I just moved a pile of cards to my collection box which I hadn’t done in a long time. While organizing by country, I noticed how people from the same country often have a similar handwriting that is very recognizable! For example I guessed the card was from Czech Republic before looking at the ID, based on how my address was written.
Have you noticed this? Of course there are differences, but even if otherwise the handwriting is different, the ID code is usually super similar!
I think the most recognizable are cards from Ukraine, Russia and The Baltics, Czech Republic, Germany, The Netherlands and U.S.A.
(They also have a lot more members so more cards to cover.)
The D in “DE” for Germany is always the exact same, so are the numbers from The Netherlands for example.
I will show some examples soon, wanted to post this first.
I find Japanese senders tend to have very similar handwriting - very neat, small and uniform. Chinese senders are similar, but maybe with a bit more variation.
First of all, 64.8% of Postcrossers identify as female & I think women’s handwriting (cursive & printing) is more similar to each other’s than men’s.
Also from the 2020 survey, of the 30,000 who answered the survey - 45% were between ages 40 & 70+ & would have gone through school at a time when handwriting was taught & more uniformly taught with standardized curriculum than current day.
Another 24% of that group were between 30-39 and I would expect at least 50% of that group to also have had similar handwriting training as well given when they grew up & went to school.
I’ve certainly seen similarities from particular countries. For an example, the way the number 1 is written in Germany & some other EU countries is quite different from the rest of the world.
Different languages & different countries do have similar kinds of writing & alphabets reinforced by the standardized school curriculum that was taught which I’m sure accounts for some of these similarities.
I noticed this too! It’s good to know it’s not just me imagining it I had noticed that most of my German penpals have very, very similar handwriting styles. Some of my Russian penpals and postcards received from Russian postcrossers have similar handwriting to one another as well. But I guess it isn’t like this in every country. When I look at my handwriting compared to my fellow Canadian friends and classmates, our styles are very, very different. I wonder if this is related to the way handwriting is taught to children in each country? Maybe some countries are more strict with teaching their students to write ‘properly’?
I recognice French hand writing too, once I thought “French” but card was not from France. Then she told she is French but living in that another country.
In German some have round and wide, like each letter were in a square, straight or even tilted to left handwriting while others have other have taller, narrower letters, I think someone explained it here sometimes.
Members from India also are often easy to spot, some letters have wavy lines, almost decorative.
This is one of the things I really enjoy.
Especially I like the style that isn’t taught here anymore, often I get this style from USA, the card looks like very important valuable invitation.
Yes, I noticed this!
Once I received a postcard from USA and at the first moment I thought it was from my longterm penfriend from California, because she has nearly the same handwriting.
But I also noticed it from other countries, that handwritings are often similar, especially Russia.
According to postcards I’ve received, postcrossers in Russia tend to write English in quite a “Russian” style… (I myself almost haven’t written Cyrillic alphabets so maybe that’s only some stereotype, lol) Yes, because of that I can also recognize those postcards from Russia immediately at a glance.
Another thing which has been discussed many times is that people from different countries write numbers differently. Now I can easily recognize Post ID s written in different styles, but this little problem still confuses new members as far as I am concerned XD Most people in PRChina write a “1” vertically (like a printed “I”), and write a “7” just like how it was printed. but now I am used to write it like this:
And I’ve noticed that people from different countries are also used to use different colors of ink. Most people around me use black ink, but I received more postcards written in blue ink!
Unfortunately I have too little time to elaborate, but I’ve noticed this too!
The “8” the Dutch write is like not other, I’ve encountered yet.
I love the beautiful handwriting many/most Czechs have!
I guess it must be due to how pupils are taught at school.
When I was young my granny gave me a slim book, where there were exercises to do to enable you to make your handwriting look pretty and as I’ve known from a young age, how I had wanted my handwriting to look, I’ve exercised again and again.
I love to write with a good (ballpoint) pen on “good” paper, by which I mean not the slippery kind. In some countries most cards are “slippery” as I call it, which is not conductive to writing with a ballpoint pen.
I have my postcards ordered by countries and it’s true that russian people and japanese people write similar.
Russian caligraphy is cursive and old fashioned and I love It. It seems like the past writers. Perfect for hand made projects. And Japanese and Hong Kong caligraphy is cute and tiny. I love It for agendas or post it.
And the DE…yes…it’s very similar. But, do you know that the germans put their fingers different to the rest of europeans when they count three?
In the movie “Inglourious Basterds” you can see a scene with the threes…so cool!
German postcrossers: are you agree?
Interesting topic! I can also recognize the common writing style in some countries like the USA or Germany because I read them a lot on postcards. And I think it makes sense that people from countries like China, Japan, and Taiwan have small, neat handwriting because they usually write in Kanji.
There was an experiment a few years ago where many people from different countries could contribute online and submit samples of their handwriting. The web/app visitors can also explore to compare average handwriting style across countries, gender, and age. I think it’s called the Universal Typeface Experiment, but unfortunately I can’t find the website anymore. Here are some pictures I found on Google :
This is interesting! Maybe part of the reason that handwriting is so similar in different countries might have to do with how the teachers teach you to write. For example, here in the US, in many states (including mine) you have to learn cursive, you are told that you will use it every day of your life after you learn it. I don’t write in cursive, however learning cursive has has an effect on my handwriting. Instead of writing “a” as a circle and a line, I write it as the cursive “a”.
In fact, cursive has had such an effect on my handwriting, I tend to link letters together for no reason. Even if I try to stop.
Since only some states require you to learn cursive, we could find sub variations between states and ages,
older people probably write more sloppy cursive as they are used to writing in cursive,
younger cursive learners may write in more neatly.
In states where cursive is not required, the handwriting will likely be less connected and be more legible and neat,
In states that do learn cursive,
those who continued to use it (probably by force from teachers) will likely have letters written more in a cursive form,
those who don’t use it (like me) might have habits of linking words together, or writing letters a certain way
Cursive is super interesting. There also seem to be different types of it; I learned 2 different ones while at school (2nd voluntarily, cause the old one was unreadable from me).
In Germany it is standard to be taught cursive (iirc), but I wonder how many people actually stick to writing cursive or revert back to block letters, as most cards I receive are not in cursive (and at most link individual letter, like mentioned above, for no reason). Are there generational differences? So, will cursive slowly cease to exist?
It is interesting that you find Czech cursive recognizable haha. I wouldn’t have guessed that. It seems to me that people around me have very different handwritings but maybe I am just blind to the little differences that stick out to you! Until a few years ago there was a single standard of writing that was taught at school. It is interesting that in some countries it is not the case, I had no idea! A few years ago another script was approved, which looks half cursive, half print but I am not sure how much it is taught. The standard cursive is definitely, well the standard still. It is the only way we are taught to write but of course everyone naturally develops their own hadwriting over the years. When it comes to print, that is not taught so it is 100% invention of the individual.
The easiest foreign writing to recognize for me is those who normally use cyrilics, althought I don’t see a lot of personal variety within that type of writing. I can also tell Spanish writing because it tends to be very round and German because some letters are different. I also find the most variety person to person in German writing.
I watched this scene on YouTube and I don’t know somebody here who counts like this. It’s more common to use thumb, index finger and middle finger. (Except for 4, there the thumb hides and the other four fingers show up.)
About the topic - I also love the different handwriting styles and especially cards from Russia, Japan and China I recognize very fast.
So…you confirm?! Cool! I laugh a lot with the scene because I have never stoped to think in it. I told to my parents and…surprise…they use the thumb. But they’re the exception that confirms the rule. In Spain, and I think in the Mediterranean countries almost, we use the index+middle+ring.
Funny thing, I just realized I would use different fingers on different hands while counting: index +middle+ring on the right hand and thumb+ring+middle on the left.
I think that handwritings are different from person to person despite the country, only Japanese have it usually neater and more compact.
I had noticed that most of my German penpals have very, very similar handwriting styles. Some of my Russian penpals and postcards received from Russian postcrossers have similar handwriting to one another as well. But I guess it isn’t like this in every country. When I look at my handwriting compared to my fellow Canadian friends and classmates, our styles are very, very different. I wonder if this is related to the way handwriting is taught to children in each country? Maybe some countries are more strict with teaching their students to write ‘properly’?
It’s more common to use thumb, index finger and middle finger. (Except for 4, there the thumb hides and the other four fingers show up.)