If you have drilled Chinese in Anki, you have hit this wall: you write a character, miss a single dot, and have to decide whether that is again, hard, good, or easy, the same four buttons you would press for a character you completely botched. The tool is not at fault, it was built to be general, but for handwriting that single self-rating is too blunt. A writing-specific tool fixes it by grading the strokes, not your verdict.
What Anki does well, and why
Anki is a superb general spaced-repetition system, and it deserves the credit. It is flexible, free, and proven for recognition and recall across any subject, and plenty of people use it effectively for Chinese. Its scheduler is the part people love: it spaces reviews based on your ratings so material returns before you forget it, the same spacing effect every good system relies on. The issue is not the scheduling; it is what the scheduler is fed, which connects to why people enjoy or resent different tools.
The single-button problem
In Anki, you grade your own recall with one press for the whole card. That means a character you wrote almost perfectly, with one missing stroke, and a character you mangled completely both funnel through the same four buttons, and the scheduler sees only the number you chose. You can try to rate them differently, but that is subjective, inconsistent, and tiring, and it asks you to be your own examiner on a skill you are still learning. The grade has no idea what your strokes actually did, unlike a tool built to read them, the way stroke order genuinely signals structure.
Why strokes are the right thing to grade
Handwriting quality lives in the strokes: their order, and whether each component is the right shape and proportion. The order you practice affects retention, as stroke-order learning shows, and for Chinese, handwriting beats typing for learning precisely because producing the strokes builds the skill. A tool that watches your strokes can tell a one-dot slip from a structural failure, give targeted feedback, and let the testing effect do its work on what you genuinely got wrong, not on a button you guessed.
Self-rating versus stroke grading
| Anki single button | Stroke-level grading |
|---|---|
| You judge your own recall | The tool reads your strokes |
| One press for the whole card | Order and structure assessed |
| Dot slip equals total botch | Slip and botch scored apart |
| Subjective, inconsistent | Objective, repeatable |
This is the core reason a writing-specific tool exists alongside a general one, not the anxiety a cramped card layout but the grading itself.
A plan to grade writing properly
- Keep Anki for recognition and vocabulary if you like it.
- For handwriting, use a tool that reads your strokes.
- Produce each character from memory, not by tracing.
- Let stroke-order and structure feedback set the grade.
- Space the repeats based on how you actually wrote.
How Hanzi Write Practice fits
Hanzi Write Practice grades the writing, not a self-rating. It hides the character, you produce it from memory, and it evaluates stroke order and structure, so a near-perfect character with one missing stroke and a completely wrong one are treated differently, and the spacing reflects that. It is not a replacement for everything Anki does well; it is the writing-specific complement for the one thing a single button cannot capture, your actual strokes. The app is in early access.
Bottom line
Anki is an excellent general tool, but its single self-rated button scores a missed dot and a botched character the same, because the scheduler never sees your strokes. A writing-specific tool grades stroke order and structure instead. Hanzi Write Practice does exactly that, and it is in early access, so join the list.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good Anki alternative for Chinese writing practice?
A tool that grades the actual strokes you write rather than asking you to self-rate recall with one button. Anki is excellent for general memorization, but for handwriting you want stroke-order and structure feedback so a small slip and a botched character are treated differently. Hanzi Write Practice is built for that stroke-level grading.
Why does Anki treat a missed dot the same as a wrong character?
Because in Anki you judge your own recall and press one button, again, hard, good, or easy, for the whole card. The scheduler only sees that rating, so it cannot distinguish a near-perfect character with one missing stroke from a completely wrong one unless you manually rate them differently, which is subjective and inconsistent.
Is Anki bad for learning to write characters?
Not bad, just general-purpose. Anki is superb for recognition and recall of facts, and many people use it well for Chinese. Its limit for handwriting is that it does not see your strokes, so it cannot give stroke-order or structure feedback. A writing-specific tool complements or replaces it for the production side.
What should a writing tool grade instead of a single button?
The writing: whether the stroke order was correct, whether each component is the right shape and proportion, and where the character broke down. That objective, stroke-level feedback drives both correction and scheduling, so review concentrates on the characters you genuinely wrote poorly. Hanzi Write Practice grades at that level.
Want grading that sees your strokes? Join early access and practice with stroke-level feedback.