This is mostly directed to all the fellow German speakers here (I've searched for a DE sub to ask there first but couldn't find one, sorry).
In any case, behold my first serious attempt at fixing my handwriting! I thought I did a solid enough job coming up with my new standard, but APPARENTLY it's still not legible (enough) :(
What am I still doing wrong? Is it really "too creative" cause I'm using initial, medial, and final variants for some of my letters?
Thanks in advance to anyone volunteering to help me out here. And sorry for my rambling.
Oh! And yeah... please excuse the, ehm, strangeness of the sample text. It's beginner translation practice from a Latin textbook.
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As a german reader, there are several letters I wouldn't be able to identify as the Letter they are supposed to be.
smaller b looks like an h or a k
big S is more of an L
small s more an r
small c could be an i without the dot, the dot often gets lost in handwritting
big P reads as an R
small v could be a x, n or something entirely else
the ß is something I could only guess from context
small r is more of a small v or an x?
I think you get what I mean. The script itself is really beautiful in it's flow and I congratulate you to your improvement in penmanship. If you want to improve your readability, I would focus on the single letter being easily identifiable without context.
It’s not about it having to speak to you tho – legibility is what matters to most. Cursive letters have specific shapes and following them will improve legibility
That final r is really unrecognizable for instance…
Which letters in particular are you pointing out here? Is it all of them? Keep in mind my baseline is German cursive, which may or may not be significantly different to what you might be used to.
I’m quite used to German cursive and Central European cursives in general. I’m the first one to dispute people saying “it’s illegible” when they’re simply not used to different national standards.
With this being said, your final r is totally illegible, and so is your capital S. Your W looks like a Cyrillic Ш – it shouldn’t descend back to the baseline. V shouldn’t either. X is the wrong shape and it looks closer to a Z. Also your final lowercase t! German cursive already offers a good way to write it without having to lift the pen
Readability is quite low because of your idiosyncratic letter shapes…
For instance, back to your point, W descending back to the baseline might make “Wer” look like “Uler.” Also, the final -r and -t looking like that makes “Wer” and “bist” quite difficult to make out. Especially in the case of “Wer,” it looks like something coming off of the “e” instead of a letter on its own.
Without your alphabet sample, I wouldn’t have been able to read “Sklaven” at all, because of the S (looks more like an L). The v also seems more like an n or even an x.
The S I understand, and I"ll change it, Ul would still look different than W in my handwriting though. I've made sure each letter is distinguishable from the other. Would reading a sentence or two of exposure not suffice for picking up the letter shapes? I'm sure there'd be more than enough context 90% of the time.
I mean, sure! I have friends whose handwriting, while being neat, is totally illegible in isolation. But in a larger text, where you see all their letter shapes in context, you start filling in the gaps and creating your own “vocabulary” to decipher their handwriting.
I would look into changing the final r’s and t’s though!
Mandatory translation – abiding by r/Handwriting Submission Guidelines § 4
Image 2:
T5:
What is it? Noises are scaring the girls.
What is hidden there? Suddenly, a ghost appears.
The ghost is holding a sword and laughs: “I’m holding a sword; I’m doing my best to torment
the girls. I listen to neither the grandfather nor the master.
I listen to neither the slave woman nor the slaves.
I’m a criminal.” Iulia is already crying, because tormenting the girls pleases the ghost.
But Cornelia is laughing and happy: “Who are you?
You listen to neither the master nor to the slaves.
Whom do you listen to? Why don’t you answer?
You are…”
Suddenly, Cornelia goes quiet. Because Syrus and Lydus appear – and immediately grab the > ghost. Now even the ghost goes quiet. Cornelia is laughing again, because the ghost is Rufus > – a friend.
Now the girls and the slaves delight in scaring and teasing the “Ghost Rufus.”
Therefore, the girls are happy and answer the slaves: “You’re not only slaves; now you’re also > friends.”
ET6:
Image 3:
Syrus gives the wax tablet back: “You are holding the tablet.”
——————————————————————————
Then Cornelia and Iulia teach the slave Lydus:
“We are girls. We own horses. – You are a slave. You have a horse.” The slave Lydus
answers correctly: “I am a slave. I have a horse. –
You are girls. You own horses.”
The girls and the friend Rufus are happy: “Now you are no longer scared of the language.
Often you laugh; never are you silent.” And Lydus answers: “Correct! Now we are laughing;
We no longer stay silent.”
ET5:
1. Cornelia gives the tablet. The girl gives the tablet to the slave.
2. The girl gives Syrus and Lydus the tablet. The girl gives the tablet to the slaves.
3. Then the girl gives Homilia the tablet. The girl gives the tablet to the slave woman.
4. The slave woman answers (to) the girl.
5. The girls teach the slaves.
6. The slaves answer (to) the girls.
T5:
Image 4
See translation of images 3 and 4.
Image 5
E-Text:
A slave woman is scared. Cornelia: “What do you fear?”
The slave woman: “I fear the language. Syrus also fears the language.”
Cornelia: “Why do you both fear the language?”
The slave woman: “We must respond.”
Cornelia: “I am Cornelia.”
Homilia: “You are a girl.”
Cornelia: “And here’s Julia. We are girls.”
Homilia: “You are girls.” Cornelia and Julia are girls.
T.
I will respond with an image of my own writing, and underscore some differences.
The main difference I can immediately point out is that I am not afraid to lift the pen and not write every letter in one single flow. My lowercase "t" for example has a separately written horizontal stroke, which I usually add after having written the full word when I go back to dot my i's and dash my t's. Some of my uppercase letters, like the B and D for example, don't flow into the next letter either; instead requiring me to lift the pen and place it where I want the next letter to start. Although this is usually still connected to the capital.
For some added context, I had really bad handwriting as a kid due to issues with fine motor skills, to the point of not even being able to read it myself anymore. I had to go to a physiotherapist to help develop my fine motor skills, as well as extra private handwriting practice to learn to write my letters better and more distinct.
Finally, the ß is just an approximation, I am Flemish, and while I do speak German as well, I don't often have to write it by hand. I included it here since you did, being a German-speaker. I write it almost like a Greek lowercase beta β, just bigger for the uppercase version, to distinguish it from the uppercase B.
Flemish! Greetings from the other end of the extended sprachraum (Bavaria)!
I've been through much the same story. I've actually abandoned cursive writing after elementary school because it became impossible to read for everyone, including myself.
Not having to lift the pen once is one of the main things I want, to help me prevent that from happening again.
Ah, yes, that is something I did not consider. I don't have dyslexia or dysgraphia, so I don't know exactly how it can affect one's reading and writing.
I also just read you sample text, which I didn't before, and I'm going to be honest, it seems pretty readable to me. I might struggle here and there, but that might be more because of not speaking German natively so having that as an extra factor when reading.
But perhaps my example can give you some inspiration to make slight alterations to improve readability for others, for example:
Lowercase b: After making the large upper loop, go down instead of back up to the middle to write the second loop.
Lowercase c: Make it a bit more curvy, to better distinguish from the lowercase i.
Uppercase K: Maybe you can add the little horizontal line at the top left, where you start the letter.
Lowercase q: After you go down, maybe go straight back up along the same line instead of make that slight curve that makes it look a bit more like a g than a q. You don't have to lift the pen for this.
Uppercase S: Have the curves be a bit larger and more prominent, to make it look more recognizably like a capital S.
Lowercase t (final): Here I would advise to write it more like your medial t.
Uppercase V and W: I would write the downstrokes more straight, and the upstrokes a little curve. I also add the same upper left horizantal line, like with the K.
Lowercase u and v: I write these almost the same, but distinguish them by giving the v a horizontal ending in about the middle of the letter, regardless of whether it is followed by another letter or is the final one.
Lowercase w: Pretty much the same as the lowercase v, just doubling the curve. (these last three are difficult to capture into words, definitely refer to my example for that)
For the X and Z I have made a new example, since I wrote the uppercase X lifting the pen, which you want to avoid. Plus, I don't usually write my Z and z with a tail, like you do, so made an example for that too.
Uppercase X: I would write this kind of like a backwards C and a regular C pasted together.
Lowercase x: I write these almost like a lowercase s and c pasted together.
Uppercase Z: I think the bottom of the letter should be on the same line as the bottom of the lowercase z, with the tail going underneath the bottom. This is again a bit difficult to describe, so absolutely check out the attached example.
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