for sharing and teaching. I learn a lot from you.

[@derekmoore1387]

Daiso has affordable brush pens (zebra pens) that have been fun to use for writing.