<p>This is a difficult question to answer without generalizing.</p>

<p>Anyway, it is hard to imagine a Chinese without a cellphone/smartphone, so in practice they would mostly use their phone with a pinyin input method (I'm talking about mainland Chinese, in Taiwan they would use something similar). If for some reason they wouldn't be able to use their cellphone, they'd ask somebody else and if he/she also doesn't know it and there isn't a good synonym, they would use pinyin. In most cases it will be clear from the context what is meant.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-06T09:50:42.643Z
2012-07-07T19:22:00.577Z
2012-07-07T19:22:00.577Z
BertR
<p>Please think: as a native speaker of English (or maybe some other languages), how often do you forget how to spell a word? I guess that situation hardly happens. </p>

<p>As a native Chinese speaker, I seldom forget how to write characters. If I do forget, I would look it up with phones, computers or dictionaries, or ask someone around. If I can do none of these, I tend to write a character which looks similar, and try to use that as an aid to recall. If that doesn't work either (which is very unlikely to happen), I will write Pinyin, or just find a synonym to replace the word, or try to rewrite the sentence.</p>

<p>When one forgets how to write it, he/she does not have totally no clue about it. Usually it happens when a character is infrequent and has seldom used parts. A common example would be 嚏 in the word 喷嚏 (sneeze). This character is only used in this word, and consist of an extremely uncommon part 疐. Thus, many people may forget how to write it. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-16T19:57:38.063Z
2016-01-16T19:57:38.063Z
vincenttian
<p>As a native Chinese speaker, I sometimes replace the forgotten phrase with another one which has same meaning. Sometimes I even rewrite the whole sentence to avoid writing some hard characters.</p>

<p>By the way, since there are a lot of Chinese characters has the same pronunciation (ex: 意義/異議). The input programs are also very error-prone to select correct characters. Some people will just use wrong characters with the similar pronunciation because they are too lazy to correct them. This is why you can see some common mistakes like 因該 instead of 應該.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-07T04:59:34.493Z
I suppose that would be the Chinese equivalent of a spelling error.
Kenjo
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-31T13:10:47.563Z
Or it could just be a spelling error (-; I'm always surprised when people feel the word "spelling" doesn't apply to Chinese or Japanese.
hippietrail
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-07-06T14:25:32.160Z
2012-07-06T14:25:32.160Z
AngelLeliel
<p>I've heard that character amnesia is becoming more and more common.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>What if a Chinese has to write something and he doesn't have a cellphone or computer with him, what does he do if he forgot the character he needed? Does he use another character with the same pronunciation?</p></li>
<li><p>Under the same situation do the Taiwanese use bopomofo?</p></li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-23T10:50:37.963Z
From watching Chinese people write, the usual reaction is to sit there thinking "F***! How did I forget how to write that?!?"
jsj
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-15T03:39:01.790Z
@user836 lol lol
velut luna
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-15T08:18:41.237Z
we have cellphone any time. in older time, we have dictionary instead of computer. if really don't have these, we can write PINYIN instead, and edit it later .
GongT
<character-identification>
What do Chinese people do if they forget how to write a character?
# What do Chinese people do if they forget how to write a character?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-07-06)

I've heard that character amnesia is becoming more and more common.

1. What if a Chinese has to write something and he doesn't have a cellphone or computer with him, what does he do if he forgot the character he needed? Does he use another character with the same pronunciation?
2. Under the same situation do the Taiwanese use bopomofo?

**Tags:** character-identification
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: From watching Chinese people write, the usual reaction is to sit there thinking "F***! How did I forget how to write that?!?"  
> **username_2**: @user836 lol lol  
> **username_3**: we have cellphone any time. in older time, we have dictionary instead of computer. if really don't have these, we can write PINYIN instead, and edit it later .  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2012-07-06. Score: 10 | Accepted answer

As a native Chinese speaker, I sometimes replace the forgotten phrase with another one which has same meaning. Sometimes I even rewrite the whole sentence to avoid writing some hard characters.

By the way, since there are a lot of Chinese characters has the same pronunciation (ex: 意義/異議). The input programs are also very error-prone to select correct characters. Some people will just use wrong characters with the similar pronunciation because they are too lazy to correct them. This is why you can see some common mistakes like 因該 instead of 應該.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I suppose that would be the Chinese equivalent of a spelling error.  
> **username_7**: Or it could just be a spelling error (-; I'm always surprised when people feel the word "spelling" doesn't apply to Chinese or Japanese.  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2012-07-06. Score: 5

This is a difficult question to answer without generalizing.

Anyway, it is hard to imagine a Chinese without a cellphone/smartphone, so in practice they would mostly use their phone with a pinyin input method (I'm talking about mainland Chinese, in Taiwan they would use something similar). If for some reason they wouldn't be able to use their cellphone, they'd ask somebody else and if he/she also doesn't know it and there isn't a good synonym, they would use pinyin. In most cases it will be clear from the context what is meant.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2016-01-16. Score: 1

Please think: as a native speaker of English (or maybe some other languages), how often do you forget how to spell a word? I guess that situation hardly happens.

As a native Chinese speaker, I seldom forget how to write characters. If I do forget, I would look it up with phones, computers or dictionaries, or ask someone around. If I can do none of these, I tend to write a character which looks similar, and try to use that as an aid to recall. If that doesn't work either (which is very unlikely to happen), I will write Pinyin, or just find a synonym to replace the word, or try to rewrite the sentence.

When one forgets how to write it, he/she does not have totally no clue about it. Usually it happens when a character is infrequent and has seldom used parts. A common example would be 嚏 in the word 喷嚏 (sneeze). This character is only used in this word, and consist of an extremely uncommon part 疐. Thus, many people may forget how to write it.


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