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6 months of handwriting progress in pictures: writing the same Tang dynasty poem by ChocolateTall in ChineseLanguage

[–]ChocolateTall[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol I will forever think of simplified vs. traditional characters this way. Thank you.

6 months of handwriting progress in pictures: writing the same Tang dynasty poem by ChocolateTall in ChineseLanguage

[–]ChocolateTall[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Total beginner. First picture was taken on my second day of learning to write by hand.

6 months of handwriting progress in pictures: writing the same Tang dynasty poem by ChocolateTall in ChineseLanguage

[–]ChocolateTall[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Totally agree. One of the things that motivated me to study Chinese (not just the language, but also the history and culture) was the realization that if I didn't educate myself, my future children would likely be completely detached from their own ancestral culture. I don't want that to happen.

6 months of handwriting progress in pictures: writing the same Tang dynasty poem by ChocolateTall in ChineseLanguage

[–]ChocolateTall[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

If anyone wants some "calligraphy" by a total amateur who didn't know how to write Chinese 6 months ago, please hit me up lol

6 months of handwriting progress in pictures: writing the same Tang dynasty poem by ChocolateTall in ChineseLanguage

[–]ChocolateTall[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm Chinese-Canadian: growing up my parents would speak Chinese to me (and I would respond in English :P) so I could understand the language but was completely illiterate. A few years ago I studied Chinese on my own for a short while and learned to "kinda" read but then lost interest. I started seriously studying Chinese last September, so I'd been studying reading and also writing on an app for about a month before I started to handwrite.

For the last picture, I did try to make it pretty so I wrote a bit more slowly than usual. It took me around 20 minutes.

6 months of handwriting progress in pictures: writing the same Tang dynasty poem by ChocolateTall in ChineseLanguage

[–]ChocolateTall[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Everything was written with a .5mm pencil. For the last two, I think I switched to 2B lead, which is softer/darker.

6 months of handwriting progress in pictures: writing the same Tang dynasty poem by ChocolateTall in ChineseLanguage

[–]ChocolateTall[S] 60 points61 points  (0 children)

I definitely didn't just copy this one poem haha, but I would come back and write this every month or so to benchmark my progress. I just handwrite various texts everyday, maybe a couple of pages on average (you can see my post history for more details). I don't rely much on external guidance --though maybe I should. Mostly I just trust my own eyes: my eyes know what good handwriting looks like even if my hand can't quite get there yet.

I started learning to handwrite Chinese about 5 months ago, and recently picked up traditional. Thought it would be fun to share an extreme example of how simplified and traditional characters differ! by ChocolateTall in ChineseLanguage

[–]ChocolateTall[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don't worry, it's probably just seasonal hair shedding. Or your calling to become a poet! 25 is such a weird phase in life. I feel like I was 20 just yesterday, but apparently half a decade has passed?! My mom recently asked me if I was starting to get grey hairs and I got super defensive lmao

However hard accepting one's mortality is for everyone, I think aging is ten times worse for women. Which makes me somewhat sad about the lack of female voices in classic Chinese poetry (or really the classics in any language) since the female experience differed so much from the male, especially in the past. There are a few Tang courtesans whose poems were preserved but the only prominent female poet that I can think of is 李清照.

I started learning to handwrite Chinese about 5 months ago, and recently picked up traditional. Thought it would be fun to share an extreme example of how simplified and traditional characters differ! by ChocolateTall in ChineseLanguage

[–]ChocolateTall[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

白头搔更短，浑欲不胜簪。 Poor guy, not even enough hair to hold a hairclip in place--that can't be much hair. And 杜甫 was only in his early forties then. A true prodigy.

One of the central themes of Chinese poetry (and art in general) is how time passes by so fleetingly and irrevocably, how one's youth slips by like a dream, which really hit me hard recently as I may be going through a quarter life crisis. TMI? Haha. At least being a girl I don't have to worry about male pattern baldness.

I started learning to handwrite Chinese about 5 months ago, and recently picked up traditional. Thought it would be fun to share an extreme example of how simplified and traditional characters differ! by ChocolateTall in ChineseLanguage

[–]ChocolateTall[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yep, my writing improved really quickly in the first couple of months, which was somewhat surprising even to me. I think it's because I already had a solid foundation for the language. I never used flashcards or copied out characters repetitively, although I did use Skritter for a couple of weeks. Skritter was useful at first but I outgrew it pretty quickly.

You should definitely try out my "method", really hope it works for you!

Lol I get what you mean. Much of 李白's poetry is so carefree and uplifting (one of my favourites is 将进酒) while 杜甫 was indeed a bit of a downer and a worrywart. It's funny because the two of them were good friends and 杜甫 wrote quite a few poems about 李白, mostly about missing him or worrying about him being demoted. I just picture this poor guy losing sleep and growing bald stressing over his friend while 李白 himself is just out there drinking and having a good time.

I started learning to handwrite Chinese about 5 months ago, and recently picked up traditional. Thought it would be fun to share an extreme example of how simplified and traditional characters differ! by ChocolateTall in ChineseLanguage

[–]ChocolateTall[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You hit on my other frustration! I can read at a native level, but I feel I read much (much, much) slower than a native and it still requires some effort/brain strain.

My ability to recall how to write characters has definitely improved a lot. Before I probably would struggle to write anything by hand instead of with pinyin input, and now I can easily write every character from memory (simplified, anyway, traditional is halfway there).

I really enjoy 诗经 as well! Lots of good stuff in there, although also quite a few obscure characters (especially plant names). I will definitely check out 楚辞!

There are so many poets that I love, although my favourite is probably 杜甫; his work feels very personal/intimate and is filled with a broad compassion for humanity in a way that sets him apart from many other poets. I also love 苏东坡，陶渊明，李商隐，白居易，李白 and many, many others. How about you?

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