Writing in japanese

[AaRoN]

I no all the hiagara but am having problems writing them can ne1 give me ne tips to help?!?!?!?:|

[Terasu]

I practice my hira/katakana on squared paper (like in maths when you were a kid) to help with spacing/size. Hang in there, keep pracitcing and you'll get it.

[mandolin]

Repeating writing over and over is really the only way to get good at it, I'm afraid. It may be tedious, but watch a young child learning how to write english characters sometime. Or better yet, try to help them. Repetition is the only way to make your fingers memorize how the strokes go.

Keep in mind that printed japanese (no matter what font) will look decidedly different than characters written with a pen or pencil. It will never look quite as pretty as a brushstroke, so don't let that discourage you!

I used this site to learn stroke order for kana:
Teach Yourself Japanese

Specifically, the Java program to display hiragana strokes:
Click here!

I use paper I downloaded and printed from this site:
Downloads

At the bottom of the list is "Kana and Kanji Practice paper" both large and small sizes (depending on your preference.. most people start out larger and move on to smaller). Also, the practice papers higher in the list show you how each character should fit into the square shape (remember, all japanese characters take up the same amount of room).

Perseverence and dedication win the day on this one.... good luck! Ganbatte!



EDIT: Fixed my links so they actually work...

[dreimer]

Thanks for the links...they are all good. I especially like the Word Processor. It helps a lot inthe strokes for the Kanji. And the charts, and practice paper are cool too. I have a 2 month old son whom I intend to teach more than English(American). This will help us both learn at the same time!B)

[mandolin]

Grats on the new baby, Dreimer!! I have 2 children, 5 and 4 years old. My son starts school monday.

[AaRoN]

Rei wrote:
I practice my hira/katakana on squared paper (like in maths when you were a kid) to help with spacing/size. Hang in there, keep pracitcing and you'll get it.

i'm practicing on squared paper too but certain shaps im having problems with.

I write all hiagara out 10x everday when i start to study it helps but theres still a few problems.

thnx for the help