Muscle memory was entirely neglected and is, in many aspects, the most important "memory" for writing Chinese characters, esp. under time pressure. The way that characters can be reconstructed that are "forgotten" by your Chinese speaker is simply that they go back to their visually retained memory of what the character looks like and then render it piece by piece. I've seen this happen to a Chinese lawyer friend of mine who was Peking University grad -> Harvard JD (not a dumb cookie), but after time in an English speaking law firm tripped up when asked to write even simple phrases that I, a foreigner, could still write fairly easily.
As for your problems learning the language, there is no other way other than rot memorization, and if you don't have the time, you shouldn't even bother. Seriously. If you can make the time but don't have the temperament, go somewhere where they will beat it into you Chinese-style, because there really is no other way to memorize the thousands of characters necessary to be proficient in Chinese. If you become serious and are looking for recommendations ping me and I will give you some.
If you can make the time but don't have the temperament, go somewhere where they will beat it into you Chinese-style, because there really is no other way to memorize the thousands of characters necessary to be proficient in Chinese.
Please, some practical advice:
Learn your stokes and always follow stroke order. Each stroke has a rhythm, and each character has a composite rhythm. Rhythm is an excellent mnemonic device.
An hour a day, everyday, is enough to make good progress. Half an hour twice a day is better. Your nervous system forms pathways between sessions, not during, so you want to optimize for that, not the session itself.
Throw out the flash cards, and throw out the books of pseudo-etymology. Find a book of pen calligraphy, and focus on strokes, positioning, balance.
I'm sure practising the writing is a very effective way to learn, but I'm more than a little skeptical when people tell me there's 'only one way to learn'. I've been at it for two years now. I'm not moving very fast but I've learned about 1,700 words so far and reasonably pleased with my ability to communicate. This is all from self study with flashcards and audio (ChinesePod, Assimil etc) plus a weekly hour and a half with a tutor. Whether I can retain the characters over the long term is another question, especially since my interest is really in speaking and not reading and writing, but so far the flashcards and tv are working well for me.
Since we are talking about practical advice, I strongly recommend calligraphy lessons which allow one to connect to the beauty of the traditional characters as opposed to simply their simplified versions, which will presumably help with retention in the long run.
I'm not so sure about the Chinese-style beating. At least use a structured approach; Chinese characters aren't random strokes, they have rules and history, and learning it can help your memory a lot (especially if you're like me - I just can't memorize something I don't "understand"). The Japanese version of this book is quite well-known and I found it helpful: http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Traditional-Hanzi-Meaning-... (this is the trad. Chinese version)
I mean beating figuratively. Spending a lot of time each day doing something that might be perceived as uninteresting and menial is largely a matter of personal discipline, but this discipline can be imposed (or amplified) by the environment you are in.
I've seen people beat themselves into doing what I consider an extremely boring way of studying, telling themselves "there's no other way". My point is that using a method that stimulates your imagination, or links the character to words, or explains how it got its shape, helps a lot to make things interesting and meaningful compared to studying it "in the vacuum".
Discipline and time are always required, but some methods make it less painful. My impression is that most people don't spend enough time to plan their studies. They take a class, get told "you must know these 50 characters for next week", and then just learn them with almost no context, pure raw memorization. After trying this, many people think they "don't have the temperament", like you said. My point is, sometimes it is, but more often than not I'd put it on bad methodology. It's possible to make it more interesting and learn them without a flogging ;)
IMO it is both/and not either/or. Flogging + making things as interesting as possible. As I suggested on the other branch, I highly recommend calligraphy as, in my experience, appreciating the beauty of the characters helps with retention.
Unfortunately getting good at calligraphy also takes time and effort...
As for your problems learning the language, there is no other way other than rot memorization, and if you don't have the time, you shouldn't even bother. Seriously. If you can make the time but don't have the temperament, go somewhere where they will beat it into you Chinese-style, because there really is no other way to memorize the thousands of characters necessary to be proficient in Chinese. If you become serious and are looking for recommendations ping me and I will give you some.