In my previous article about stroke order, we looked at why learning correct stroke order is a good idea. In this follow-up article, we’re going to discuss what “correct” stroke order means anyway. Remember that …
Kanji Amnesia: The fall of handwriting in Japan
With the prevalent use of computers in Japan, especially cellphones, the “evolutionary need” to write kanji by hand is steadily declining. It’s not uncommon for a Japanese person to whip out their cellphone when they …
Why it’s important to learn correct stroke order for Chinese characters
I still remember what it was like learning my first few Chinese characters. One of the things I kept asking myself was if it really mattered which order I wrote all those strokes! The end …
Mandarin tone changes in Skritter
As you probably know already, the tones in Mandarin sometimes change their pronunciation depending on the tone of the following syllable. This is called tone sandhi. The basic rules are simple, but it’s very important …
Easily confused Japanese characters
Many kanji have subtle differences that may be confused or not noticed, especially if they are printed or written small, and even more so if you happen to have studied reading kanji but not writing …
Hacking the Most Difficult Chinese Characters (4-6)
What are some of the most difficult Chinese characters? We all have some characters that just refuse to stick and that we keep forgetting over and over. The best way of learning tricky characters in …
Why strangers are so hard to understand
Human language is varied. It varies across time and space, but also between individuals. This is true within languages like Chinese and Japanese as well. I think all of us have had the experience where …
Translating the Skritter dictionary
Students of Chinese and Japanese hail from all corners of the world, not just English-speaking parts. So here at Skritter we want to make our methods of language study as accessible as possible to speakers …
Japanese Cultural Post: Onsen (温泉)
Hot springs (onsen: 温泉), or literally “warm spring”, are a common part of the average Japanese lifestyle. They’re used for relaxation, rejuvenation and fighting off sickness if you think you’re about to catch a cold. …
Japanese and Chinese Font Differences
Spawning off from the article on dealing with font issues when learning Chinese, this is about some of the differences you might encounter with various fonts in Japanese and Chinese. It’s luckily not as complicated …