Handwriting samples

[Artful Dodger]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know where I can get hold of samples of good Thai handwriting? Mine is clear enough if I go slowly (read, at a glacial pace), but it has no style. I would like to have some real samples to use as a model instead of starting from the printed characters.

 

TIA

[RichCor]

Try a google image search: Thai Handwriting Samples (ตัวอย่างลายมือไทย)

 

...though none of these look as small and tightly written as I've seen some native writers create on a daily basis.

[Oxx]

10 hours ago, Artful Dodger said:

starting from the printed characters

 

Starting from printed characters is a dreadful idea since the handwritten forms of a number of characters are very different.

 

The reading course at http://thai-notes.com includes writing worksheets which use a hand writing font for you to trace and then copy.

 

http://thai-notes.com/reading/index.shtml

 

 

 

 

[tgeezer]

Hi,
 
Does anyone know where I can get hold of samples of good Thai handwriting? Mine is clear enough if I go slowly (read, at a glacial pace), but it has no style. I would like to have some real samples to use as a model instead of starting from the printed characters.
 
TIA

Good luck with that. How do you propose to develop a style if you copy or worse, trace patterns? Writing and speaking are skills which have to be developed from a solid foundation, if you are slow but near perfect then you need more practise.


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Oxx]

12 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

How do you propose to develop a style if you copy or worse, trace patterns?

 

Being able to hand write the characters correctly (correct proportions, correct stroking) must come first.  Style will come later as the writer speeds up and (probably inadvertently) starts making short cuts, e.g. reducing the loops, writing ส with a single stroke, closing the left hand angle on ท, connecting consonants to tone marks and other above symbols.  Conversely, if one doesn't learn to form the characters correctly in the first place, any short cuts will look "strange" to native readers.

 

(This also applies to Thai people writing English.  Their efforts very often don't seem natural to a native reader of English because they haven't been taught in the first place how correctly to form the letters and how to join them.)

 

J. Marvin Brown has a large section on handwriting short cuts in his book "Reading And Writing (Mostly Reading).  He distinguishes between what are "good" short cuts and what are "bad".  He also provides samples of 20 styles of handwriting (10 male, 10 female), which he suggests could be used as models for developing one's personal style.

[tgeezer]

So, I read ‘no style’ and you oxx read ‘get hold of samples’ . The fact that Marvin suggested shortcuts is the opposite of what you and I agree is the way to learn.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Oxx]

8 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

The fact that Marvin suggested shortcuts is the opposite of what you and I agree is the way to learn.

 

Actually, handwriting only comes at the end of the workbook - for once the student has already learned how to write formally.

 

The emphasis is actually upon reading in this section, helping students to read the scrawl which passes for Thai handwriting.

[Artful Dodger]

On 23/02/2018 at 12:39 AM, Oxx said:

 

Starting from printed characters is a dreadful idea since the handwritten forms of a number of characters are very different.

 

The reading course at http://thai-notes.com includes writing worksheets which use a hand writing font for you to trace and then copy.

 

http://thai-notes.com/reading/index.shtml

 

 

 

 

Great, that's just the sort of thing I was looking for (for the reason that you give). I will check out J. Marvin Brown's book too, and do a Google image search for a dose of reality.

 

Thanks everyone.

[Gecko123]

I have a very "printed" Thai handwriting and I have always accepted this because I learned Thai later in life as a second language. Trying to mimic the cursive style of a native Thai writer seems strange to me. It might speed up my writing but I fear its legibility -even to me- would suffer. Those shortcuts are learned in primary and secondary school when the student is rushing to taking notes. How often are you going to need to write Thai at a fast pace anyway? And even if you learned all these shortcuts, wouldn't spelling vocabulary grammar still slow you down? Maybe I missed the boat, but I'm happy with my handwriting and it's legible, which for me is what counts.

 

Example of my Thai handwriting:

                        

[Artful Dodger]

Well you've got to be happy with that - looks great, and very clear.

 

The other side of getting familiar with the handwritten forms is that it makes other people's handwriting easier to read. From what I've seen the handwritten characters are not all that different - not nearly as different from the standard printed characters as that typeface you see everywhere in which sara aeh is just ll (no loops) and raw reua is S.

[Gecko123]

13 hours ago, Artful Dodger said:

Well you've got to be happy with that - looks great, and very clear.

 

The other side of getting familiar with the handwritten forms is that it makes other people's handwriting easier to read. From what I've seen the handwritten characters are not all that different - not nearly as different from the standard printed characters as that typeface you see everywhere in which sara aeh is just ll (no loops) and raw reua is S.

That's a good point about making it easier to read other people's handwriting. Are you a teacher or corresponding with someone in Thai? To tell the truth, I have seen so little handwritten Thai since moving here: receipts, rental agreements, police reports, menu boards, addresses, that's about it. If somebody's giving me their name and address or anything in writing I always ask them to print the letters really clearly, and it's usually pretty deciferable. I learned the written alphabet from Benjawan Poomsan Becker's Thai for Beginners, (ISBN: 1-887521-00-3) which provides excellent guidance about the proper way to form the characters. Best of luck in your studies.

[tgeezer]

I think that the secret is to know what the words are or likely to be, I saw a sign on a stadium wall saying sณsงค์ in large stylised writing then readable งดสุบบูหรี่ สุรา ยาเสพติด ในสนามกีฬา

There are lots of ห้าม งด signs around so firstly couldn’t imagine what it could be, what is there to add? I was pretty sure that s was ร but the word was not one I knew and lacking vowels it was a little unbelievable. The taxi driver confirmed it and of course I looked it up in my iPhone later. 

[Artful Dodger]

On 26/02/2018 at 3:15 AM, Gecko123 said:

Are you a teacher or corresponding with someone in Thai? To tell the truth, I have seen so little handwritten Thai since moving here: receipts, rental agreements, police reports, menu boards, addresses, that's about it. If somebody's giving me their name and address or anything in writing I always ask them to print the letters really clearly, and it's usually pretty deciferable. I learned the written alphabet from Benjawan Poomsan Becker's Thai for Beginners, (ISBN: 1-887521-00-3) which provides excellent guidance about the proper way to form the characters. Best of luck in your studies.

Thanks - no, I can't really say I'm a teacher, but I am hoping to spend some time as a classroom assistant and maybe progress to teaching eventualy, so it would be useful to be able to read the Thai on the whiteboard or in exercise books.

 

Another trick I have found is to look for crazy Thai fonts and change stuff I have to read (my homework, for example) into them. I found one that is scrawl, one that is quite neat handwriting and one that is very stylised.

On 26/02/2018 at 6:24 AM, tgeezer said:

I think that the secret is to know what the words are or likely to be. 

Totally agree - goes for listening too.

[tgeezer]

I thought of you when I googled พระเจ้าช่วยกล้วยทอด the second ‘hit’ “Go to know” has some printed script which I found annoying. 

[digbeth]

https://pantip.com/topic/31705135