How to write traditional Chinese characters?
xiaophil
August 21, 2011, 02:50 AM posted in I Have a QuestionOkay all you Hong Kong, Taiwan or Chinese character purists, do you know of a website that shows how to write traditional Chinese characters stroke by stroke? Animated like this would be cool, or the old-school one squares on a sheet would also suffice. The key is that it must be free.
Thanks!
xiaophil
Despite you not being a traditional character purist, this looks quite useful. Actually, I always meant to figure out MDGB. Always neglected it for some reason. Thanks!
bababardwan
It's funny but I like certain dictionaries for certain things. Generally I use mdbg, but I prefer yellowbridge for etymology and for stroke animation. You can control animation speed on yellowbridge whereas I don't think you can on mdbg. Just curious, no big deal, but what do you find strange about yellowbridge's stroke animation?
cinnamonfern
Hmm...I just tried Yellow Bridge again. It seems to work fine - I must have been having problems with Java that day. But I don't like the ads that show up on the left side of the box - just a visual preference. :) But the speed adjustment is nice. I think that mdbg is too slow.
I don't usually look up stroke order for characters since I use Skritter and it kind of ingrains the order in your brain. And there is a rhythm to writing characters once you learn a bunch of them.
bababardwan
yeah, I agree, skritter is the ideal. Also, I could be wrong but mdbg's stroke order diagrams look a little better to me than I remember previously. I'm not sure if it's just a little larger or clearer or what it is. I never used it much before though.
anonymous546627
August 21, 2011, 03:34 PMThe best:
http://stroke-order.learningweb.moe.edu.tw/home.do
Republic of China (R.O.C. Taiwan) Ministry Of Education
e.g. 愛
xiaophil
Yeah, checking it out now. Looks cool. Thanks!
cinnamonfern
August 21, 2011, 03:23 AMWell...I'm not a traditional character purist, but I know where to go. :) How about MDBG online dictionary? http://www.mdbg.net/
How to do it:
1) Set the drop down box to traditional characters.
2) Search for the character(s) you want to see (東 perhaps).
3) Click on the colored character(s) to "show information about all characters" (popup text).
4) Hover over the >> icon next to the very large character and click on the little paintbrush ("show stroke order" - popup text)
5) A big box with the character should pop up and if you click the "write" button will show the stroke order.
Alternatively you can use Yellow Bridge Dictionary, but I think the animation is a little bit stranger, although it is much easier to find. Just search for the character and click the tab that says "Stroke Order". (http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/chinese-dictionary.php)
Hopefully these instructions are enough to get you there! Cheers!