A minimum-effort approach to writing Chinese characters by hand

Chinese characters are beautiful and fascinating, but learning to write them by hand is time-consuming. If you want to learn to write Chinese characters by hand with the least possible time investment, what’s the best approach?

I remember what it was like to write my first Chinese characters. It felt like writing runes with magical powers. The characters were exotic, closer to art than language.

I still like Chinese characters today, almost twenty years later. Time hasn’t eroded the sense of wonder completely.

Still, acquiring and maintaining the ability to write many thousands of characters by hand takes a lot of time, which could perhaps have been better invested elsewhere.

So, if you’re like me and want to be able to write by hand but want to spend as little time as possible achieving it, what approach should you use?

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A minimum-effort approach to writing Chinese characters by hand

If you love writing Chinese characters by hand and find the activity worthwhile in and of itself, this article is not for you. Instead, this is for those of you who value handwriting, but not to the point where you’re willing to sacrifice other skills and abilities.

My minimum-effort approach works for both acquiring and maintaining the ability to write thousands of characters by hand, but my goal here is not to delve into how characters work or how to learn them in the first place. This is a general strategy to win the long game, not tactics to conquer individual characters.

1. A minimum-effort approach to writing Chinese characters by hand
2. Speaking, typing and writing Chinese characters by hand
3. The goal: legible characters, not beautiful penmanship
4. Chinese handwriting: one strategy, four components
   1. Component 1: Reading
   2. Component 2: Typing
   3. Component 3: Spaced repetition software
   4. Component 4: Communicative handwriting
5. Voilà: a minimum-effort approach to writing Chinese characters by hand
6. I’ve used this method for years, and it works
7. What’s your approach to Chinese characters like?

For an overview of how the Chinese writing system works, see: The building blocks of Chinese, part 1: Chinese characters and words in a nutshell.

The building blocks of Chinese, part 1: Chinese characters and words in a nutshell

For a comprehensive discussion of how to learn Chinese characters, see: My best advice on how to learn Chinese characters.

My best advice on how to learn Chinese characters

Speaking, typing and writing Chinese characters by hand

Before I go into any details about the strategy itself, there are a few words to be said about the goal.

My goal is to be able to write most things by hand that I can already type on a computer.

That means that vocabulary, grammar and so on aren’t part of what I’m talking about here. This is about the difference between being able to read, type and perhaps say something, and being able to write it down on a piece of paper by hand.

There are many reasons one might want to be able to write characters by hand, but not all of them are good.

16 reasons to learn to write Chinese characters by hand

The good news is that if you don’t see a good reason to write by hand, you don’t have to!

I still recommend that you learn to write some characters to strengthen your understanding of how the writing system works, but there is no strong practical need to learn to write thousands of characters by hand.

Remember, there’s always an opportunity cost. The question is not whether writing by hand is useful, but whether learning it is more important than improving in other areas.

The goal: legible characters, not beautiful penmanship

Since we’re considering a minimum-effort approach here, we need to find the smartest way possible to learn the bare minimum. This means there are two things this approach will not teach you.

1. You won’t learn to write beautifully. That clearly doesn’t fit into a minimum-effort approach.
2. You won’t learn to write quickly. This is also a minimum-effort consideration. You will merely be able to write, even if it takes a little time.

Again, if you’re not okay with these compromises, that’s completely fine, but then this approach is not for you. If you want to improve your penmanship, check How to improve your Chinese handwriting instead.

Chinese handwriting: one strategy, four components

The four components in my strategy are reading, typing, spaced repetition software and communicative handwriting.

Below, I’ll discuss them one by one and explain how they help me reach the goal described above.

Component 1: Reading

Reading is a fundamental ability in any language. Any endeavour to conquer the Chinese written language should include lots of reading, preferably extensive reading.

Reading also exposes you to Chinese characters, and while this is not enough to enable you to write them by hand, it provides a solid foundation.

If you’ve seen a cumulative total of a million characters, you will know much more about what they look like than if you’ve seen ten thousand. And I don’t mean unique characters here.

Of course, reading also has many benefits unrelated to handwriting, but I think most people are aware of that. If not, please read this article: What to read to improve your Chinese and why.

What to read to improve your Chinese and why

Component 2: Typing

While handwriting might not be strictly necessary in a modern digital world, typing definitely is.

Typing makes sure that you know everything you need to communicate in written Chinese, except for the handwriting bit.

This means that if you can type something, you generally only need character knowledge to be able to write it by hand as well.

If you use phonetic input (such as Pinyin or Zhuyin), you also make sure that you know how to pronounce what you’re typing, which increases the chance that phonetic components will remind you of how to write the characters as well.

I don’t think anyone will question the usefulness of typing Chinese characters, so let’s move on to the next component.

Learning to pronounce Mandarin with Pinyin, Zhuyin and IPA: Part 1

Component 3: Spaced repetition software

Spaced repetition software is crucial for any minimum-effort approach because it’s by far the most efficient way to maintain large amounts of knowledge.

These programs help you schedule each review, putting it off for as long as possible to save time and strengthen memory, while not delaying it so long that you forget.

It’s possible to maintain a large vocabulary this way with less effort than most other methods. I prefer Skritter because it’s geared towards handwriting, but you can also use other apps, such as Anki or Pleco.

Spaced repetition software and why you should use it

Component 4: Communicative handwriting

Communicative writing refers to writing Chinese characters with the primary goal of conveying meaning.

Most handwriting practice is not communicative, such as translating sentences, doing exercises in a workbook or using spaced repetition software.

For writing to be communicative, the writing needs to be meaning-focused rather than form-focused. For more about communicative learning in general, see Real communication: What it is, why you want it and how to get it.

Real communication: What it is, why you want it and how to get it

It can be with other people, such as leaving a note for a friend written in Chinese or chatting with someone online using handwriting input on your phone.

It could also be with yourself, such as writing shopping lists or taking notes in Chinese.

The point of communicative writing is that it’s realistic and ensures you constantly practise the high-frequency words you need to be able to write well.

If you neglect this step, you will likely find that you forget even common characters when forced to write by hand, simply because you never write them, and spaced repetition software isn’t very good at spotting weaknesses in knowledge you’re supposed to know really well.

Voilà: a minimum-effort approach to writing Chinese characters by hand

By combining these four elements, it’s possible to reach the goal of being able to write by hand most things I can already type on a computer.

This strategy is the result of a lot of thought about how to learn what I need without spending too much time. I haven’t found a way of removing any of these components, which is why I call it a minimum-effort approach.

I’ve used this method for years, and it works

I have used this approach for a few years, and it has served me well. I can write Chinese when required to, and I seldom forget characters or words.

I don’t spend much time focusing only on writing characters. It’s all integrated into other activities that are either communicative or meaningful in other ways.

Even if my typed Chinese is superior to my handwriting, that’s mostly because of differences between word processing and handwriting in general, such as speed, ease of editing and so on.

This is at least partly applicable to any language, so I would find it harder to write this article by hand than to type it in a text editor. Thus, I still prefer typing Chinese, but I’m not really afraid of writing by hand.

The only drawback is that when required to write something lengthy, the muscles in my hand aren’t really up to the task and get tired easily, but I can live with that.

What’s your approach to Chinese characters like?

What strategy do you use to learn to write by hand?

Are you like me in that you want to learn it, but not more than necessary?

Or do you genuinely enjoy writing characters by hand?

Share your approach in the comments below!

Editor’s note: This article, originally published in 2015, was rewritten and republished in November 2025.