[Demonskid]

I had a feeling there was a u in that.. ._.

[whitexsuicide]

oh thank you coda~ you are so helpful sometimes~~ *hugs* thanks

still need to learn how to say sayounara

[Azrael]

._. And stroke order isn't even all that important. I mean, it's useful somewhat when you have to look up a kanji, but order-wise? Eh, I don't usually stick to it. It's only used cause it's supposed to make the kanji look more balanced, but I don't always get them balanced with it so eh.

[Ultima]

My Japanese teacher actually has said that basically Japanese people will be able to tell if you wrote the strokes out of order and they kinda twitch at it. XD In English we really don't care if you write your 8 as a 'S' with a slash or a 'snowman' but apparently Japanese people are OCDish about it owo; (Or at least that's what I've heard)

[Azrael]

Yeeeeah...
Maybe older people, but at least all the Japanese people I've met? They couldn't care less about it.

[Demonskid]

I like to learn the stroke order ouo *knows the order of her hiragana* x3

why wont katakana stick to me ;n;

[Coda]

It's more important than you think. When you're using a computer, obviously it's meaningless, but when handwritten it's more than just "good handwriting". Understanding the stroke order of a kanji is often the ONLY way to read calligraphy. Since the individual strokes aren't clearly defined when writing like that, the stroke order determines the shape and flow of the lines. You get it wrong, it's completely unreadable.

[Demonskid]

it also helps you remember the kanji. at least thats what has helped me remember day, moon and some of the others ouo

[whitexsuicide]

awhh dk you will get it soon~~ if you need some help maybe i can find my old pockets and scan them into the computer for you, but if you want them it would be an all day thing for me to do tomorrow~ so let me know by tonight, okay?

and STROKE order is very important! and what ult said is true that will twitch at you... trust me teacher did the twitching for us and then me and my friends twitched once we were helping out the firsters~ it is horrible to do the stroke order wrong!

[Demonskid]

I would love more stuff ouo

I need to go print out stuff.. should go do that now xD

[whitexsuicide]

okay! i will see what i can do~ >has all three years of work<

[Demonskid]

oooo 3 years worth
that will keep me even more busy x3

[Coda]

Originally Posted by whitexsuicide

it is horrible to do the stroke order wrong!

It's important to know WHY the stroke order is important, though, or otherwise just saying it's bad is meaningless.

Older Japanese people are worried that such finer points of culture will be lost as youth do most of their writing on computers. Already young people are losing their kanji vocabulary; while they can read them when they encounter them, they can't think of them in handwriting because the computer automatically converts the kanji for them. (They call this ワープロ馬鹿 "wa-puro baka" -- "word processor fool" -- because they depend on their word processors to do their kanji for them.) So a focus on stroke order to them is just clinging to their cultural heritage.

But the real loss is the ancient art of Japanese calligraphy, which as I mentioned requires an innate understanding of stroke order to be able to read -- and younger Japanese people are finding it increasingly difficult to read older poetry.

[whitexsuicide]

I know that they would have a calligraphy club, right? or do they not offer that in most schools?

@dk: yes... i am a pack rat when it comes to information~

[Demonskid]

I always wanted to learn Japanese calligraphy ouo

[whitexsuicide]

my friend knows how to do it, in fact he would do that station for our Japan night~