hiragana question.

I started learning japanese a few days ago and have some questions. I’m learning the hiragana book and it says the sequence in which the lines should be written. is it really important? And should i focus on repeating every symbol EXACTLY like it’s in the book, cause imo they are pretty different (and can be distinguished) and one small curve won’t make a big deal (also saw these curves ignored in, for example, japanese keyboard on my phone)

3 comments
  1. Have you ever tried writing English cursive using a stroke order that doesn’t make sense?

    I’m asking this because that’s basically how hiragana originated. They were originally extreme cursive kanji.

    You can write however you like, but it almost always won’t look right. There’s a rhythm to it, and it’s easier than you’d think to be able to tell when someone doesn’t care about stroke order. This rhythm and stroke order will also help when writing quickly because they maintain the legible appearance of characters even when someone speeds up their writing. This is especially true for kanji.

  2. Yes, stroke order is super important. Once you start learning Kanji, it’s even more super important. Do not rely on computer font because just like with English font, some Japanese font look different from what the writing rules is supposed to be when writing with a pen.

  3. It’s just handwriting. As long as others can read it, it’s ok. Stroke order can help to make sloppy handwriting more recognizable, but it’s not essential.

    Chances are, most of the time you’ll be typing text anyway so it won’t be an issue.

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