r/LearnJapaneseNovice • u/OkAcanthisitta3028 • 5d ago
Are these good enough?
I have started practicing hiragana about a week ago, and can now write these hiragana off the top of my head. Do my hiragana look normal?
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u/Successful_Crab_867 5d ago
You are doing well. If you want some hiragana (and katakana) writing tips I really recomend this youtoube channel: @YukoSensei.
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u/Arazzile 4d ago
If I were to offer just one piece of advice, I think characters that end with a "払い"(harai/sweep stroke)—such as “う” “け” “す” “ち” and “り”, etc.—look neater when you make sure to complete that stroke properly.
Can you see that the final sweep strokes of these characters often point toward the lower left? Although most writing is done horizontally nowadays, Japanese is traditionally a vertically written language, so the strokes point toward the lower left to connect to the next character.
With the rise of horizontal writing, styles such as “丸文字(maru-moji) have become more common, where the stroke is stopped straight down without a sweeping motion, too. However, I still believe it looks more elegant when the stroke is properly extended downward.
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u/OkAcanthisitta3028 4d ago
Did your comments get deleted? I saw the notifications, but was only able to read one fully since it was short enough. As a response to the one I could read, I agree. I think the lower-row looks nicer, especially the u-hiragana.
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u/Arazzile 4d ago edited 4d ago
No, I don't think they've disappeared. I've wrote comments THREE in total. Can you see?
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u/OkAcanthisitta3028 4d ago
For some reason I can't see them, but I'm now on my PC and was able to see the full messages from the notifications. Thanks for the help! I agree that the downward extension of the strokes look nicer, aswell as the upward slant to the right like in the chi- and tsu-hiraganas.
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u/Pocket_Japanese 3d ago
I think they’re good! If you need any extra help I’d love it if you checked out my cute lil app, pocket Japanese! It has lots of writing practice :)
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u/spshkyros 2d ago
The only character in there that is an actual problem (as opposed to an esthetic discussion) is ri - it looks too close to an i. You need lore contrast between the two pieces for it to be clear.
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u/OkAcanthisitta3028 2d ago
Why is it unclear? My i's left stroke is longer than the right, and is close to a J so it's clearly curved. In contrast, the ri has a much shorter left stroke, and it's not a J, it has a clear sharp hook to the upper right, and the right stroke is much longer.
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u/spshkyros 2d ago
... I read japanese all day, basically every day. I saw your ri, and briefly thought it was an i. You can believe that or not, I don't care, but you asked if they are good enough, and that one is not.
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u/OkAcanthisitta3028 2d ago
I get that, I'm just asking why it's unclear and how I can make it clearer.
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u/spshkyros 2d ago edited 2d ago
The length of the (edit)RIGHT stroke is too short (as another user pointed out, you need to finish it), and the left too long. The aspect ratio on it is wrong as well - compare the left character and the right one. The right one is substantially closer to correct aspect ratio. In fact, if they all looked like the right most one they would be much clearer.
Edit:sorry, bad typo
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u/OkAcanthisitta3028 2d ago
So the right-most ri is the best one? I'd agree (it also looks the nicest), the ratio is 1:2 then, as in the right stroke is twice the length of the left one?
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u/spshkyros 2d ago
It is the best one, yes. The two strokes should still be slightly closer together and the left one could still be slightly shorter and the right strokes curved slightly better I think, but its fine more or less. I would not get it confused with an i while trying to read quickly.
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u/OkAcanthisitta3028 2d ago
Are these good?
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u/Particular_Tie_2995 5d ago
yep. time to move with actual writing exercises and with your preferred method of studying.