Writing characters important at universities?

Language Learning Chinese
1

I was considering signing up for a Chinese class at one of the universities in Taipei. I have already studied for awhile, but haven’t focused on writing. While reading is important to me, writing by hand isn’t.

With this in mind, how important is writing - by hand - at the local universities? Could I get by without having to focus on writing characters by hand? Thanks

2

At Shida the teachers often give dictations, which require you to write characters by hand. All tests - which they waste one day a week with - require you to write characters. Non-university schools won’t require you to write characters, as long as you let them know you don’t want to when you enroll.

3

Thanks for the reply. It was my impression that the writing was a big part of the curriculum. I wouldn’t mind dictation if I could use a laptop to type, but learning to write characters just isn’t practical for my needs… something I do if I have spare time and the willingness. The test & class grade aren’t of importance either… assuming it didn’t keep me from going to another level.

Anyways, a private school might be a better choice, but I thought I would ask.

4

Now THAT’s an interesting idea…arranging to bring a notebook computer to class for dictations. It actually makes sense.

(Forget it…they’ll never go for it. But if enough students start requesting it, who knows??)

5

At my uni (Feng Chia) characters are important but I find most people have much more trouble with speaking than with writing and remembering characters.

6

[quote=“ironlady”]Now THAT’s an interesting idea…arranging to bring a notebook computer to class for dictations. It actually makes sense.

(Forget it…they’ll never go for it. But if enough students start requesting it, who knows??)[/quote]

Yeah, I tried suggesting that to the charming office staff on the 6th floor last year.

“You pay tuition, then you can ask teacher”

“And, If the teacher doesn’t agree?”, I asked.

“You pay tuition first”

Cue one angry “customer” making a quick exit.

7

You could always bandage your hands for each class and claim you have to type using a pencil held in your mouth…

I recently saw a reference to a class in the States that is emphasizing computer input and character recognition over production by hand. Very encouraging from my perspective.

8

Sounds like the “penless” method. (See also Penless Chinese.)

For the OP: As for universities in Taiwan, Kainan’s Mandarin center makes a point of emphasizing computers and its “e-pen software” (whatever that is). So you might want to check with them. They also have some sort of partnership with TLI, I believe.