Practice
Handwriting
Writing runs on a schedule of its own, independent of your vocabulary: each character lives its own life here and comes back when its own time is due, not when the word it appeared in is due. That is why the writing list almost never matches your dictionary — and it is not a fault.
Read it first, then write it
A character does not enter writing practice straight away. First you need to recognise a word containing it confidently at least once: writing a character you cannot yet recognise means memorising strokes with no meaning attached, and the characters quickly start to blur together.
Hence a common situation in the early days: plenty of words in your dictionary, but only a handful available to write. That is normal and resolves itself — the list grows as words pass recognition.
Characters are counted, not words
A two-character word yields two separate writing items, while a character appearing in several words counts once. Learn to write it and you get it across every word it appears in — which is why the list is shorter than the number of words would suggest.
Three stages per character
- Introduction — the character is shown whole and you study the stroke order.
- Tracing — you write along guides, learning the sequence.
- From memory — no guides; you reproduce the character yourself.
A successful attempt moves the character forward. If you forget it in From memory, it returns to tracing: guides help you recover the shape before trying again.
What comes first
Characters that are due for review come first, starting with the most overdue. Remaining slots go to new characters, chosen by usefulness: the ones appearing in more of your words come earlier.
Stroke checking and character parts
Continue becomes available once the character is complete. The check records stroke errors. More complex characters may show a breakdown into parts, with coloured outlines and components that connect the shape to elements you already recognise.