Korean Handwriting Request

[Monkey_Monk]

I would really appreciate a lesson in reading Korean Handwriting. I cannot decipher the script form of Korean handwriting on DVD covers or in movies, when someone is looking at a letter or post-it note. The handwriting is so different from the block characters that I don't even have a clue what character is being written.

Also, in the pdf file could we have an example of "beautiful" penmanship so that we can practice and eventually have "beautiful" handwriting.

To explain what I am requesting, there is this video at You tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0mEUWSk32M

(I think this video was made by one of the Team here at K101, Hyunwoo Sun씨. Big thanks Hyunwoo씨!!!)

Also, I wanted to take the time here to say thank you to all the team for everything that they do... like this YouTube video. It is a true gift, to be a giver. All of you on the team who give, and give and give... You're amazing! You're a postive energy flow into this world and you are very, very appreciated. Thank you!

[kyuree]

I wonder whether one can give instructions how to read Korean handwriting... I think it comes w/ practice.
Same goes for your own hand-writing: it gets better w/ time, also depends on your talent I guess. In some books the Hangeul has serifs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif ) but I don't think there are rules for a beautiful hand-writing. I mean are there for English?!

[Monkey_Monk]

Thanks for the interesting link. I do Calligraphy and found the article very interesting. From the videos that I watched, I'm beginning to guess Korean is different than Enlish in that we have printing and cursive. It appears that printing or block characters is the only real form, and that their handwriting is just a shortcut of the block character printing... not formalized like ours. But I'm guessing, too.

Kyuree씨, yes there were rules for English handwriting and there were penmanship classes 1st through 8th grade, but all of that was years ago. In the 1950s in private schools we had penmanship classes and all our studies had to be turned in with correct penmanship or else they were not accepted. Even with our Math homework there were 2 numeric styles and you could not mix the 2 styles on the same piece of paper or it was returned. (Public schools dropped penmanship classes in the 40s)

I think when the first round of school budget cuts came, when art and music went to once a week... I think it was right around then that Penmanship was dropped from the private school cirruculum. By the 80s Penmanship was definitely gone from the schools because my daughters started school then and they never had penmanship classes.

But, my Grandmother wrote in the Palmer style and it was the most beautiful style of writing I ever saw. There's an example of Palmer at this link if you scroll down a bit:
http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/penmanship.htm
My grandmother died close to 40 years ago, but I'd still recognize her handwriting, it was just so beautiful... even just a grocery note would be written so exquisitely.

I'm glad you made that last comment, it was nice to sit and remember my Grandmother and share a chunk of memory with you.

[javiskefka]

There were formalized styles of calligraphy that were used for different administrative or artistic purposes when most Korean writing was done by brush stroke instead of in type or electronically. In fact, the modern typefaces 궁서, 굴림, 궁서 and 도툼 are all named after calligraphy styles.

Modern cursive writing in Korean, as far as I know, though, is as you said a way to write more quickly as well as a way to beautify handwriting.

As for penmanship in English, I did learn a formalized style of cursive writing in 2nd grade, and there were a few assignments that we had to write using cursive, but I don't recall being judged too harshly on it. After that point I was free to use whatever handwriting style I wished in school, and accordingly my handwriting now is only loosely based on the penmanship that I learned in school.

[MelSymph]

The more you read/write Korean, the more you'll understand what letters obviously come first. I find variety shows very helpful for learning because sometimes contestants are forced to handwrite. Comparing it to captions the show puts on, they actually end up helping foreigners without knowing it. ^^

Calligraphy is considered an art form in most Asian cultures. I suggest looking up calligraphy lessons if you want to see fancy writing.

[trutherous]

Hi! MelSymph - nice to meet you.

You answered a post that was from Jan 2009, so it's like 14 months old. I wonder if the person who posted the question is still around? Anyway, I completely agree with you, the more you read and write the more familiar you become and the less foreign Hangul looks. In the beginning I had to struggle to read hand written Korean but over time it became clearer, especially as I continue to practice writing out massive quantities by hand. Handwriting practice allows me to see how the strokes come together when writing quickly and hardly lifting the point of the pen or pencil. Sometimes I will take a children's book I have finished reading and if there is enough space between the lines I will copy every word right underneath, line by line, chapter by chapter, as fast as I can. I use a pencil and if I make a mistake I have to pay what I call the "eraser penalty" and that slows me down.