The disconnect between being able to read Chinese and write Chinese can be huge for a foreign learner. We're always reading Chinese when we walk the street, loo

The disconnect between being able to read Chinese and write Chinese can be huge for a foreign learner. We're always reading Chinese when we walk the street, look at the menus, and watch local TV (most Chinese TV has Chinese subtitles). When typing Chinese using the pinyin input method, we use our Chinese reading skills, not writing skills, to select the correct character from the popup box. We virtually never practise writing skills, consequently I can read over 2000 characters, but only write 100 or 200.