为什么还要手写汉字

老师，我现在写作业都用电脑打字，很少手写字了。手写字还重要吗？

Teacher, now I do all my homework by typing on the computer. I rarely write characters by hand anymore. Is handwriting still important?

很多学生都跟你一样，喜欢打字，不喜欢手写。但是我觉得，手写字的时候，你会注意这个字有几个部分，每个部分是什么意思。你打字的时候，会想这些吗？

A lot of students are like you, they like typing and not handwriting. But I think when you write a character by hand, you notice how many parts it has, and what each part means. When you type, do you think about that?

不会。我打字的时候，只想这个字的意思和读音，不想它的部分。但是我也认识很多字，虽然我不会写。认识字和会写字，真的不一样吗？

No. When I type, I only think about the character's meaning and pronunciation, not its parts. But I also recognize a lot of characters even though I can't write them. Is recognizing a character and being able to write it really different?

不一样。认识字，是因为你看了很多次。会写字，是因为你练习了很多次，手记住了怎么写这个字。你是不是也有这种时候，认识一个字，但是不记得怎么写？

They're different. You recognize a character because you've looked at it many times. You can write it because you've practiced many times, and your hand has memorized how to write it. Have you ever had a moment where you recognize a character but don't remember how to write it?

有！我常常这样。我打字很快，但是如果朋友问我这个字怎么写，我要想很久，有时候真的忘记了。这是不是说明，我打字太多，慢慢忘记了怎么手写字？

Yes! That happens to me all the time. I type very fast, but if a friend asks me how to write a character, I have to think for a long time, and sometimes I really have forgotten. Does that mean I type so much that I'm slowly forgetting how to write by hand?

这个问题，很多中国人也有。他们每天打字，看书的时候认识很多字，但是要写信的时候，忘记了怎么写，只好用手机再看一次。你说，这样是不是也很不方便？

A lot of Chinese people have this same problem. They type every day, and they recognize a lot of characters when reading, but when they need to write a letter, they've forgotten how, and have to look it up on their phone again. Would you say that's also pretty inconvenient?

对，有时候不方便。但是我觉得，以后我们会一直打字，不会一直手写。如果我每天用很多时间练习手写，那些时间，我可以用来读更多故事，读更多书。你说，读书重要，还是手写重要？

Right, sometimes it's inconvenient. But I think from now on we'll keep typing, not keep handwriting. If I spend a lot of time every day practicing handwriting, I could use that time to read more stories and more books instead. Would you say reading matters more, or handwriting matters more?

我觉得，读书和手写，不是只能选一个。你说得对，读更多书，可以让你认识更多字，了解更多故事。但是，如果你一直不写字，可能以后，简单的字，你也不容易记住怎么写。你觉得，有没有办法，让你又能多读书，又能记住怎么写字？

I don't think reading and handwriting is a choice you have to make between only one or the other. You're right that reading more books lets you recognize more characters and understand more stories. But if you never write at all, you might later find it hard to remember how to write even simple characters. Do you think there's a way to let you both read more and remember how to write?

可能可以。我打字写作业，但是读到喜欢的字，自己写几次，记住它的部分。这样，我又能多读书，又能记住一些字怎么写。但是我还是觉得，以后我们会一直打字，很少手写。

Maybe. I'll type my homework, but when I read a character I like, I'll write it a few times myself, and memorize its parts. That way I can both read more and remember how to write some characters. But I still think that in the future we'll keep typing, and rarely write by hand.