I have been on skitter for a few days now. I am frustrated that I cannot remember how to write characters no matter how many times I practice! Are there ways (tips, tricks) in helping to remember characters that other users have found successful?
Btw I have some experience speaking and writing pin yin but virtually no experience with characters.

Thanks a bunch for any input at all.

Ed

Yeah, it can be very slow going at first. Give yourself more than a few days to start out.

Focus on a small set of things until you really know them; don't add new characters and words too quickly or you will get overwhelmed.

Study characters in context: find words that contain your characters, and sentences that show how they're all used.

Study the example sentence by writing it on a piece of scrap paper. Cover it up and try to write it from memory. Do this until you can write the sentence without looking. Then throw it away and go on to the next item.

Study the radicals and learn them 100%, including their readings and definitions; when you learn new characters, study how they are made up of smaller, simpler characters, and use mnemonics (the crazier the better) to help you remember the breakdown. Consider using Heisig's book and method (Google it if you're not familiar.)

Write a character, then hit "erase" and write it from memory. When you can write it correctly, hit "erase" and count to ten, then write the character. When you can do this, extend your count to 20, 30, 60 etc. Then mark it wrong and go on to the next character.

I'm sure others will have suggestions.

James

and coffee

错了，g1itch， 绝对不是咖啡，是 TEA: 学一字，干一杯，下一字，下一杯。。。

茶不在，咋还会写字啊，再说了，这样写字忒浪费时间了。

我说话是真心实意的，自己试一下就知道了。

My advice would be to write the character on paper NOT just on the computer screen. Involving your body always helps. :)

Also, as John (is that your name?) said learn the sentence not just the word. Context is so important!!! Practice the sentence, even writing it. Don't worry if you don't remember every word but focus on that one character you're trying to input into your brain's neural network. ;)

BUT the biggest bit of advice is to set things aside when you feel frustrated. Frustration is like a big mental block that stops anything from settling where it needs to settle.

My learning pattern has been: Learn how to say the ENTIRE sentence (via Chinese Pod). Then I sit down and write the characters out (even if I have to copy/paste virtually). Then I write each character 10X on a sheet of paper. THEN I log onto Skritter and input the new words. I practice on Skritter 10-15 minutes then turn everything off and go on about my day. Later that day I sit down and write down as much as I remember, using copy/paste to fill in the blanks. Then I log onto skritter for a minute or two and then bed! Haha.

It works for me. :)

Plus, review, review, review, review... even when you think you know a character if you're not constantly reviewing you'll be surprised how easily it will slip away from you.

Heisig (book) and raw squigs (settings) work pretty well for me...

I use Heisig's book, "Remembering Simplified Hanzi" For me, his books have been invaluable. Especially when I was first starting out.

Heisig definitely did it for me. I studied Chinese in China for 1 year very focused on learning characters. Then studied 2 years using a speaking focused curriculum. This year, I decided to really focus on characters using skritter and Heisig's book. I started in March and got through all 1500 characters by July studying about 1 hour a day and with several periods where I didn't study for 1-2 weeks at a time. Heisig organizes the characters so what you learn is building on the material you've already learned. Much better than trying to learn a list of vocab that has characters that don't relate to each other. I ignored Heisig's advice not to learn the pinyin sound along with the character. Since I had already studied Chinese I knew about 80% of the pinyin pronunciations and it was easy to learn the rest along the way. Since September I am back in formal language study in a Chinese university and find it easy to learn new vocab as I know about 80% of the characters and the ones I don't know, I recognize all the components from studying Heisig so they are pretty quick to learn.

Heisig also has helped me tremendously. Even if you can't or don't want to use his book, use the textbook lists here on Skritter (labeled Remembering the Simplified/Traditional Hanzi). The best thing about Heisig for me is the lists with all the characters in order of component appearance; I don't use very many of his stories or even elemental keywords. Skritter taught me about the value of mnemonics before Heisig.