Home Forums The Japanese Language Question about the kana for ki

This topic contains 7 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by  Joel 12 years, 11 months ago.

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  • #21773

    Carlie
    Member

    Hi everyone, I have a really noob question to ask of you about how to write the hiragana symbol for ki.

    I was looking for some practice writing sheets online to show me the stroke order for individual kana and I came across multiple websites, actually quite a few, that show the way to write ki is slightly different from the way it’s pictured in the hiragana chart. For example:

    http://www.umich.edu/~umichjlp/Hiraganapro/ki.html

    http://yosida.com/en/hiragana.html (click on the kana for ki)

    I don’t understand why there’s a difference. I also don’t know if there’s any other kana that are like this where the chart shows one way but when written out looks another (I only know the first 10 so far). Could someone please explain it to me?

    #21790

    Sheepy
    Moderator

    You’ll also see this with: http://www.umich.edu/~umichjlp/Hiraganapro/sa.html

    Its how its traditionally meant to be written and how most people don’t really bother to write any more. Don’t sweat it and just do the connected version :P

    #21812

    Carlie
    Member

    Ah ok, thank you very much Sheepy, I’ll just stick to writing it how it looks in the Hiragana chart :)

    #21816

    Ian Smith
    Member

    In the beginning, looking at the print-based writing is fine for keeping you from the brink of information overload– eventually though you should look at handwriting or at least typefaces which describe the strokes. You’ll gain a much better understanding of what the characters are and how to compose them with relatively little effort (basically, you’ll write faster and read more, faster). It’s like touch typing vs. one or two finger pecking, but with no practice required (or at least, no more than you already need to be copying the other font).

    Edit: Whoops– clicked one of your links and thought another tab I had open (jisho) was the other, so I assumed you were looking at something else. Left behind for posterity, I guess? ;) As for the gap, you can tell that it’s really only the infinite thinning of the stroke. It varies from person to person (though I know people who get a twitch when they see it without a gap), but remember it next time you’re looking at any calligraphy.

    • This reply was modified 12 years, 11 months ago by  Ian Smith.
    #21819

    Carlie
    Member

    Yes, thank you Ian, I was thinking it might be a print vs. hand-written difference, but I couldn’t find a source to confirm.

    I decided that while I’m learning the Kana (Hiragana atm) I might as well learn how to write them as well, which means learning the order of the strokes, so that’s why I asked. Thank you very much for your response :)

    #21833

    Joel
    Member

    さ, り, ふ, な, や and ら also have slight differences between printed and handwritten styles. I’ve been assured by my native-speaking lecturers that people still write in the handwritten style when writing by hand. Realkana.com lets you practice reading both styles. I’ve also seen し written slightly differently, but I’m not entirely certain.

    #21836

    Sheepy
    Moderator

    Yeah there are actually some cool little ways to write different kana. HOWEVER in some areas its not normal and some it is.

    For example, this style, which I now use exclusively because its cute and faster lol, but some teachers don’t like it and some do.

    http://file.yoshiotohitsuji.blog.shinobi.jp/19b31263.jpeg

    #21851

    Joel
    Member

    You don’t think that… rather large handakuten makes it look like the number 30, do you? =P

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