Arabic Handwriting

[WaskiSquirrel]

A thread about left-handers turning into right-handers got me to thinking about writing in other languages. I know that Arabic and Hebrew are written right to left rather than left to right as we do in English.

 

So, I'm curious if being a lefty is an advantage in these languages? (We'll set culture aside because I know that there are cultural issues with the left hand.) It seems like a lefty writing Arabic will not smear the page, but a rightie would. But, I don't know these languages, so I'm curious to hear from those who do know them.

[ehemem]

Why do you thin that a right handed underwriter would smear ink writing right to left?

[pepsiplease69]

I'm a rightie and grewup in a Pakistan school system where arabic and related urdu script was mandatory.

 

You just have to keep the side of the palm resting on the page below the baseline to avoid the smearing.

 

It was second nature to me growing up. Never thought of the possibility of smears.

[ThisIsntFunnyAnymore]

This is an interesting question. Are the Arabic letters easier to write with push strokes, or are the letters/words still mainly pull strokes despite the direction of the pen? For example, are broader nibs preferred to prevent skipping or digging into the paper?

[pepsiplease69]

The calligraphy arabic nib, traditionally, has been the left oblique.

 

The way I hold the pen while writing arabic-like script I'm only doing push strokes for ascenders and most everything else is sideways or downstrokes.

 

But here's a YouTube of a master calligrapher whose doing a fair amount of pushing a broad edged nib.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5IpH08zZuo

 

His work is meticulous.

[WaskiSquirrel]

Why do you thin that a right handed underwriter would smear ink writing right to left?

Mostly I'm going by another thread in which a left-handed writer wants to become a right-handed writer in the English language. The concept made me think of Arabic and Hebrew.

[Kenlowe]

The calligraphy arabic nib, traditionally, has been the left oblique.

 

The way I hold the pen while writing arabic-like script I'm only doing push strokes for ascenders and most everything else is sideways or downstrokes.

 

But here's a YouTube of a master calligrapher whose doing a fair amount of pushing a broad edged nib.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5IpH08zZuo

 

His work is meticulous.

 

 

News to me, I wouldnt have thought a left oblique would work with the need for a broad horizontal stroke and a fine vertical.

 

The image is for an Arabic nib.

[DaveBj]

_{I wasn't really using FPs a lot back when I was working in Arabic at a federal agency that shall not be named, and when I was actually working, the direction was from Arabic to English. The vast majority of my writing in Arabic was in classes, of which I had more than a few, and then most of the time I was using pencils, so as to be able to erase and correct my mistakes. That said, I don't recall ever having any smearing problems, and I normally used (and still use) a very soft lead.}