Although I admit that there are certain times in my daily life when I am forced to write by hand (such as when signing a credit card slip; my signature is hideous, and even my colleagues have corrected me) most of my various messages and communications are usually typed on the keyboard. But for beginning learners of Chinese, it is still necessary to practice characters and calligraphy in order to become familiar with the structure of each Chinese character stroke by stroke, and understand the elegance and the philosophy behind the characters.

At a forum at the Digital Taipei 2009 conference held at the Taipei International Convention Center from September 1-3, 2009, Royal e-Pen International Corporation,a company that displayed its products in the Taiwan Pavilion in the Las Vegas International Licensing Expo, exhibited its "Daily Chinese" digital study tool. With the e-practice board with the Daily Chinese program installed, beginning learners of Chinese will have a complete platform for practicing to write Chinese characters. The most impressive feature is that the computer can distinguish incorrect strokes made while writing a character and let the user know where the error is, allowing the user to correct his or her stroke order and learn the correct method of writing Chinese characters.

I remember when I was learning to write Chinese as a child, I always rushed through my homework, and, for the sake of fun and convenience, simply "drew" many of the characters, ignoring the millennia of wisdom that produced traditional stroke orders, producing sloppy results. And for people living abroad who want to learn Chinese, Chinese ink brushes and write in gridded xuan paper are hardly things that can be bought at the average stationery shop.

Wait and see -- in the future, we will still be able to write calligraphy without even grinding ink. Technology is progressing in leaps and bounds, and I believe that proper use of information technology and digital platforms will be of great help in terms of overcoming practicing character and language learning environment problems. This kind of combination of the virtual and the tangible will make life in the future better than during our childhoods!

Royal e-Pen International Corporation http://www.royal-epen.com/index.php