Hi everyone, I recently started learning Japanese and have come across a rather peculiar issue.
I’ve been making Hiragana charts on my computer and noticed that certain characters look different written than they do typed.
I know fonts also exist for the Japanese language, so that accounts for some of my noted issues.
My question is whether or not it would be fine to write the characters as I seen them typed?
To me some of the characters written look more complicated and have extra strokes. Since I’m just starting out, I would like it to have a standard way that I write characters.
I know that some fonts in English would look strange written. However, are they or are they not perfectly valid?
Can the same be said about Japanese? If someone could assist me in clearing this up I would greatly appreciate it. I’m a complete noob so please be nice and don’t roast me :/
Thank you in advance.
4 comments
A native would most likely consider font-like writing strange. My advice would be to learn the standard anyway from the start. There are only a few differences ([this is a popular video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx4AGDXfwGE) thrown in the sub frequently for these kinds of questions).
If you insist, it’s not like it’s illegal to do your way first and then learn the standard way afterwards.
You can do what you want, of course, but I would suggest learning to write kana the usual way, with the correct number of strokes.
You will notice that kanji also changes, for example 言 looks different when written in different fonts (on a computer). Japanese people also often have their own handwriting, just like anyone who uses latin alphabet, but they usually just reduce the number of strokes. Also, there is a difference between one’s personal handwriting and a computer font, if you copy that, it would be quite strange. If you want to see a native speaker’s handwriting, you can try googling 手書き ひらがな and see some examples.
https://realkana.com/hiragana/
You can have a look at different fonts for both hiragana and katakana here and select which to study with 🙂 e.g. ふ (fu) is a character that beginners don’t usually recognise in different fonts!
>My question is whether or not it would be fine to write the characters as I seen them typed?
You can do whatever you like, but the question I have for you is “Are you able to write it as you see it typed?” What I mean is, most beginners’ handwriting don’t tend to look as good if they just copy computer fonts. It’s a really subjective thing, but unless someone can handwrite pixel-perfectly in something like a [Mincho](https://www.google.com/search?q=mincho+font&client=ms-android-lge-rvo3&hl=en&prmd=ivn&sxsrf=ALiCzsaAUkiBovVKGnJ6GxHaIj7b4KJcMQ:1656869544244&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiPrv6EoN34AhX2CTQIHaQFDB4Q_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=320&bih=635&dpr=3.38) or [Gothic](https://www.google.com/search?q=gothic+japanese+font&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjVmbOHoN34AhUpATQIHSw-C0gQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=gothic+japanese+font&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzIECCMQJzIGCAAQHhAFOgcIIxDqAhAnOgQIABBDOgUIABCABDoECAAQAzoHCAAQsQMQQzoICAAQgAQQsQM6BggAEB4QCFCYCljBQmDtRmgFcAB4AIABeogB3g-SAQQxOS40mAEAoAEBsAEFwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=rdLBYpWPEqmC0PEPrPyswAQ&bih=635&biw=320&client=ms-android-lge-rvo3&prmd=ivn&hl=en) font (and most people cannot), it generally doesn’t look good.
>To me some of the characters written look more complicated and have extra strokes.
The standard block script that everyone learns (and indeed, the script upon which computer fonts are based) straight up does not allow for this unless there are recognized character variants. Actually, what tends to happen is that some strokes get omitted even in standard script when handwriting (but that’s more in the case of kanji which might have slightly different historical forms).
> Since I’m just starting out, I would like it to have a standard way that I write characters. That block script I mentioned is quite standardized, and it’s far more forgiving than trying to copy computer fonts.
The standardization really shows itself when you look at [handwriting correction books mostly aimed at adults](https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%9A%E3%83%B3%E5%AD%97-%E6%9C%AC/b?ie=UTF8&node=2423873051&ref_=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=638400ee-ec7c-4c60-aed7-f77b1d3b1585). These books are published by different authors under different publishers, so there is understandably some minor variations. However, since their sense of good handwriting in modern times comes from what was widely considered good calligraphy a few thousand years ago, they generally won’t contradict each other as much as they will back each other up.
The bad part is that this kind of information is just never ever passed on to foreigners wanting to learn Japanese. The standard outside of Japan would then be “copy the font.” Granted, Japanese textbooks tend to use a [font that mimics the standardized block script handwriting](https://www.google.com/search?q=kyokasho+font&client=ms-android-lge-rvo3&prmd=ivsn&sxsrf=ALiCzsb1kyOaMZwH7HcSYLy8AngWjDxeIQ:1656872205456&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiT9fn5qd34AhUdAjQIHWvlA6oQ_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=320&bih=635&dpr=3.38#imgrc=Taw2gq2IwVoW_M) I’ve been going on about, but unfortunately, they still tend to retain the proportions that are indicative of fonts. There are [fonts that do correct those](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E3%83%9A%E3%83%B3%E5%AD%97%E6%A5%B7%E6%9B%B8%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiRwJj7qd34AhWyJH0KHeojBjIQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=%E3%83%9A%E3%83%B3%E5%AD%97%E6%A5%B7%E6%9B%B8%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzoHCCMQ6gIQJzoECCMQJzoHCAAQgAQQBDoFCAAQgAQ6BAgAEEM6CAgAELEDEIMBOggIABCABBCxAzoLCAAQgAQQsQMQgwE6CQgAEIAEEAQQJToICAAQBBAlEBg6BAgeEAo6BwgjELACECdQwBBY2H9gjIEBaAVwAHgBgAF3iAG-F5IBBTIxLjExmAEAoAEBsAEFwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=EN3BYpH4ArLJ9APqx5iQAw&bih=635&biw=320&client=ms-android-lge-rvo3&prmd=ivsn), but they’re usually pretty expensive if you want full coverage of the Japanese script.
The examples in this [YouTube playlist](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1L7lEKGE35I0K4XxwwRNDftjrt3dDant) aren’t the best, but if you want to reconsider learning proper handwriting early before you “git gud” enough at Japanese to understand Japanese explanations and corrections, this is one of the only resources covering it in English. If you want to try the Japanese explanations anyway, that previous playlist mostly just echoes the info in [this playlist](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD3A32FF2555EC1B8).