Kana handwriting

[diligentcircle]

So, Toritoribe has pointed out that there are problems with my hiragana handwriting, which surprised me, and I'd like to fix that. Below are images of me writing every hiragana and katakana the way that I think they're supposed to be written (with fixes applied to た and さ because of what Toritoribe pointed out in the other thread). Can someone please let me know what I'm writing wrongly and how?

 

[diligentcircle]

Hm, looks like I forgot ん. I guess I'll describe the katakana at least. I write ン the same as シ, just with one less dot.

 

[Toritoribe]

Remember that "readable" is not the same as "good at writing". As I wrote in another thread, you'd better use practice sheets or something, especially the ones you can practice by tracing samples. You can find many these kinds of sheets, for instance;
ひらがな練習プリント 「50音別・あ行～な行」｜幼児教材・知育プリント｜ちびむすドリル【幼児の学習素材館】
ひらがな練習プリント 「50音別・は行～ん」｜幼児教材・知育プリント｜ちびむすドリル【幼児の学習素材館】
カタカナ練習 「50音別・ア行～」｜幼児教材・知育プリント｜ちびむすドリル【幼児の学習素材館】
カタカナ練習 「50音別・ハ行～」｜幼児教材・知育プリント｜ちびむすドリル【幼児の学習素材館】

Few tips;
Non-native learners tend to write "hook"（はね） too large, as in your き, け, こ, etc.. No hook is rather better than too large hook. In fact, there are many Japanese people who don't write it.
Here's how to differentiate シ and ツ.
Sentence structure? | Page 2 | Japan Forum

 

[Mike Cash]

Recognizing the difference between シ and ツ is made easier if you compare then with handwritten examples of し and つ, especially ones in which the initial stroke of each character remains prominently visible. Once you see examples of し and つ which aren't rendered as what look like single strokes then the fact that the katakana and the hiragana for both are essentially the same becomes blindingly obvious.

 

[diligentcircle]

Remember that "readable" is not the same as "good at writing".

Of course. I strive to be able to write neatly, though.

As I wrote in another thread, you'd better use practice sheets or something, especially the ones you can practice by tracing samples.

That was the sort of thing my teacher used to teach us hiragana and katakana in years 1 and 2. Like I said, I don't really naturally see the differences between how I'm writing them and how they're supposed to be written. This is probably just because I grew up with Latin text and what's important is different between Latin and Japanese scripts.

Non-native learners tend to write "hook"（はね） too large, as in your き, け, こ, etc.. No hook is rather better than too large hook. In fact, many people don't write it.

That's good to know. Thanks!

Here's how to differentiate シ and ツ.

That's also a nice tip. Thanks!

 

[diligentcircle]

Recognizing the difference between シ and ツ is made easier if you compare then with handwritten examples of し and つ, especially ones in which the initial stroke of each character remains prominently visible. Once you see examples of し and つ which aren't rendered as what look like single strokes then the fact that the katakana and the hiragana for both are essentially the same becomes blindingly obvious.

That's interesting, too. I never had a problem reading シ and ツ, but I do see I've not been writing them quite correctly, and yeah, this thought exercise does help illustrate why. Thanks!

 

[Lomaster]

Let me provide some input on handwriting in general and yours in particular.
First i'd like to point out that those "hooks" appear naturally when one becomes confident with handwriting and begins writing fast. They are result of lateral movement being so fast that a tip of a pen (or any other writing utensil) is too late to separate from the paper to leave a "clean" stroke. In case of き and さ lateral movement is so fast - the tip of a pen flies the trajectory of the final stroke without actually touching paper in it's upper half. Notice how default fonts on PC lack any hooks: こ、け、さ、き

Looking at your handwriting it appears as if you tried to write the kana too carefully and diligently. Try writing them in a swift motion next time. Some tips on individual kana:
う - try writing the first stroke not horizontally but diagonally, almost vertically top-left to bottom-right. (example attached). Same tip goes for え by the way.
す - don't pull the tip of the last stroke up at the end. It should point anywhere in 180 - 270 degrees quadrant, 271 degrees and higher is no good.
そ - i found it hard for a handwritten そ to look neat in it's primary style, so i switched to an alternative style which involves two strokes instead of one. (example attached)
た - again, that "hook" is not meant to be there it appears naturally when you do handwriting in brisk pace and points from the end of the third stroke to the beginning of the fourth one. Yours is pointing in random direction.
と - try writing the first stroke straight down vertically. (example attached)
に - i hope that by this point you already got it. So i'll stop nagging about the hooks :emoji_wink:
ひ - aim for a thicker "sack". By thicker i mean - make it more plump, more of a circle rather than ellipse.
ふ is a tricky one. Luckily there are many variations of it's handwritten form for everyone to pick the one of their choice. I stopped at the one which is drawn in three strokes, with "side drops" written horizontally. (example attached) There is also a variant drawn in two strokes, and won't be surprised if i see one drawn in one stroke.
Don't start bending ナ's second stroke before it crosses the first one. Otherwise it can be mistaken for メ

Also i suggest getting hands on A Reader of Handwritten Japanese (check your local Japan Foundation library for one) in order to have an idea what different people's handwriting may look like horizontally and vertically.
kana examples follow:

 

[diligentcircle]

First i'd like to point out that those "hooks" appear naturally when one becomes confident with handwriting and begins writing fast. They are result of lateral movement being so fast that a tip of a pen (or any other writing utensil) is too late to separate from the paper to leave a "clean" stroke. In case of き and さ lateral movement is so fast - the tip of a pen flies the trajectory of the final stroke without actually touching paper in it's upper half. Notice how default fonts on PC lack any hooks: こ、け、さ、き

Looking at your handwriting it appears as if you tried to write the kana too carefully and diligently. Try writing them in a swift motion next time.

I was writing them carefully in this example, but in that wasn't the case in the post that sparked this.

But based on what you're telling me here, it seems like that's the problem. I was always under the impression that these hooks were necessary parts of certain characters because the writing guides include them and I was told from the beginning that Japanese text has to be written perfectly (paraphrasing). Looks like I have about a decade of bad habits to revert now... xD

う - try writing the first stroke not horizontally but diagonally, almost vertically top-left to bottom-right. (example attached). Same tip goes for え by the way.

OK, thanks, will do.

す - don't pull the tip of the last stroke up at the end. It should point anywhere in 180 - 270 degrees quadrant, 271 degrees and higher is no good.

Something I didn't even think about or notice. Thanks!

そ - i found it hard for a handwritten そ to look neat in it's primary style, so i switched to an alternative style which involves two strokes instead of one. (example attached)

Interesting. I'd prefer the single-stroke version if I can manage it, though.

try writing the first stroke straight down vertically. (example attached)

OK, thanks!

ひ - aim for a thicker "sack". By thicker i mean - make it more plump, more of a circle rather than ellipse.

Okay, I'll work on this. Thanks!

ふ is a tricky one. Luckily there are many variations of it's handwritten form for everyone to pick the one of their choice. I stopped at the one which is drawn in three strokes, with "side drops" written horizontally. (example attached) There is also a variant drawn in two strokes, and won't be surprised if i see one drawn in one stroke.

The two-stroke variant is valid for handwriting? I always thought it was a font-specific artsy rendition. If that variation can be used, that would probably be the one I would prefer to use.

Don't start bending ナ's second stroke before it crosses the first one. Otherwise it can be mistaken for メ

I didn't think of that. Thanks!

Also i suggest getting hands on A Reader of Handwritten Japanese

Interesting. Sure, I'll definitely have to check that out.

 

[diligentcircle]

Okay, so I've taken the suggestions here and had a go at trying to refine how I write these. This time I wrote them all multiple times; some of them I wrote several times because I didn't feel I was getting them right. Can someone comment on this one?

Just a note if anyone is confused, while I was doing ツ I went and did シ a few times after that, trying to practice properly differentiating these two.

I'm not confident in my writing differentiation between ソ and ン. Can someone comment on that?

 

[Mike Cash]

Slightly tangential, but you may find some of the handwritten specimens in this thread enlightening:

There Is Always Something to Read | Japan Forum

 

[diligentcircle]

Some of it was, specifically for そ and を. Thanks for the link!

 

[Lomaster]

@JuliMaruchan
Are you aware that it's perfectly fine to write き and さ with the "sack" fully intact? Have you tried it? You should aim for a variant that feels the most comfortable and fluid to your hand.

Taking proportions of your other kana into account - your つ looks like っ
Now that i see more of your な i can tell you that you should write the third stroke at the same level you did the second one or even a bit higher, but not below it. That way you'll have plenty of room to make your last stroke longer as well.
I like how you brushed up your ひ. And hopefully someone gives a feedback on that two-stroke ふ of yours, since i can't judge. Also let me compliment on your む, in my opinion it's a rather difficult kana to write neatly but yours is consistently so.
There's no problem with your ゆ whatsoever, but have you tried writing it in one stroke? Like such:

 

[diligentcircle]

Are you aware that it's perfectly fine to write き and さ with the "sack" fully intact?

No, I wasn't. I knew some fonts do that, but I was always under the impression that you can't use it in handwriting. That's good to know, thanks!

Taking proportions of your other kana into account - your つ looks like っ

Ah. I take it that's because of the height for the most part? Thanks for pointing this out. I'll have to work on that.

Now that i see more of your な i can tell you that you should write the third stroke at the same level you did the second one or even a bit higher, but not below it. That way you'll have plenty of room to make your last stroke longer as well.

OK, thanks!

I like how you brushed up your ひ.

I felt like I was all over the place on this because I couldn't manage to keep it consistent. Could you tell me which ones in particular I should try to repeat?

There's no problem with your ゆ whatsoever, but have you tried writing it in one stroke?

No, I haven't. I've seen it in fonts, but... you know the rest. Thanks!

 

[Lomaster]

I felt like I was all over the place on this because I couldn't manage to keep it consistent. Could you tell me which ones in particular I should try to repeat?

Upper row. Second, sixth, seventh, ninth, tenth, and fourteenth from the right are good
(ひひひひひひひひひひひひひひ)

 

[diligentcircle]

Thank you, that helps a lot! I've looked at them, and I think I can finally see the issue you were talking about. I'll practice on these more.

 

[Toritoribe]

I already wrote my advise in my previous post. I strongly recommend tracing samples first.
Your ふ seems like 子, by the way.