Vertical vs. Horizontal

[atticus]

I am very new to chinese calligraphy, and I have what is most likely a very basic question. I am just wondering if the meaning of any sayings would change if written vertically as opposed to horizontally.

specifically this:

Thanks for any help

Shawn

[WangLongju]

.

You mean like this?:

No, it would mean the same thing.

.

[skylee]

No. For your "dare to dream", you can write it from left to right, from right to left (this is getting rare, though), or vertically.

[atitarev]

Let me add my 2 cents here: even if you put the characters sporadically over the place and paint them in different colours, they would still mean the same thing

敢于梦想 (敢於夢想) gǎnyú mèngxiǎng

[atticus]

awesome! thanks for the help guys

[lishiping84]

in vertical, you only can read and write from right to left. it's a traditional way. both way you may read in horizontal. especially you will find the way from right to left in some horizontal brand or tablet on some old buildings.because these brand have no room to write in vertical. so these character are written from right to left. similarly sometimes in "书法", if you want to write a banner, both way are reasonable. by the way, the way that we write from left to right in horizontal was learned from you.

forgive my poor english.

[atticus]

hey guys, if i could add one more question to this. could those characters re-arrange to mean the inverse, Dream to Dare, or what would the characters be for that phrase? thanks

[Quest]

could those characters re-arrange to mean the inverse, Dream to Dare, or what would the characters be for that phrase?

no infinitives in chinese...... they could be re-arranged and mean nothing, depending on how you read them. An analogy in English would be: you can write d r e a m, m a e r d,

d

r

e

a

m

d r

e a

m

whether these letters mean something would depend on how you read them. They could mean something else if they were also letters of another word, and you spell or read them differently..... 敢于梦想 just happen to be "letters" that won't mean anything else if you arrange them differently.

Trying to make sure your tattoo doesn't say I'm Stupid if read reversely?

[atticus]

well i have already determined through you guys and a few freinds that the dare to dream is indeed correct and whatnot...what I am wondering now is if there is even a chinese translation for the english phrase "dream to dare" whether with the same characters or completely different characters altogether, so maybe someone could help me there? i know its not perfect english grammer, so it probably doesnt have a translation at all, but i figured i would ask and see! thanks again though guys for all your help, i enjoy a forum that actually offers valid support

[WangLongju]

.

On 10 Sept 2006, atticus wrote:

> what I am wondering now is if there is even a chinese translation

> for the english phrase "dream to dare" whether with the same

> characters or completely different characters altogether, so maybe

> someone could help me there?

夢於敢做 (meng yu gan zuo) might work.

.

[Quest]

夢於敢做 (meng yu gan zuo) might work.

what's that..?

[atticus]

敢的梦想

that came up potentially. what would be the most accurate translation for that? would that make sense or be the closest translation to "dream to dare" ?

[Koneko]

in vertical, you only can read and write from right to left. it's a traditional way.

why is it so?

don't you think it's easier to make your right hand dirty if you do it from right to left vertically?

[Quest]

why is it so?

don't you think it's easier to make your right hand dirty if you do it from right to left vertically?

hands dont touch the ink

[Koneko]

sleeves?

[HashiriKata]

sleeves?

The proper way to write Chinese is to wear a brush, and not clothes!

[Koneko]

when i was young, i always did it from left to right vertically when i practised my chengyu in caligraphy. so i could rest my lazy elbow!!

ha ha... can you believe it?