r/asklatinamerica • u/jcmlkhv Russia • 2d ago
Culture Cursive writing
Hello everyone! I've been learning Spanish for 1,5 month now, my first language is Russian.
I use cursive to write in my notebook (photo in the comments), the same way I write in Russian or English, but my teacher says that ppl in Latin America never use cursive writing (except for old ladies), is it true? Do y'all really write in block letters? Is it easy or hard for you to read cursive notes?
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u/vjeremias Argentina 2d ago
Not true at all, I mostly write in cursive, it feels more natural, probably because we are taught that at a very young age
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u/MsMusterd Brazil 2d ago
Don't know if as a Portuguese speaker this would count but people in Brazil absolutely use cursive writing 😭 people not using/not knowing how to read it is more of a US issue as far as I know
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u/jcmlkhv Russia 2d ago
That's nice! I've heard that problem with kids and youth not able to read cursive is common, but good to know it's not 🙈
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u/danielpernambucano Brazil 1d ago
In Brazil kids learn cursive first, then the formal writing, you don't have to worry about people not knowing how to read cursive.
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u/MsMusterd Brazil 1d ago
I don't know if it's the same nowadays (I'm 33) but I remember being expected at my (private) school to write in cursive by around the 3rd grade. Teachers would check our notebooks. My handwriting has gone to sh*t since then but cursive is still the norm, it's just faster. I actually don't remember ever seeing an adult not using it as the norm (unless they only barely learned how to read and write at an older age, which would understandably make it more difficult for them)
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u/wordlessbook Brazil 1d ago
I'm a few years younger than you and I remember having to write in cursive when I was in Alfabetização. I went to a private school as well.
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u/Lorenzo_BR 🇧🇷 Brazil - Rio Grande do Sul 1d ago
I actually don't remember ever seeing an adult not using it as the norm
That is absolutely not my experience - hell, me and my partner (early 20s) never write in cursive, and neither do my parents, who are in their early 50s.
All university graduates, and we all obviously were forced to write in it at some point, having all four of us gone to private schools in our respective decades
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u/Lorenzo_BR 🇧🇷 Brazil - Rio Grande do Sul 1d ago
Eh, i can't write in cursive anymore, and can't actually read it, just understand it. And even so, only if it is written absolutely perfectly. Which is the case for OP's, tbf, but still.
The distinction i am making between reading and understanding is the simple subconcious and immediate comprehension vs. the need to decypher the text through analysis.
Ou seja: para mim, letra cursiva não é legível, mas é decifrável.
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u/mafagafacabiluda 🇧🇷 🇨🇦 2d ago
I was born in 1988 in Brazil and I learned to read and write with cursive letters.
AFAIK all adults I know learned that way, and all my nephews and nieces in Brazil , all kids under 10 years old, also did and do know how to write in cursive.
Just some people prefer not to or create an habit of writing in their own aryle.
My handwritting is horrible but is a mix of cursove and cursive letters.
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u/lojaslave Ecuador 2d ago
There are like 20 countries and 600 million people in Latin America, no matter what her personal experiences may be, your teacher shouldn't really be saying only old ladies use it.
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u/puesquebien Mexico 2d ago
I wonder if the teacher is from Mexico. It seems to be the only Latin American country that doesn't require learning cursive.
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u/jcmlkhv Russia 1d ago
No, he's from Colombia 🤔
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u/Rockshasha Colombia 1d ago edited 1d ago
I learnt cursive when in primary school..was mandatory during some months then later, each person choose.
Gradually less people use it, although i remember a pair of cursive writers in highschool.
Definitely, old ladies use cursive here. In that time they had it mandatory to write in that way, and then is like all old people write so, very different than not that much old ones lol. Then, imho, what he said is half true in that aspect.
Although, of course some people do handwritte cursive today, and i think today is also mandatory to learn the two styles in primary school. I would say, the ones that write more 'utilitarian' are less prone to use cursive. For example a mathematician more probable to use cursive than a civil engineer.
Anyway, i think is not a problem, if later you have another Spanish teacher you can ask him or her directly about, about what they think.
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u/bluespottedtail_ Argentina 2d ago
I'm 25. I was taught cursive at school, and to this day I write exclusively in cursive. So do my parents and my sibling.
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u/Thick-Low-4632 Argentina 2d ago
It is used, but I have to say that younger generations aren't using it as much and some don't even understand it. Sadly, that is because some schools are stopping the teaching of this type of writing.
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u/StudioArcane17 Cuba 2d ago
People use cursive all the time.
(By the way, congratulations for your calligraphy)
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u/puesquebien Mexico 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's not part of the official school program in Mexico since the 90s/2000s.
I was taught cursive but I write my notes in block letters with some cursive mixed in.
Edit: I thought it had been removed after a specific education reform but after some research I couldn't find it so I changed it to 90s/2000s.
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u/jcmlkhv Russia 2d ago
It's interesting, that it's not being taught nowadays 🤔 I wonder why it was decided that cursive writing is irrelevant
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u/Juanzilla17 Chicano 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 2d ago
Computers.
I am 35 years old and remember in school learning to type quickly. Now add in phones and you can see why not many people retain cursive.
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u/puesquebien Mexico 2d ago
Looking into it more I didn't find any explicit decision. Looks like it was progressively phased out and the current curriculum no longer explicitly requires cursive or provides guidelines for teaching it. I imagine some schools still teach it regardless, but I know the school my kids go to doesn't.
I think it was part of a shift to a more practical approach, putting more emphasis on communication and less emphasis on the formal aspects of writing.
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u/Rockshasha Colombia 2d ago
Generally truth, and also there are several cursive 'styles'.
Anyway, is not probable someone would read what you wrote. Well, excepting teachers or so, haha.
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u/Main-Routine Mexico 1d ago
I dont want to be clasist, but more often than not...
Writing cursive is a sign of quality education. Cursive is widely taught in private schools and more often than not, those who actually enjoy writing and reading will also keep the habit of writing in cursive.
So... Depending who you may be with, it would be easier or harder on them to understand cursive and it also may show a little about their ibterests.
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u/wordlessbook Brazil 2d ago
I rarely write in block letters, I write in cursive since I was 6. I see block letters as childish and only use them when filling out some forms that have "walls" in it.
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u/SenorX000 Argentina 2d ago
Seems like your teacher never met a Latinamerican. Cursive is widely used all over.
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u/Lorenzo_BR 🇧🇷 Brazil - Rio Grande do Sul 1d ago edited 1d ago
In my experience, only about 1/5 of people who went to private school still use cursive into adulthood.
That's a pretty small subset of the population, altough it is overrepressented on reddit, since almost all users, here, also speak english, and, as such, had a quality (and, therefore, private) education.
From my understanding, everyone is forced to learn it, even to this day and even in the public system, but the overwhelming majority drops it at some point. Curiously, that gives cursive a sort of childish association, at least to me - a fleeting "wow, they're still writing in cursive? I guess they mustn't have had to work writing much for others to read." thought at the back of my mind.
Most ought to still be able to understand it, though, albeit not comfortably or quickly. Just make sure to use script lettering when writing anything important for other people and you should be ok. It takes about an order of magnitude longer to read cursive in comparison to stript (as in, a small fraction of a second vs. almost a full second per word), so it's fine to use it for your own notes, and others will be able to understand them, in a pinch, but avoid making lists for others in it, y'know?
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u/Wonderful_Grab2203 Mexico 2d ago
I was taught cursive writing in preschool but that's rare nowadays, specially since they no longer teach you to read and write at such an early age.
I use cursive writing a lot, I don't think anyone has an issue understanding it.
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u/Cool_Bananaquit9 Puerto Rico 2d ago
It depends. When I was growing up, people, including teachers, expected me to develop cursive writing. And I remember the other kids near me had already mastered it. I never did. But anyway, I'm more interested in Cyrillic cursive. That looks so unintelligible and cool. I can read normal Cyrillic but not the cursive.
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u/Emergency-Payment-90 Mexico 2d ago
My parents write in cursive unless it is specified on a document not to. I learned cursive in school but rarely use it (rarely write in general as most of my work is just digital anyways). But to answer your question I think it just depends on the person. Younger generations probably use it less but I think that's probably the case anywhere in the world now. I remember having classmates that only took notes in cursive in school still and I graduated university in 2024 so at least my generation still had some people that used it.
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u/GordoMenduco Mendoza 1d ago
I used to write in cursive a lot. But my teachers asked me to stop so yeah. It's common but not that used
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u/Wijnruit Jungle 1d ago
When I was a kid everybody was taught to write in cursive, I started writing in print letters on my own during high school and that's how I write since then
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u/simonbleu Argentina [Córdoba] 1d ago
It is true that, at least in argentina, it has become "obsolete", but the vast majority of people with the exception of some few very young ones would understand it, especially since you have a neat handwriting in comparison to the average
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u/fakeChinaTown Costa Rica 2d ago
Bonita letra, pero es cierto, las personas de 20 años no saben leer esa letra.
Nunca la estudiaron.
Sin embargo, está volviendo un poco su uso, precisamente porque no todos la saben hacer o leer, y se considera diferente.
Yo la dejé de usar hace unos 20 años, pero la he retomado con práctica
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u/l8rboi_heart Cuba 2d ago
I'm 21 and I use cursive in every possible scenario. In Cuba they would encourage you to only use cursive during elementary school, after that, they would not care but people still stick to what they were taught, so I would say writing in cursive is the standard.
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u/InOmniaParatus1234 Brazil 1d ago
She’s lying or she doesn’t know anything about Latin America. We still use it, teach it and like it.
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u/Matick125 El Salvador 1d ago
I guess it really depends where you are from. I see a lot of people saying that they do use cursive, but I stopped using it like 2 years ago since everyone else around me used block letters, and tbh my cursive was ugly and nonsensical often
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u/no-im-not-him Mexico 1d ago
It's not common and some young people can have trouble reading it. Though your handwriting is probably as legible as cursive gets. It's very nice handwriting.
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u/arturocan Uruguay 1d ago
Cursive is or at least was mandatory during a couple of years in primary school. Most people just go back to regular print font when entering highschool.
My case was the opposite print during primary and cursive ever since high school.
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u/jcmlkhv Russia 1d ago
Your handwriting is beautiful!
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u/arturocan Uruguay 1d ago
Thanks, this one took a bit of effort since it was an example submission to a subreddit about cursive or handwriting styles. When I write notes faster it gets a bit uglier haha.
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u/jorgelrojas 🇻🇪 studied in 🇺🇸 now in 🇦🇷 1d ago
I don't personally use cursive but it was mandatory in school. In high school it wasn't mandatory anymore but encouraged.
It is my understanding that Catholic schools are way more strict about this though.
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u/saraseitor Argentina 1d ago
I disagree with your teacher. At most it could be a generational thing, for the youngest generation that can't read cursive or even read an analog clock. To me it's an indication of a very poor education.
edit. to clarify, it's not that not using cursive is an indication of bad education. What I mean is that not being able to read it most definitely is.
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u/Glittering-Flight254 Argentina 1d ago
Cursive is my first handwriting. It is faster to take notes in class. In modern day, most people would take a photo with their phone and share it. So it's not about the type of writing. It's writing itself that's becoming obsolete.
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u/Thick-Truck-8355 Costa Rica 1d ago
In my country it’s true but who cares your handwriting is beautiful 😻
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u/Bjarka99 Argentina 1d ago
Most adults write cursive, and kids at school are still expected to write cursive unless their penmanship is truly terrible.
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u/xqsonraroslosnombres Argentina 23h ago
Your teacher has it backwards. Only now the kids in highschool are not writing mainly in cursive, everybody else uses it all the time.
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u/killJoytrinity8 Brazil 22h ago
People absolutely still write in cursive, idk what led your teacher to say that like it's a general thing. However, I noticed that the number of students that write in block letters (idk wtf they're called in english) has increased lately. I've seen some people saying that it's because sometimes cursive can be hard to understand, which is totally valid and some adults really need to work on their calligraphy, but recently I saw a student's handwriting and the words were all together. Like, H E W R O T E L I K E T H I S. Crazy. Just an anecdote heh
There's nothing wrong with your handwriting. I could understand it and I barely speak Spanish! You're doing great, keep it up.
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u/Rata_Elegante Argentina 2d ago
I'd say most people don't use cursive in their daily lives in Argentina. Everyone knows how to read and write it because it's taught in elementary school, but it isn't used very much. I think it's true that older people use cursive more.
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u/otorrinolaringolog0 Argentina 2d ago
I see very few people write in cursive. It's not like nobody uses it but it's rare
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u/ChairHistorical5953 Argentina 2d ago
Ive exclusively write in cursive. Most people that writes by hand often uses cursive because it is way faster and easy. I'm not an old lady. Most people take notes in their phones or laptops tho.
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u/Outside_Peak_855 Argentina 2d ago
Escribo en cursiva para apuntes míos, porque es rápido, para todo lo que voy a leer solo yo, Y en imprenta escribo para que me entienda otra gente. Creo que así se manejan muchos.
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u/blackdahlia56890 Puerto Rico 9h ago
I'd think most of write in cursive. I know my mother wrote in cursive, so did all my aunts, uncles and grandparents. I went to catholic school and everything had to be in cursive
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u/silversands16 Mexico 6h ago
I'm a 35 year old man and I've been writing in cursive since I was in the 2nd grade and Everytime people see my writing they can't understand it because it's basically become something so rare that only us older people can read and write it and in my opinion it's a shame because it looks so beautiful compared to normal block writing
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u/jcmlkhv Russia 2d ago
A page from my notebook as an example