Intermediate - Calligraphy (C0158)

老师，您看一下我这次写的字吧。
lǎoshī ，nín kàn yīxià wǒ zhècì xiě de zì ba 。
Teacher, please take a look at the characters I wrote this time.

嗯，看得出你很用心。你的字一直都在进步。
én ，kàn nǐ hěn yòngxīn 。nǐ de zì yīzhí dōu zài jìnbù 。
Um, I can see you’ve put in a lot of effort. Your writing is continually improving.

谢谢。您推荐的字帖我都买了。欣赏这些书法家的字真是一种享受。
xièxie 。nín tuījiàn de zìtiě wǒ dōu mǎi le 。xīnshǎng zhèxie shūfǎjiā de zì zhēnshì yīzhǒng xiǎngshòu 。
Thank you. I’ve bought all the script books you recommended. It’s a joy to appreciate the writing of these great masters of calligraphy.

的确是。我觉得你现在总的来说已经有书法的感觉了。字写得很端正，很秀气。但是，还不够流畅。你对字的结构掌握也需要进步。
díquè shì 。wǒ juéde nǐ xiànzài zǒngdeláishuō yǐjīng yǒu shūfǎ de gǎnjué le 。zì xiě de hěn duānzhèng ，hěn xiùqì 。 dànshì ，hái bùgòu liúchàng 。nǐ duì zì de jiégòu zhǎngwò yě xūyào jìnbù 。
Exactly. I feel that you now have a general grasp of calligraphy. Your writing is neat and elegant, but lacks a flowing quality. Your handling and composition of characters also need improvement.

我正为这个发愁呢。我还专门买了文房四宝来练习。可是我的横和捺还是写得有些别扭。
wǒ zhèng wèi zhège fāchóu ne 。wǒ hái zhuānmén mǎi le wénfángsìbǎo lái liànxí 。kěshì wǒ de héng hé nà hái shì xiě děi yǒuxiē biéniǔ 。
This is what I am troubled by. I also intentionally bought the ‘four treasures of the study’ to practice. But my horizontal strokes and right strokes still look awkward.

别担心，只要注意握笔的姿势和多临摹字帖，就会越写越好。
bié dānxīn ，zhǐyào zhùyì wò bǐ de zīshì hé línmó zìtiě ，jiù huì yuè xiě yuèhǎo 。
Don’t worry. As long as you pay more attention to how you hold the brush and copy more script books, you will write better and better.

Vocabulary

欣赏	xīnshǎng	to appreciate
享受	xiǎngshòu	to enjoy
流畅	liúchàng	fluid
别扭	bièniǔ	awkward
临摹	línmó	to copy (a model of calligraphy)
专门	zhuānmén	specially
用心	yòngxīn	sincere
推荐	tuījiàn	to recommend
字帖	zìtiě	copybook for calligraphy
端正	duānzhèng	upright
秀气	xiùqì	delicate
文房四宝	wénfángsìbǎo	calligrapher
毛笔	máobǐ	writing brush
墨水	mòshuǐ	ink
砚台	yàntái	ink-stone
笔锋	bǐfēng	the tip of a writing brush
有劲	yǒujìn	with strength
撇	piě	cast away
竖	shù	to erect
字体	zìtǐ	font
楷体	kǎitǐ	regular script
隶书	lìshū	Han style of calligraphy
艺术	yìshù	art
坚持	jiānchí	to insist
毅力	yìlì	perseverance