Hi everyone! The video just hit 1M views, which is something I could not even imagine when I made it. Thanks for all the support over the years, the ad revenue from this video helped pay my bills when I was doing my Master's/living abroad, it really helped my stay above water during difficult financial times. I really appreciate everyone that has watched send shared, you really had a positive impact on my life. Thank you :)
It's the first advise I give students when I can't read their handwriting. Usually you don't have to write "prettier" or less messy, just bigger, to be more legible. Predictably students hate it.
Reading the comments make me feel old. Before everyone had a computer in their house, it was mandatory that all homework (except in math class) be written in cursive as it was taught to everyone in elementary. By the middle of high school, printing from a computer became an option.
I already write by hand every day. I may as well suck it up and practice for improvement in this skill. It will be slower at first but I can see I can see my old mindset of accepting my sloppy writing is not necessary.
Want to speed up notetaking? Learn some type of shorthand, whether it's Gregg, Pitman, alphabetical, teeline. Gregg shorthand is easier to write, but harder to decipher. Pitman shorthand is harder to write but easier to decipher. I am not familiar with Teeline but it is apparently a form of alphabetical shorthand and the kind that most journalists are required to learn.
My take. Full cursive writing with all the default strokes can be difficult to understand at first glance. Personally, I like incorporating traditional cursive and non-cursive letters to create my own “calligraphy-style” of handwriting. More modern, too.
I know many places now teach write the lower case "e" as a loop, but it's incorrect, and it can greatly lessen the legibility of cursive. Even in cursive, the lower case "e" should look exactly like a typed lower case "e", meaning the loop should have a flat bottom. Otherwise, the e" can look like an "l". or like an undotted "I". Readers can figure it out by context, but it interrupts the flow of the writing. It's easy to write a proper lower case "e". It really doesn't even take much practice. As for a fountain pen, I would never start someone out with a broad nib. Rather than helping in the transition, I find it hurts with most adult students. A Japanese medium, such as you find on the Pilot Metropolitan, has worked best in adult classes I've taught. The one thing that has changed is the upper case "Q". It is supposed to look almost identical to the numer "2", but so few people have ever written it this way that even many expert calligraphers and lifelong cursive users are confused when they see it. It is now more than permissible to write the upper case "q" just as it appears in type. Like this : "Q".
broad is a disaster for people in the habit and stock of Xerox paper; it bleeds and feathers and smudges really bad. The video was very interesting, and had very similar thoughts and endeavours as no-one writes cursive in Greek any more. Actually, it's 40 years that calligraphy was dropped in Greek school. I happened to somehow manage Latin calligraphy from an Austrian nanny, but also dropped it in school, until it stuck with me again due to a friend in highschool. Carried on printing in Greek but writing cursive in English when studying in England and after ten years of lecturing at college in Greece, it occurred to me that everybody here writes really ugly letters and that by introducing a Latin cursive adaptation for the Greek alphabet would look much better and much faster for taking exams. At 47 it's a slow process, so I keep a diary; to much surprise of everyone, a once relentlessly cacograph (at least in Greek), became reasonably good and remarkably faster. It also provided a rare indication of speed improvement from print to cursive, as I was competent at both: print in Greek, cursive in English. When I adapted cursive for Greek using a fountain pen, it was like getting a Porsche. Cursive can improve academic performance because of speed; allows more time to answer and improves overall aesthetics of the submitted exam paper. It works also for the lecturer, as it improves board presentation aesthetics. When combined with high tech material, say lecture robotics, it produces a fusion of substance and aesthetics that pleasantly surprises the audience to the extend that half questions at first are about the writing than the written. My advise is: use a medium fountain pen like a cross century II on good paper with an ink that you like yet looks serious (people should not laugh at your results don't go for summery bright and frivolous inks), but have handy an extra fine non wet non skippy pen like a Jinhao 51A for writing on Xerox paper. Did I mention that the otherwise boring pelikan 4001 or sheaffer skrip can be corrected using erasing pens and also behave well on mediocre Xerox? Put it in a Jinhao 51A, that apparently is engineered for excruciatingly bad Xerox paper, next time you take an exam and thank me later. p.s. Actually, it occurred to me that "bad" in the same line as "Xerox" is a sacrilege really. Still loving the grand children of XWindows, laser printers, mice etc that all came from Xerox Parc center. So good Xerox (pat on the head) and bad photocopy paper.
@@shahnazwm Hi, it did! Although ... I recently transitioned from a ball-point pen to a fountain pen. And I tell you, I thought it was going to be an easy shift, but it wasn't (feels like I need to relearn how to write altogether).
If you like fountain pens, try a bent nib. They let you write at a sharp angle. The ink matters too, I use Pilot Namiki fountain pen ink which dries very quickly. I study Biblical Hebrew which is written right to left and I’m right handed. I never get smudges with this ink :)
I learned cursive in elementary school and I was blessed with a beautiful handwriting, love to write notes and cards, take notes everywhere. I'm addicted to markers, pens and pencils, now I am spreading the love for cursive writing to all my grand babies, they love it! Thanks for this video
@@sunflowernebulis It's shaped like "3" for lowercase. Which one is your style? Indeed, the not "3" shape one is hard so I changed to the "3" one. Fun fact: it also have the same shape as cursive Russian for "z"
@@tripthongUwU I use the one that looks like the 3 I'm just not very good at it or it just doesn't look as elegant as my other letters. I changed the way I write my b recently and I love it now so I may do the same with z
I write everyday in a journal about the dullest things only because I really love how touching a pen to paper feels. Seeing words form across a page is hypnotic for me.
If you love the feel of writing. invest in some good quality paper. (if you haven't already) With my favourite pen in hand writing makes me feel as if I'm carving words from stone.
I started learning to write in cursive in the beginning of this month and I can see a lot of improvement. I keep looking back at my journal entries and laugh at the unreadable ugly writing. Finally am happy that I'm slowly getting better results! I also got a fountain pen for the first time. writing cursive is getting even more addicting because of how cute my fountain pen looks and how well it writes.
I went to school in Germany. Back then the general idea was: Children should learn to write (and read) cursive first and later learn to read print. Writing "print" was never a thing when I went to and I still don't do it unless I absolutely have to (sometimes handwriting in print is required in forms). Those are the cursive letters I started with: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ausgangsschrift#/media/Datei:Lateinische_Ausgangsschrift_1953_plain.svg x written that way is not annoying to write, it's essentially a capital H squished into a smaller space. By now I modified most of those letters - x is one of the few I never changed. But I'll admit: That's probably because the letter x doesn't appear that often in German.
One suggestion: learn the Spencerian method of hand writing (much and more of what you see in this video is there. Spencerian hand writing was taught in schools and businesses early last century before Biro invented the ball pen. Try it.
I hate'em, ball pens. People dont realise it takes more effort to write with them. I have carpel tunnel syndrome, so i started using fountain pens. But as the paper quality is not that good in exams and other situations like that, its a living hell for me. Before the advent of ballpens, papers used to be much thicker.
Thank you for taking the energy to create something to share with others I can’t speak for everyone else but it sure is appreciated. My handwriting has been a HUGE insecurity for me since grade school to where I avoided wanting to even write since I’m not good at spelling or neatly writing . 23 of age and sick of pissing and moaning about how it’s not fair so deciding to dedicate my energy to bettering my insecurity so again THANK YOU!!
I've just recently started to write in cursive again. I was taught in school when I was younger, but I feel that I should use it again. Thank you for this video because I write *way* too fast and my cursive isn't legible
I work in a supermarket. Sometimes I have to play cashier. A couple months ago a customer, an older gentleman waiting in line, announced, "They spent all that time in school trying to teach me cursive. Now we all write with our fingers."
I know nothing but from what I’ve seen, learning calligraphy is an art. It is slow and purposeful. Working with a dip pen makes the process feel so satisfying. I love the ink, the whole experience. I’ll keep it up until I’m physically unable.
You know what’s funny? I feel the same way. I started writing my book notes in cursive. I just feel like I need to do it more often. Not everyday, just more than I usually do.
When they required it my handwriting got worse cause it was so frustrating :p couldnt keep it neat since. Definitely not a useless skill but evil to force it every assignment ever.
This exactly how I learnt to write in France. We start school very early, at age 2-3 where we learn to handwrite. We spend countless hours on handwriting up to the end of primary school. At home, we have to practise as well and we all end up with our own very personal handwriting that is part of who we are. I am now living in Australia and kids are not taught cursive, they are barely taught how to handwrite anyway. It's a catastrophe, especially when they start year 7 and their writing is so bad we have to send them to see OTs. It's a fact. It bewilder me that in this country, no connexion is made between learning and handwriting.
Writing in cursive is not just a manner of written communication, its a form of writing that is an art form. It expresses something about the person doing the writing as well. This is what gives cursive its personable, human quality. No cold, texting here.
I used the same method through high school and university, I was basically making a good copy version of the notes out of each chapter, Critically reviewing and expanding on the lecture notes. Brought me far.
Great tutorial. I took notes. Thanks. A couple of things I've learned. Broad nib? I've never actually used one of these, but Sharpies are close. Because my handwriting was so bad, for years I thought I needed an F or an EF nib. Finally purely out of curiosity, I tried a stub nib. This is probably the greatest technological leap that can be applied to penmanship. A stub nib gives you line variation. They've really helped my style and legibility. Try any stub you can find. I've got a lot of experience but don't notice much difference between .6, .8 and 1.1 mm-- I've even measured stroke widths with a caliper (ink flow has a lot to do with this.) I currently write (mostly) with modified stubs that are closer to italic. I grind these myself--but I'm DIY. Unless you have a half dozen pens, know about sharpening tools and have a free afternoon, just add it to your bucket list-- at the bottom. You'll never someday say, gosh I wish I'd ground my own nib years ago; stubs are ASAP. (Also, we think we want a flex nib, we learn we actually wanted a stub nib. We want a flex so we can write very fancy, but what we learn is, in normal writing a flex nib is just pleasantly springy, but no line variation. Any stub gives you line variation at any speed.) I still use F and EF nibs for tiny margin notes in books and manuscripts. Second: Deliberate Practice. Great tip, terrific concept. One important aspect of this learning technique is to start off slow. With tennis, playing a musical piece on an instrument, the method is to first make the correct movements-- no matter how slow. This applies to penmanship and calligraphy. Go as slowly as you need to make the correct shapes. This trains your muscles (brain). So when you practice the order of importance is Correct Shapes over everything else. Vinicius's recommendation to write larger is probably a great tip that I've missed but will now try. Why did I have terrible penmanship? Because when we were learning cursive in 2nd or 3rd grade I knew I wanted to be a writer so I thought I'd have to write fast, so right at the beginning I went for speed-- and locked in an illegible scrawl.
Winders can't be created overnight. Utmost patience and constant practice are the key to having the deserved writing style. Wish you all the best for the beginners 🙏
I was taught cursive style in school. In high school I switched to print style because a friend of mine inspired me to. A couple of years ago I began to think about changing my handwriting because writing in full print style takes longer. I constantly make mistakes when writing in full print style because my hand naturally demands a more fluent way of writing. This year I began to practise cursive style. I am actually combining both styje because I like the way certain letters look in print style. I have been able to find ways to combine both styles. I still need practice but my handwriting is much more fluent now.
@ijansk --- I've done the same thing. Some letters _written_ 'properly' (according to the standard charts) are tricky to do nicely...and quickly. Capital 'F' comes to mind. Also, I often print some capitals, like "Q", because the standard written version looks a lot like a fancy numeral "2" and I figure most people will think it's a mis-writing if they see it written.
I've seen certain curricula which teaches 1st grades to write in cursive They found out, when kids do, they rarely reverse letters, like they do in printing
Who remembers those elementary writing pads school kids used to use? They’re in museums now. Lol My dad was strict on developing good handwriting skill; more strict on me than he was with my younger brother and sister. After all these years, there are two things I’m glad that I can do well: 1. Write my name legibly in cursive. 2. Stay Safe at Home 😎
Very nice teaching moment at 6:21 A, 6:29 B, 6:34 C, 6:39 D, 6:45 E, 6:50 F, 6:57 G, 7:05 H, 7:11, I 7:14, J 7:16, 7:35 M, 7:46 P, 7:51 Q etc. watching in real time writing of the alphabet. If you want to observe cursive patterns, 2:21.
I've studied the brain a lot when I was taking care of my mother with dementia and the brain books say writing in cursive is better for your brain. Good info. thanks
Hello! I do calligraphy, so this video was really interesting to watch! I love to write in cursive, once I did an entire test in cursive... luckily the teacher was able to read it and I did well!
Thumbs up; loved the video and instructions; however, I was disappointed to see the 'real time' at the end! My handwriting is only neat IF I write super slow; and of course I want to write fast:/ GREAT VIDEO!
This is completely unrelated but i was taking a break from studying, when I came to watch this video and i was literally studying the same subject on your notes, and in Portuguese too😳 im scared.
Dude, I've taken on what you've said, and If your help, helps me recover from 😊 injury I had 9 years ago. I can't write for shit. I'll respect your advice. For ever. My hand writing is bad, from the stroke!!! But I'm not going to give up on it!! I tourt myself, art, so I'll teach my self to write again
Thank you for the great video this is really helpful! I'm left handed and after decades of being unsatisfied with my own handwriting I'm now starting to do something about it!
6 лет назад
Thank you for the comment! Really glad to know it helped you :D
I have started to pay closer attention to my penmanship as I study, and as a result I believe it made learning and internalizing what I was putting into paper a lot easier, since I was being so careful as I wrote.
Vinicius, I grew up printing in all capital letters, just like my father. I always wanted to print in lower case letters and set out to acquire this ability several years ago. After months of trying, the lower case was always slower and looked worse than all caps. I then, at the age of 60, relearned cursive. Through trial and error I eventually used the the principles you outline in your video. I have composition books full of practice letters and letter combinations. Now I can read my own writing and rarely print....and they all lived happily ever after :-)
10 месяцев назад
Thank you for sharing! I'm glad that the video was helpful!
I learned to write with the McLean method, in 1966. It is similar to the way you write, with a few differences in the upper case letters. I like your style of writing! I agree that practise and consciousness of how each letter is made, is a good way to improve your cursive handwriting!! I hope you are staying safe from Covid-19! ~Janet in Canada
Using a fountain pen would also help in improving your penmanship. Most people tend to write with a lot of unnecessary pressure; fountain pens write without any pressure at all.
@@Ybeast Yeah Fountain Pens are the best!!! I have been using a fountain pen since 4th Grade, I mean they were the first pen that i ever used and we can all agree that FPs and their Community is the best.
@Chlem Elisha it depends on where you’re from but the pilot metropolitan, the platinum preppy and the pilot varsity are great budget options for a student. If you want to spend a little more the Lamy safari is a great entry level pen.
Parece que nos países europeus e nos EUA a letra cursiva está morta ou quase, mas aqui no Brasil ela é muito utilizada, gosto da letra cursiva e não consigo entender o porque ela está "morrendo".
I was so disgusted and bewildered when I learned that cursive was no longer being taught in schools. I thought that was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. How can people read old letters or documents from the past? Computers are not everything. Hand writing is essential.
AlexaApples idk about The US but in Australia we were taught it in the very early years and then once you get to grade 7+ which is considered high school the teachers dont care how you write and alot of the time the work is just typed out on a laptop that the school provides anyway, so you just lose the skill and or dont care for it anymore because its faster and tidier to just type it.
I had to teach my step son when he was 16 how to do his name in cursive because he printed it IN PENCIL on his very first paycheck. I said I haven't been out of school that long, what the heck happened??? Oh wait common core. I was so shocked and sad at humanity. So get ready for the next generation of pencil printers that will be running our world!!
Cursive handwriting has been returned to some schools in UK and Ireland. Previously, it is found that kids not taught cursive had poor motor skills. For example, they are clumsy with scissors and sewing needles. Those who have long used cursive show how they can cut and sew NEATLY. They make great surgeons. Another advantage, cursive boosts kids' confidence and increases their love of writing. Calligraphy does the same. I had learned cursive and also calligraphy in convent schools.
I found quite inadvertently that a good way to track your progress over time in your proficiency writing in cursive is to keep a daily diary. Generally when writing in a diary you pay close attention to *_what_* you're writing but not *_how_* you're writing it. When you start paying attention to how you're writing, it is very easy to go back at the end of the week and review your entries to check your progress in reaching where you want to reach in your cursive writing proficiency. While I don't hand write much of anything anymore and can type faster than I can write, I attribute my keeping of a daily diary all these decades to my neatness in my cursive writing. Even if it is, sometimes, only a page or two a night before bed.
In third grade I was taught cursive and I was told in the next grades up I was only allowed to write in cursive. Well I moved up and that wasn't the case. I pretty much just write in print but I can read and write in cursive. (I live in America)
I personally learned to write in cursive as a child but I ended up changing my capitals to print, as well as the letter p and x. This hybrid system definitely made my writing more legible and eliminated some annoyances. Addendum: Cursive was also made to be written with a fountain pen (as demonstrated in the video) but most accessible pens are ballpoint. Consistent line thickness makes cursive capitals and letters with tight loops illegible.
An old calligrapher and an old drafter designer here. I might suggest looking up old books on hand drafting techniques, specifically for the short chapter on smooth inking. I'm not talking about the lettering for hand drafting (though that's a help for legibility for block lettering. Incidentally, almost every interview I ever had, my penmanship was commented on. Legibility is important on the job, if you are expected to pass notes to coworkers, like in engineering.). I'm just talking about the inking techniques. Because when I taught calligraphy, no matter what font, I emphasized the inking moves. Basically, as much as possible, pull the pen to you. Don't push the nib. It's going to resist, skip, and spatter, possibly snag enough to bend and become useless. Let me see if I can find the basic strokes on a keyboard. 😅 / pull upper right to lower left | pull down \ pull upper left to lower right - pull from left to right ( pull in a curve down ) again, pull in a curve down Those are for basic right handers. Tutoring left handers, I had to first learn how they wrote, then adjust my instructions for them (a couple variations there, luckily I am ambidextrous and have learned to keep on learning). I do get to brag that a couple of my left-handers were passionate enough to keep on learning and won awards for their work (really fancy calligraphy). Dang that makes me proud! ❤
Wow, this was one awesome video! You make some truly excellent points...things that are subtle but so important. I really like how you ended with the writing with soothing music!
Which pen did you use in the part where you said “write the whole alphabet, upper and lower case?” It looked blue and looked like the Lamy safari but it is not it just looks different. Thx
2 года назад
Hello, there is a link for all the pens in the video description. The blue pen is a Lamy Safari, indeed - but the body is made from aluminum instead of plastic.
People always tell me my cursive is beautiful. One exercise I do---frequently====is write the lower case abc to z without stopping. I connect every letter until I get to x. After the down stroke I go back to dot i and j and cross t. I cross my x and make y and z. I repeat this process again and again to keep the letters distinct yet connected. I suggest writing 4 letters together a, b, c, d, then e, f, g, h, i, etc. Capitals cand be done this way.
I don't know why, but even if I wrote(and I still write) a lot in my life time I don't have a beautiful handwriting like yours and I really don't understand why. Does the pen matters to write beautiful, or not? It is annoying that I see other people that write better than me even if they don't write as much as I do. Do you guys have some pieces of advice for me?
