Left handed people and Calligraphy

[whereishunter]

I am about to start taking some calligraphy classes and have a question about which hand I should use. I am left handed and my Chinese writing is not that great. So I'm thinking about learning calligraphy with my right hand.

Are there any other left handed people who have done this?

[Xiao Kui]

You should have attended a Chinese kindergarten as a child. I watched them smack those kids' hands till they learned to use the right one. It seemed mean at the time, but I guess the teachers had the calligraphy in mind.

[Xiwang]

I guess it depends on how culturally "pure" you want to be. In China, writing Chinese was traditionally done with the right hand. China has never been too worried about Western concerns on this issue, such as forced right-handedness possibly causing stuttering in children.

Incidentally, left-handed children are also often forced to use chopsticks with their right hands. However, in group dining situations, this might be done primarily for safety reasons.

[Senzhi]

You should have attended a Chinese kindergarten as a child. I watched them smack those kids' hands till they learned to use the right one. It seemed mean at the time, but I guess the teachers had the calligraphy in mind.

Not only in China. I experienced the same when I was in my public primary school in Belgium in '74 (I know, a long time ago, but still.) Each time I tried to write with my left hand, my hand got beaten with a stick.

It didn't make a difference though: I'm still left-handed, stubborn as I am.

[svenaldo]

I am left handed but i write chinese with my right hand.

I takes a lot of work for the first few months and is rather frustrating.

You will write like a 4 year old for quite a while.

But like anything if you stick at it it gets easier and easier.

Couldn't really comment on the whole calligraphy aspect of it though.

[renzhe]

I guess it depends on how strong your preference for the left hand is. For some people, there isn't a huge difference between the two hands so they can learn to do things with their less dominant hand easily.

When I started learning Chinese, I considered trying to write Chinese with my right hand (and everything else with left) for similar reasons (some strokes are hard to get right using the left hand), but I quickly gave up on that idea.

[Meng Lelan]

All my life I've written with my left hand, in Chinese and English. Most Chinese who notice this, claim that left handers are smarter but of course I know that left handedness isn't acceptable in their culture. But in my opinion, that's their problem, that they can't accept left handedness.

Writing with the left hand is possible - just make absolutely sure you understand the basic strokes and practice those. Make sure you understand stroke order and follow the same stroke order as everyone else. Use see through paper to copy characters over a template.

When I started out, I didn't pay any attention to stroke order and my characters looked terrible until I realized what I was doing.

I don't know about calligraphy in Chinese - using the left hand, that is - but you might want to email an American professor of Chinese who teaches here in Texas. He teaches calligraphy and he may be able to answer your question, but I think he is a right hander himself. Then again he must have encountered a student with your situation. PM me if you want the email address.

[Hofmann]

Calligraphy with your left hand is possible, but if you can, I think you should still use your right hand. I'm right-handed, but I can at least write legible Chinese (mirrored) with my left hand; it depends on how strongly left-handed you are.

[renzhe]

Most Chinese who notice this, claim that left handers are smarter but of course I know that left handedness isn't acceptable in their culture.

I've never really had issues with left-handedness in China, or around Chinese people (eating & writing). I'm sure that there are people out there who still object, but I don't think that it's common among younger people. It's one of those things that I expected to be a big deal, but really wasn't.

Interestingly, I have two good friends who lived in Japan, both left-handed, and neither had issues over there either. It's probably a belief that's dying out, just like it did in Europe (I also had a couple of overly motivated teachers growing up).

I've also heard the "smart" comment. Don't hear that much in Europe, other than from other left-handers

[Lu]

OP: if it's not very difficult for you to write with your right hand, that might be more convenient for calligraphy. As much of the world, it's designed for right-handed people. But if you're very strongly left-handed, it might be better to just figure out a way to calligraph (hm, that's probably not a word) with left.

I'm right-handed, tried to learn to write with left at some point (as part of a greater plan to learn to write with two hands at the same time), but my left-handed writing was always much slower and uglier than the right-handed, so in the end I gave up on it.

[Senzhi]

I've never really had issues with left-handedness in China, or around Chinese people (eating & writing)

Agreed. I never had any issue neither.

I've also heard the "smart" comment. Don't hear that much in Europe, other than from other left-handers

Are we really not?

Edited March 15, 2009 at 07:14 PM by Senzhi

[Lu]

Didn't they research that and find that lefties are smarter, but also live shorter? I seem to recall reading something like that.

[Senzhi]

mmm .... a shorter good life instead of a long boring one.

Nevertheless, to the OP I can only say this: follow your feelings ... nothing's going to beat your nature, whether people like it or not. Including yourself.

Edited March 15, 2009 at 07:12 PM by Senzhi
Forgot a typo ...

[Xiao Kui]

Didn't they research that and find that lefties are smarter, but also live shorter? I seem to recall reading something like that.

Yeah, snuffed out in their primes from accidents with right handed scissors and calligraphy brushes.

[ABCinChina]

Is it true that only left-handers are in their right mind? (right part of the brain controls left part of the body)

[Senzhi]

Is it true that only left-handers are in their right mind?

当然！

[whereishunter]

Hey Thanks for all the advice and comments.

In the last few weeks I have started writing and doing Calligraphy with my Right hand.

I takes a lot of work for the first few months and is rather frustrating.

You will write like a 4 year old for quite a while.

This is very true, but its slowly getting better

Thanks again

[zozzen]

I observed that most calligraphy is done with right hand, and when i began to reckon that's a golden rule, my professor in Chinese literature said that he met a student who can write calligraphy in left hand perfectly.

I think he's right.

99.9% Chinese writes an ugly calligraphy and most of them are right hand. . They simply don't bother to spend time on it.

[Meng Lelan]

my professor in Chinese literature said that he met a student who can write calligraphy in left hand perfectly.

oh my goodness! Is the student a native Chinese or not?

[zozzen]

Lelan: Yes, she's a Taiwanese. But i didn't ask how she accomplishes this.

I guess it's possible to write it with left hand, but the way to write has to be reversed.

For example, I, as a left-hand user, write 一 from right to left.

Take a detailed look on this:

一

There's a small dot on the right end of the character which makes the ending point for most characters.

I don't know how to make it perfectly if I don't change my writing order.