Handwriting versus typing

[anna3101]

Hello,

I wonder what you think about writing with your hand and a real pen versus typing on the computer. Does that make a difference for you in terms for learning? Which one do you prefer when you make notes, try to memorise new words or maybe repeat some grammar points?

For me, handwriting is more efficient for new words, or at least that's my impression. It takes more effort and time which is probably why the words that I write with a pen are remembered better than those I type on a keyboard. However, when it comes to creative writing or long exercises ("Write a letter to your friend using the words you've learnt in this lesson...") I definitely prefer typing. It's much faster, easier to correct and edit later on, and also my hands are more used to it and they don't hurt afterwards.

What about you?

Ania

[Chris_A]

While handwriting is really cool to use, and I still use it every day, I think the future is in typing. I mean, nowadays, we got everything from smartphones to easily accessible laptops or desktop computers right at our fingertips. Who would need handwriting anymore? I think in a few decades, kids won`t even know what handwriting was.

[DivaDee]

No matter what I prefer writing ALL of my notes down and even if I can't I'll use a recording device, so I can go back and get all the notes I missed, also I don't approve of cheating so even if I had my recoreder with me I would never use it during a liguistics test... No matter how old or desperate I become...

[lushlala]

Overall, I much, much prefer to hand write all my notes. I find it easier to compute the stuff I've written and re-written, even if there's not much added there. A quirk of mine is to also phonetically write out some of the words I struggle with in the way that makes sense to me, probably only me too. Even when I'm doing longer exercises, I still like to sketch it out before I do my final draft, which I then type out.. I suppose I'm old school in that sense. Everything seems to make better sense when I look at it written out in my hand writing.

 

@Chris_A......you're not too far off when you say "I think in a few decades, kids won`t even know what handwriting was" because I recently saw a poll about hand writing and one of the questions was 'what's hand writing?" I was shocked to find that at that point 20 % of the people who'd answered the poll, chose that option! Crazy, but true.

 

[takibari]

Handwriting may indeed be a thing of the past in the near future. As for me, as I'm more a visual person - I tend to have better memory recall when making notes through handwriting. That's probably because when you're handwriting, there is a uniqueness to it that's all your own. Our penmanship is unique to us and that to me gives a more vivid picture than when typing. Of course, you can make your fonts different and all colorful, but still - your penmanship will just stand out.

As regards the need to edit though, well - typing is got to be IT. No doubt it's more efficient and gives a more cleaner outcome.

[pesic87]

I love to use my hand writing when It comes to writing in my diary. I know there are many people who nowadays keep their diaries in e-forms, but I guess I am just an old-fashioned kind of a person, so I always turn to my pen and paper. When it comes to writing letters, poetry or anything that does not require long writing, I tend and like to use just my hand writing.

However, when it comes to writing long essays, or research papers, doing translations, etc.typing comes in handy. It does so, because it is faster, clearer and no one has to struggle reading my hand writing.

[XLS]

On November 29, 2015 at 3:57:49 PM, anna3101 said:

Hello,

I wonder what you think about writing with your hand and a real pen versus typing on the computer. Does that make a difference for you in terms for learning? Which one do you prefer when you make notes, try to memorise new words or maybe repeat some grammar points?

For me, handwriting is more efficient for new words, or at least that's my impression. It takes more effort and time which is probably why the words that I write with a pen are remembered better than those I type on a keyboard. However, when it comes to creative writing or long exercises ("Write a letter to your friend using the words you've learnt in this lesson...") I definitely prefer typing. It's much faster, easier to correct and edit later on, and also my hands are more used to it and they don't hurt afterwards.

What about you?

Ania

Typing is the best when you just have to get things done.  Research, Notes and longer items for some reason when typing my creative juices start flowing. If I am working on something detailed i write it out first prior to typing, if needed.  Penmanship is beautiful, really is art, with the different styles such as calligraphy.  For me there appropriate times for each and it really depends on mood too. 

[shadejb]

For work in general, I definitely prefer typing. You can get things done much quicker, and definitely easier to read. However, since I was a kid, I have been taught that writing things down make you remember them. In fact, this was my method to learn from primary school to university; I just write them down over and over again. It sticks with me to this day, and I will say that is one thing typing can't replace (for me at least).

[agentzero]

I'm a web dev, so I spend the entirety of my day typing and it feels refreshing when I have the chance to just sit down and write. That has a huge downside, in my opinion at least, and that's spell check. My English is pretty good, but there are still words that I struggle with to spell correctly and it helps me a lot when I can use the spell check. 

[宇崎ちゃん]

Personally I don't like writing on a dead tree, we live in the technological era and I think it's best to apply the latest technology as soon as possible.
This is probably because I'm literally a life long IT guy and a true lover of high tech.

Therefore, I choose for typing.

But sometimes I just use my Surface Pro 3 tablet and do handwriting on my tablet screen.
Best of both worlds!

[Chris_A]

On 12/10/2015, 6:10:13, lushlala said:

Overall, I much, much prefer to hand write all my notes. I find it easier to compute the stuff I've written and re-written, even if there's not much added there. A quirk of mine is to also phonetically write out some of the words I struggle with in the way that makes sense to me, probably only me too. Even when I'm doing longer exercises, I still like to sketch it out before I do my final draft, which I then type out.. I suppose I'm old school in that sense. Everything seems to make better sense when I look at it written out in my hand writing.

 

@Chris_A......you're not too far off when you say "I think in a few decades, kids won`t even know what handwriting was" because I recently saw a poll about hand writing and one of the questions was 'what's hand writing?" I was shocked to find that at that point 20 % of the people who'd answered the poll, chose that option! Crazy, but true.

 

Yeah, right? I mean, it is 20 % now, but just think what will happen in 10 years or so. People will just forget what it means to write something down with a pen and on paper. We have so many other ways to make notes, nowadays, that is it really crazy.

[lushlala]

20 hours ago, Chris_A said:

Yeah, right? I mean, it is 20 % now, but just think what will happen in 10 years or so. People will just forget what it means to write something down with a pen and on paper. We have so many other ways to make notes, nowadays, that is it really crazy.

I know, it's pretty scary! I just couldn't believe it when I saw the result, but I could also see how that would be the case. I mean, let's face it, the youth of today were born into an era where advances in modern technology are so advanced, nobody really has to write if they don't want to any more. Everything is computer based, and tire's not much need for writing. I don't even remember the last time I wrote a letter. One of my nieces goes to this really posh private school in South Africa and they don't seem to do much writing either.  It's just crazy!

[loulou]

For learning and studying, I definitely prefer to handwrite things down. I just feel that it helps me learn better and to retain the information instead of just typing all of the notes. Something about actually writing just cant be replaced, even though it is insanely slower depending on how fast you can type Though if I'm trying to teach or help someone else, I use typing or printed sheets, mainly because my handwriting is awful!

[Chris_A]

23 hours ago, lushlala said:

I know, it's pretty scary! I just couldn't believe it when I saw the result, but I could also see how that would be the case. I mean, let's face it, the youth of today were born into an era where advances in modern technology are so advanced, nobody really has to write if they don't want to any more. Everything is computer based, and tire's not much need for writing. I don't even remember the last time I wrote a letter. One of my nieces goes to this really posh private school in South Africa and they don't seem to do much writing either.  It's just crazy!

The same is true for me. I think the last time I wrote a proper letter was 20 years ago at least. And it is no wonder that they don`t teach kids much writing nowadays. Instead of notebooks you got notepads and stiluses. And almost every kid nowadays has access to a laptop or PC. On the other hand, the good thing in the future will be, that only a select few will know how to manually write, and that will be a exclusive skill for those people.

[宇崎ちゃん]

1 hour ago, Chris_A said:

On the other hand, the good thing in the future will be, that only a select few will know how to manually write, and that will be a exclusive skill for those people.

Unless you would consider the further future when manual writing becomes a dead skill and everyone will be like "manual writing? what is that?".
But even as a lover of digital things and technology, I would never agree to kill manual writing entirely.

That's what makes my current tablet such a nice thing: I can manually write on it with a special kind of pen, without wasting any dead trees (paper).
It's still very handy for meetings, I have too little time to type my notes, so I just fire up OneNote, take out my Surface Pen and write things down in that app.
And if I feel like, I can even print it out and it'll look just like it was written on paper.

[lushlala]

On 13 December 2015 at 6:15:52 PM, Chris_A said:

The same is true for me. I think the last time I wrote a proper letter was 20 years ago at least. And it is no wonder that they don`t teach kids much writing nowadays. Instead of notebooks you got notepads and stiluses. And almost every kid nowadays has access to a laptop or PC. On the other hand, the good thing in the future will be, that only a select few will know how to manually write, and that will be a exclusive skill for those people.

 

On 13 December 2015 at 6:15:52 PM, Chris_A said:

The same is true for me. I think the last time I wrote a proper letter was 20 years ago at least. And it is no wonder that they don`t teach kids much writing nowadays. Instead of notebooks you got notepads and stiluses. And almost every kid nowadays has access to a laptop or PC. On the other hand, the good thing in the future will be, that only a select few will know how to manually write, and that will be a exclusive skill for those people.

i don't even remember the last time I received a hand written letter in the post! I used to really enjoy those, and sometimes wish people still valued  and enjoyed writing and receiving letters. If you've ever received an actual hand written letter, receiving an email is just not the same. I'm glad that my husband can be sweet like that and sometimes writes me sweet little letters  I honestly believe that writing by hand is on its way out, and may very well become a very specialised thing that only a few select people will be able to do in the future. 

[capuchin]

I prefer writing with a pen and paper even though I have really bad handwriting that even I can't understand it sometimes. LOL. I just find it easier to memorize words and letters/scripts if I actually wrote it down. But that's only for short notes. If I'm writing something long I'd prefer to type it so as to not waste too much paper.

[sidney]

I think being able to access our notes without the PC is important, so I would prefer to have my notes handwritten. If it's handwritten then we can just carry around the notebook with us and study it, as compared to still needing a gadget and electricity to be able to access it. At least with handwritten notes, then for sure you won't lose them when the PC won't boot or something.

[AExAVF]

I prefer to take down notes manually through handwriting, especially in class.  Through handwriting, I am able to practice my Nihongo skills, especially the kanji.  Whenever I'm at home, I use the PC and type supplemental notes in addition to my handwritten ones.  The problem with using smartphones or tablets is that it has to run on electric or battery power.  Even with the advancement in technology, there will always be drawbacks.  Sometimes you may not expect it, but your laptop may not boot at all, and it will be disastrous if you put all of your notes in one gadget.

[Chris_A]

On 12/13/2015, 7:59:55, Blaveloper said:

Unless you would consider the further future when manual writing becomes a dead skill and everyone will be like "manual writing? what is that?".
But even as a lover of digital things and technology, I would never agree to kill manual writing entirely.

That's what makes my current tablet such a nice thing: I can manually write on it with a special kind of pen, without wasting any dead trees (paper).
It's still very handy for meetings, I have too little time to type my notes, so I just fire up OneNote, take out my Surface Pen and write things down in that app.
And if I feel like, I can even print it out and it'll look just like it was written on paper.

I would also never agree to see manual writing dead anytime soon. I am just saying that it will probably happen sooner then we think. Sad or no, that is the future.

[djordje87]

   Writing on my laptop is to technical and I try to avoid it whenever I can. I don't think I ever sat on my computer and wrote a poem or even a verse. I need to see my awful handwriting to get inspired and then I can really write. It usually depends on form. If I was to write a book, a novel. I would probably use computer because of editing. But I would still prefer pen and paper. It is the same like reading a book on display and taking the real thing in your hands. it is something that cannot be explained or understood logically.

[Trellum]

I've noticed that by writing things it's easier for me to remember most words :)   I did this actually with my Memrise list, I first wrote down the words I was planing to add on a notebook (to avoid repeated words as much as possible), then copy them to a word file and that is how I did it    I can say this process helped me remember those words better, even better than using the Memrise course  

[Trellum]

On 12/12/2015, 11:02:51, loulou said:

For learning and studying, I definitely prefer to handwrite things down. I just feel that it helps me learn better and to retain the information instead of just typing all of the notes. Something about actually writing just cant be replaced, even though it is insanely slower depending on how fast you can type Though if I'm trying to teach or help someone else, I use typing or printed sheets, mainly because my handwriting is awful!

 

I've the theory that by writing down you are aiding your memory to actually remember what you are writing down.   I think it's because while we are writing something down we keep repeating it in our heads (at least that is what happens when I writing something down).  That got to help loads to retain info and new words  

[Nekomimi_mode]

I prefer handwriting. It makes things easier to remember and helps me learn how the character should be written. Even if it’s a long assignment like writing a letter to a friend I’ll write it first then type it. If I always type things out I will forget how the characters should be written. However, if I’m making flashcards or a table I will type it. In those cases its readability vs practice and I need my cards to be readable in order to practice. Most of the time I will handwrite it. My penmanship is already crappy and always typing will just make it worse.

[czarina84]

I like both.  I enjoy the feeling of handwriting, especially cursive.  However, my penmanship is atrocious.   I mean really, really terrible.  So, I usually write important things on the computer, unless it's something I think of spur of the moment, then I use pen and paper, because you don't have to wait for those to boot up.