How Do I Learn Kanji Stroke Order?

If you have a good kanji dictionary (I personally really like the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary ISBN: 978-4-7700-2855-6), it should list the stroke order along with each kanji.

Jim Breen's WWWJDIC (search google for it and it should pop up...I don't have a high enough post count to post URLs) seems to have stroke order animations, so you could look them up here (after looking up a kanji, click the SOD or SODA links next to them). Though I prefer standard stoke order diagrams over these animations.

Also, once you start learning kanji and getting used to how stroke order usually works, you'll be able to figure out how the character should be written just by looking at it (though there are exceptions).

Any book on kanji should have a section on the general principles of stroke order.

Does WWWJDIC have stroke orders for all the characters? I thought that some didn't, but it's been a while since I've been there, and I may be confusing it with MDBG. But I use 漢字の正しい書き順(筆順) when I need to check on a stroke order, because they have pretty much any character you could want.

Thank you so much! Internet site help just as much as books, although animations are nice to look at, it is easier for me to go by the charts as well. For web pages, I either print or take hand written notes. Hmmm, I think I may purchase a book on kanji as well. Thank you so much for all of the book suggestions! You all have been a great help! <3
どうもありがとうございます

Pandora said:

Thank you so much! Internet site help just as much as books, although animations are nice to look at, it is easier for me to go by the charts as well. For web pages, I either print or take hand written notes. Hmmm, I think I may purchase a book on kanji as well. Thank you so much for all of the book suggestions! You all have been a great help! <3
どうもありがとうございます

Click to expand...

What Glenn said, i am using the same site. The animation on that site are good. If you look closely a difficult strokes are being done slowly, especially those that we would write the other way around. Not only the stroke order is important, but also the direction you write it from-to. If mistaken, your semi-cursive style will look crippled.

As such, I wrote a small example:

1. - left to right are samples of 楷書 (printed style , not to be mistaken with - 活字), and 草書 (semi-cursive one)
2. semi cursive 行書, written with correct stroke order.
3. incorrect stroke order. Note how disfigured the kanji is.