Okay, before I get too far in the book I was wondering how important it is to be EXACTLY like the characters in text. In English, my handwriting could use a lot of improvement I'm not gonna lie. So, learning kanji is like getting a chance to start over. I'm not sure if this is a stupid question, but are there many different types of handwriting in Japanese? All the characters seem more...concrete than American letters where people write different pretty often, like a's for example. But I've noticed how the flash cards to review are slightly different than the way we are taught to write it. Is that just the same as the difference in English with a's?

If possible, could someone show me an example of their own practice writing? To see if I'm on the right track. I'd appreciate it, thanks!

I wish i still had my practice papers, from when I did RTK1 ... think i had nearly 80 * A4 papers filled with Kanji ... Ive gone away from writing kanji's though, cause I dont expect to actually use handwriting much.. The only time i EVER use my handwriting is for signing things and writing a shopping list (food etc)... Saves me allot of time when reviewing both Sentences and Kanji's ...

[Katsuo]

Have a look at this kanji 語 in three different fonts in Yamasa

The left side shows a font that is common in newspapers.
The middle font is common in school books.
The right font shows fairly neat handwriting using a pen.

For practice, I recommend copying the centre font. Later, when you get used to writing quickly, your handwriting will naturally become more like that on the right.

The font you see on your flashcards is up to you: You can change it in the preferences section of the application. If you wish to have a greater variety of Japanese fonts in your computer, check out this page: Wazu.

Thank you both, I think I understand better now. But right now, those squiggles are going to be hard to get used to T_T I guess I'll just have to wait till later & see.

Handwriting is a very personal thing, and in every language I think you'll find that each person has their own distinct style. If you're learning from printed characters, it's okay to write like that, might even make it more legible, but just keep in mind that that isn't how 99% of Japanese will write the character. Being able to read people's handwriting just takes lots of practice ... and even then some people write so sloppily that even natives tilt their head and go, ".....?!" when trying to read it.

montecristo73 Wrote:I wonder what the handwriting of a Japanese doctors look like when they write down prescriptions.

And that's how sumi-e was created

I don't understand what you're saying about Japanese doctors? lol - My doctors in the US have very bad handwriting xD Is that what you're referring to?

xAyakox Wrote:I don't understand what you're saying about Japanese doctors? lol - My doctors in the US have very bad handwriting xD Is that what you're referring to?

Yeah, at least in the UK, doctors stereotypically have very bad handwriting =D

Yeah, I'm a US native and I've heard it all my life, too. Hey, if I had gone to medical school, I think my brain would be too fried to write properly, too.

Not just in the US do doctors have bad handwriting. I think they may be selected on it.

I used to feel quite scared though; what if the pharmacy misread my prescription and I got something that I didn't need? Luckily nowadays my doctor types everything into the computer and sends it down to the pharmacy.

Here's a Chinese doctor's handwriting. Have fun trying to figure it out!

Oh great. I'm finally learning not to see kanji as a bunch of squiggly lines, and it looks like a bunch of squiggly lines again. :| :/

Well, this is a bit of what mine looks like. Sorry for the quality, I just held it up to my laptop lol. Am I on the right track? T_T

Yours looks like mine!

(linked, due to size)
http://i37.tinypic.com/2la81sh.jpg

xAyakox ... whoa, with that field of depth ... looks awesome especially the disaster sticks out, at least to me. Apart from that, looks quite readable to me

Koos83, you are writing for some time already, right? I seem to find some *speed* artefacs in yours

I try to write a journal entry every night in Japanese before going to sleep.

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/4954/...esdayp.jpg

This is what I wrote last night. o_o for these guys, I usually wait 'til I'm just about to fall asleep to write it (I usually want to burn through some words in Anki or play a game before bed, not write a journal entry) so there's bound to be mistakes and stuff -- but the goal is to make a record of where my Japanese now, exactly the way it is, without any edits or the help of a dictionary.

I personally feel that my Japanese writing is that of a middle schooler (unlike my English, which looks like something a 40-what year old English teacher would had written -- tight, even script)

Angerman: Well, depends on what you count as 'some time'. I started a few months ago, yes. And I do write a lot. And I am an impatient person. So yeah, definitely try to write them as fast as I can. Hence all the cross-outs as well. But my handwriting in romaji can be pretty sloppy as well.

orcicle: Wow, your handwriting really looks very neat! Especially the kana. Though I think I write those neater than the Kanji as well. And it's a good idea to keep a journal in Japanese. Once I advance more I'll do that as well, I think.

Hmm. I try to write fast, not neat -- it saves me time on my homework, and it also helps visualize the stroke order better. See e.g. the handwritten version of 王 here:
http://www.yamasa.cc/members/ocjs/kanjid...enDocument

ocircle: If you're not too disinclined to use your computer for your diary, why not write it on lang-8.com? The corrections you get are super-helpful!

epsilondelta Wrote:Hmm. I try to write fast, not neat -- it saves me time on my homework, and it also helps visualize the stroke order better. See e.g. the handwritten version of 王 here:
http://www.yamasa.cc/members/ocjs/kanjid...enDocument

ocircle: If you're not too disinclined to use your computer for your diary, why not write it on lang-8.com? The corrections you get are super-helpful!

If I'm on the computer I can't stand the urge to proofread and look up every single word I write. I already do that when I'm studying (looking up words etc) so for the journal I try to keep it as simple as possible -_-.

(not to mention it's fun to laugh at how awful my Japanese can be when I'm not paying attention.)

Looking up is easy enough if you have Firefox and Rikaichan:
http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/
(Just hovering my own written text to proofread, and occasionally using the lookup bar.)
I don't find it distracting, anyway.

... it isn't realy that looking up words is too much of a hassle, but it is that the journal is supposed to be purely from my own self, and not help from dictionaries, workbooks, and other outside sources.

The point of my journal is not to maintain 100% correctness or to test out new grammar, but it's a light exercise to think and write in Japanese using kanji and grammar that I know for certain or know well enough to want to try to write. The rule with my journal is that I do not correct anything that's in it using an outside source, because then I'll become fearful of writing something that is wrong, or want to look up everything before I write it, but what I really want to do is write freely, make many mistakes, but generally have fun utilizing a language I don't have very many opportunities to use personally.

I guess I have so much else I already get corrected over and over (lol damn you, kanzen workbooks!) that I need one place where I don't have to second guess myself.

BUT I do understand the intention of your suggestion. If I write another essay maybe I'll have it looked over but only after I've proofread it over and over and over, as I usually like to do. Haha.

Just curious, but where did you get that paper with the separate boxes? I usually write down/vertically because it's easier to keep my spacing equal. And hehe, I like looking at your handwritings ^^ is that gel pen? I loved those, lol

I think most people just use normal graph paper, but you can print out genkouyoushi paper by finding pdf's online.

I use ordinary ruled paper you can find anywhere. Except, I turn the page 90 degrees to the right so the rules are vertical. It keeps my columns straight and the characters generally the same width, which I value more over height.

I use paper with squares that are 1 cm wide and high. You can buy it anywhere, but I don't know the English name. It's the right size to make a good square kanji, imo.