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left-right vs top-down

By jane | March 13, 2010

  • こんにちは :wave:
    Two questions about left-right vs top-down writing.
    How do the Japanese call both directions of writing ?
    I was wondering how many (non-Japanese) in this forum actually write top-down instead of left-right ?

    Cheers.


  • Sometimes it can be a contextual thing. In some mangas, for example, they are written vertically to indicate that what is being said was originally said in Japanese, and left to right to indicate that what is being said was originally said in another language.


  • Top down is tategaki 縦書き
    Left right is yokogaki 横書き

    I sometimes write vertically when writing letters or graduation messages for my students, but I don't write in Japanese a whole lot aside from sending e-mails.


  • God, don't even get me started. I'm sure I could learn tategaki, but what Ashikaga said, it would make my horrible kana and kanji penmanship stand out and look even more like gaijin scribbles.


  • I rarely write from top to bottom. I think it's common for Japanese people under a certain age (40ish?) to almost never write vertically in their daily lives. OK, I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with me on that one but that is my impression.

    I am 39 and personally, I am so used to writing from left to right that it is rather difficult for me to write vertically and make it "look good". The spacing of the letters and the proportion of each letter when writing vertically can be dificult even for those who have been writing Japanese all their lives. I think writing that way makes my poor penmanship stand out even more... :note:







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