Improving handwriting.

[masaegu]

Not to derail but do Japanese learners write horizontally from the beginning? I do not recall ever writing horizontally in elementary school except in arithmetic.

[jesselt]

Originally Posted by masaegu

Not to derail but do Japanese learners write horizontally from the beginning? I do not recall ever writing horizontally in elementary school except in arithmetic.

I suppose it depends on the teacher, but in my experience everything is written and read horizontally. Writing and reading vertically comes in the higher level classes. Odd, isn't it?

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by masaegu

Not to derail but do Japanese learners write horizontally from the beginning? I do not recall ever writing horizontally in elementary school except in arithmetic.

In general, my homeworks from the workbook were printed LR, so we wrote our answers LR. However, our 作文 were always written vertically on 原稿用紙.

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by jesselt

I suppose it depends on the teacher, but in my experience everything is written and read horizontally. Writing and reading vertically comes in the higher level classes. Odd, isn't it?

Yeah, it is. I cannot help but wonder how smoothly that sudden switch from horizontal to vertical would go.

Teacher: "Class, there's something I've been trying so hard not to tell you but I suppose I can't hide it forever. Um, please brace yourselves and don't shoot me. Contrary to what I may have lead you to believe during the last couple of years, Japanese is officially a vertically-written language. You will not find any newspapers, novels, magazines or even the lines in manga written horizontally in Japan."

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

However, our 作文 were always written vertically on 原稿用紙.

That is good to hear. I have never written in Japanese anything important horizontally, either in academic or professional settings. I probably even think vertically.

[ryuurui]

Originally Posted by jamchan

Hello

My kana/kanji handwriting is just terrible. I was thinking about taking calligraphy lessons to get a better understanding about kanji. I do realize that a different technique is used in calligraphy.

Will it somehow still improve my handwriting? Does anyone have experience? Or any other tips that I could use?

Thanks!

in regards to hiragana, have a look at my hiragana etymology, i write the characters there with a brush. to understand the shape of kana you need to know its origin.

Hiragana Etymology | Beyond Calligraphy

[WingsToDiscovery]

It's not like writing vertically compared to horizontally is that big of a change to undertake. And despite Japanese being traditionally vertical, I find myself reading things way more often horizontally (and the percentage would be even higher for beginners, where they wouldn't be reading newspapers, but rather signs, menus, magazines, etc)

[ryuurui]

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

It's not like writing vertically compared to horizontally is that big of a change to undertake. And despite Japanese being traditionally vertical, I find myself reading things way more often horizontally (and the percentage would be even higher for beginners, where they wouldn't be reading newspapers, but rather signs, menus, magazines, etc)

horizontal is also traditional, only it goes from right to left.

[Sumippi]

Originally Posted by masaegu

You will not find any newspapers, novels, magazines or even the lines in manga written horizontally in Japan."

あ、…そう言われてみれば…。気付かなかった…！！

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by masaegu

Yeah, it is. I cannot help but wonder how smoothly that sudden switch from horizontal to vertical would go.

It sucks, and I still hate reading vertically. I always find myself re-reading a line or skipping a line by accident because my eyes didn't form the habit early on like it did with English.
I have to use a piece of paper to guide my eyes from one line to the next.