I’m trying to learn chinese on duolingo, and as I’m learning characters I try to write them down with the correct stroke order to help me memorize them.

I read the wikipedia article on stroke order, but there seems to be tons of exceptions and counter-intuitive stuff like the eighth stroke of “很” coming before the ninth stroke it connects to, or the order of strokes in the first radical of “忙” or whether or not “minor strokes” (丶) actually go last, etc.

Is there anyway to get better at telling what the stroke orders are, or do I just have to look it up for each character? Does it matter that much if I deviate from the standard stroke order as long as I follow the correct rules?

I’m not trying to be a calligrapher, I just want to be able to write legibly and remember what the characters are.

  • Fleewithme [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Kanji refers to Japanese characters, which are distinct and different from hanzi, Chinese characters. Seriously, there isn't much overlap between them. What I can't figure out is that if you've studied...you obviously know this. So why the weird take?

    • Kumikommunism [they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      It doesn't though. You can look in any Japanese dictionary or the Japanese Wikipedia page since I assume you can read Japanese otherwise you obviously wouldn't be ignorant enough to be annoying about it, surely.

      • Fleewithme [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        OK now I'm curious. Can you link one of these dictionaries which states that Chinese characters are called kanji? I'd like to show some friends.

        • Kumikommunism [they/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Ah, so you try to be super condescending with repeated bad arguments, insult an entire culture's use of a writing system, and then you finally admit you actually have no idea what you're talking about, while asking for a favor. Yeah, I'll get right on that.

          It should be easy since you were arguing about a Japanese word. Of course you can read Japanese enough to search for a definition, right?

          • Fleewithme [none/use name]
            ·
            3 years ago

            repeated bad arguments

            My arguments are good ones. I know what I'm talking about.

            insult an entire culture’s use of a writing system

            ??? Where did I do this? Could you quote the offending sentence?

            you finally admit you actually have no idea what you’re talking about

            ??? I'm the one who knows what he's talking about here. I've studied both languages. Nobody calls Chinese characters kanji. That's a completely different set of characters. Most Chinese people can't read them.

            while asking for a favor

            Here's a review of a Chinese dictionary that touches on the points I made about Japanese.

            • Kumikommunism [they/them]
              ·
              3 years ago

              LMAO you're linking a random internet ENGLISH REVIEW of an ENGLISH BOOK about CHINESE to try to convince me that Japanese people don't know how their own words are used. Yes, exactly the type of source I imagined. I'm so glad I kept this going instead of ignoring you. That is hilarious.

              So we confirmed that you can't read enough Japanese to read a Wikipedia page, now we also know you probably can't read enough Chinese to read a Chinese one. I've always wondered what possesses people who clearly can't speak on a subject to be so adamant. Maybe this is a troll but it's just so fascinating.

              • Fleewithme [none/use name]
                ·
                3 years ago

                to try to convince me that Japanese people don’t know how their own words are used.

                I think you are misunderstanding the argument and changing the subject. I'm saying kanji isn't used to refer to Chinese characters. Moreover, that Japanese characters and Chinese characters are different. They can't read each other's languages. There are some cognates but that's it.

                Could you present some evidence that Chinese characters are called kanji?

                • Kumikommunism [they/them]
                  ·
                  3 years ago

                  Oof, in addition to not knowing either Chinese or Japanese, you don't know anything about linguistics or what affects mutual intelligibility. I really wish I could understand people being this arrogant about not knowing anything.

                  Ah well, I already specifically named some places you could read about how the word is used in Japanese. Since you said you could read Japanese, that would certainly be enough....Unless?

                  • Fleewithme [none/use name]
                    ·
                    3 years ago

                    OK you are deliberately wasting my time by intentionally misunderstanding the point and quoting me on things I didn't say.

                    Before I go, could you clear up one thing for me? Do you watch a lot of anime?

                    • Kumikommunism [they/them]
                      ·
                      3 years ago

                      I think you've wasted your own time (and mine) by not looking up something you've implied you could easily look up in the exact place I said. Well, that was fun to see someone scramble around so hard trying to look smart. That part with the dictionary review was so funny. What a reveal. Thanks for that.