# Chinese and Japanese handwriting **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-and-japanese-handwriting/400028 "2007-04-13T23:39:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![quelquechose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6f9a4e/32.png) [@quelquechose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quelquechose)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-and-japanese-handwriting/400028/1 "2007-04-13T23:39:20Z")
I am currently studying Chinese, and I was told a while back by one of my teachers that my handwriting looks Japanese. Is there really a difference in the way Chinese people and Japanese people write characters? (Assuming of course that the characters are the same in print) ---
**Author:** ![MissMossie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@MissMossie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissMossie)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-and-japanese-handwriting/400028/2 "2007-04-14T01:03:05Z")
I’m going to do the stereotypical first response thing and post a [link I googled](http://www.shosha.kokugo.juen.ac.jp/oshiki/ronbun/currentofresearch96/thesis.html). If you look about five-sevenths of the way down the page, they have an example of the same character written two different ways. The minor differences in the two characters help me to imagine other ways Chinese and Japanese handwriting could vary from person to person. I hope this will do until someone who knows what they’re talking about comes along! ---
**Author:** ![Chasing\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@Chasing\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chasing_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-and-japanese-handwriting/400028/3 "2007-04-14T02:45:15Z")
:dubious: I am Chinese and I never noticed anything different about Japanese writing compared to Chinese writing. There are many similar characters in both languages. Perhaps you unintentionally wrote some Japanese words instead of Chinese? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-and-japanese-handwriting/400028/4 "2007-04-14T03:08:53Z")
I can write some Japanese, but not Chinese, so unfortunately I cant help the OP much. Major reason for posting is to flag the thread, but I can contribute a tidbit: being left-handed absolutely sucks balls for writing characters, because of the way the strokes are properly written leads to insufferable smudging. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-and-japanese-handwriting/400028/5 "2007-04-14T03:53:49Z")
[QUOTE=Autolycus] being left-handed absolutely sucks balls for writing characters, because of the way the strokes are properly written leads to insufferable smudging. [/QUOTE] My girlfriend is native Japanese and left-handed, and she says that she has no difficulty with smudging. Perhaps it’s different for native speakers? With regard to the OP, my first thought is that stroke order might have changed in Japan for some characters, leading to characteristic (no pun intended) differences. However, a quick Google turned up [a site](http://zhongwen.com/shufa/index.html) that indicates that the rules are the same in Chinese as Japanese. Basically, I have no suggestions either. ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-and-japanese-handwriting/400028/6 "2007-04-14T06:06:01Z")
I’m a native Japanese speaker with some background in classical Chinese, and although they’re definitely distinguishable I’m having trouble articulating why. Chinese always looks “boxy” to me, while the same kanji in Japanese looks more fluid. I know stroke order is the same, but I think that either the balance, or just general aesthetics may be to blame. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-and-japanese-handwriting/400028/7 "2007-04-14T15:17:17Z")
My wife is Taiwanese and have lived in Japan for 10 years. She’s all over the idea that there’s a huge difference between how native of the respective languages write their characters. First, she and several of her Taiwanese friends I’ve asked today believe that many Japanese don’t write “like adults.” There’s a difference in asthetics, as they say. We went through a number of examples tonight of what is “good” writing vs. “not” and Chinese have a different sense of what they like. When you take cursive writing vs. printed writing, then the former is considered more “mature” by some. Second, Japanese women will tend to write in a “cute” style, where the squares are more rounded and lines are softer. It’s sort of like girls using hearts in place of dots above i’s.