Writing in your target language? By hand or Typing?

[german2k01]

If you are thinking about writing in your target languages, what is your usual preference? By hand or Typing? Why?

As an additional question, do you like to copy word for word, for example, a paragraph from a book or an online forum or a website, etc?
Are there any benefits to doing this sort of practice if your goal is to write spontaneously and correctly whatever you are thinking about?

Thanks

[Iversen]

If I write for myself and only for myself, I prefer doing it by hand - but I don't mind using a keyboard for Llorg. As for copying by hand (and for me that's always by hand): I do that as part of my intensive studies, but this activity has not the purpose to teach me to write stuff spontaneously and (maybe) correctly. Its purpose is to slow me down so that I can't just skip irky details. Writing stuff freely is quite another thing. For that I start out thinking in the intended language, then I start writing by hand or by keyboard, and finally I try to remove the most glaring errors before I post the result. Else I do it when it's too late.

[desafiar]

I write only on my computer.

Edits for corrections and revisions can be made in a number of ways. I can insert them below the original for comparison or showing self-made revisions or correction by others, make inline notes or use various highlights, and search and dating is always available. All that can be done at any time without disturbing the original or what may be below it.

Another benefit is that I can type much faster than writing by hand, multiples faster. Being able to read what was written also adds value.

[rdearman]

I learned the Hangul (the Korean alphabet) and I both type and write it by hand. I was more or less forced to write by hand because my tutor would write in Korean and I needed to copy it down quickly. Later when he was sure I could write, he allowed me to take photos of the whiteboard.

I have taught myself to touch type in Korean after I installed my Korean keyboard. I find it easier to ask language partners for clarification when I can type the letter. Especially when I need to ask questions around pronunciation. Like: "Are you saying 벅 or 먹 ?) It comes in very handy, for example, American's seem to hear: a P sound but I hear a B sound in the word 부산. (Large city on Southern tip of South Korea)

Like desafiar I mostly use the computer. But I also try to write on paper just because it is difficult to write well in Korean so practice makes perfect. I don't think I have ever handwritten anything in French or Italian.

[tractor]

If it's only for learning and I am the only one who's going to read it, by hand.

[tolgylop]

My handwriting is terrible, even in English, so I type everything except the occasional note or postcard.

Almost all written communication I do in other languages is in the form of text messages or e-mails, so they are always typed. I send and reply to Chinese messages almost daily for work and typing is much faster and easier for me than writing (or using a handwriting input method). The fact that I have to use both traditional and simplified characters complicates things too, so typing works better for me.

[badger]

I like to write things by hand when I'm studying. the tactile, mechanical act of writing it out helps me remember things better than typing it would.

if I'm typing then I try to always type TL text rather than copy & pasting.

if it's something I'm going to send - eg email - then I'll just type it direct.

[Ug_Caveman]

I find writing by hand helps me learn and retain more information

This is the same for most things I do - not just languages

[MorkTheFiddle]

As with previous posters, I learn better writing by hand. Ancient Greek, however, is so hard to write, that almost always I type it.

[Gaoling97]

I only write things by hand if there is a different script that I need to practice (especially Chinese or Japanese). Otherwise, I largely consider writing things by hand to be a waste of time. When I am practicing writing in a foreign language, my goal is to practice "writing" in terms of creating grammatically correct and natural-sounding sentences with proper word choice; it's not literally about the ink on the paper. I understand some people claim to retain information better when they write stuff by hand, but this is not my personal experience. And even if there is some benefit, I still don't think it is worth the trade-off that writing by hand is significantly slower.

As an additional question, do you like to copy word for word, for example, a paragraph from a book or an online forum or a website, etc?
Are there any benefits to doing this sort of practice if your goal is to write spontaneously and correctly whatever you are thinking about?

Kind of. Not a full paragraph in most cases, but I do make sentence cards in Anki with sentences taken from actual native speech. Obviously you have to learn the grammatical rules in a language, but if your goal is to speak/write "spontaneously and correctly", then what you will ultimately be unable to avoid is just memorizing the way native speakers express various (specific) thoughts.