Backtrack-Free Cursive

无需回笔的连体字

I love writing in cursive, shaping each word in one long stroke. If you grew up learning the Latin alphabet, you likely don’t realize how much joy it sucks out of cursive writing. I noticed only because I learned the Cyrillic alphabet first. I think and write primarily in English, yet Russian feels more enjoyable to write. 我热爱书写连体字，喜欢用一气呵成的长笔画来塑造每一个单词。如果你是在学习拉丁字母的环境中长大的，你可能没有意识到这会从连体书写中剥夺多少乐趣。我之所以注意到这一点，是因为我先学习了西里尔字母。我的思维和写作主要使用英语，但写俄语却让我感到更加愉悦。

The crime

症结所在

I narrowed the problem to backtracking—the need to add strokes to the letters I’ve partially written. English wants me to dot my i’s and cross my t’s. It has a lot of them, and they like to cluster in a single word. Instead of thinking about what I want to write next, I have to maintain a mental queue of pending strokes. 我将问题归结为“回笔”——即必须在已经写了一部分的字母上补画。英语要求我给 i 加点，给 t 加横。这些字母在英语中非常多，而且喜欢聚集在同一个单词里。我不得不时刻在脑海中维护一个待处理笔画的队列，而不是专注于思考接下来要写什么。

Backtracking is rare in Russian. Only й (short i) and э (pronounced like e in end) require two strokes. There is also ё (pronounced yo, like in New York), but its umlaut is optional. So much of Russian literature is written without ё that native speakers infer it unconsciously. 回笔在俄语中很少见。只有 й（短 i）和 э（发音类似于 end 中的 e）需要两笔。此外还有 ё（发音类似于 New York 中的 yo），但它的分音符是可选的。大量的俄语文学作品在书写时都会省略 ё，母语使用者可以无意识地推断出它的存在。

The word destination requires four backtracks (two t’s and two i’s) when written in English. Its Russian translation назначение needs none. 单词 destination 在用英语书写时需要四次回笔（两个 t 和两个 i）。而它的俄语翻译 назначение 则无需任何回笔。

To quantify my discomfort, I analyzed Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment in Russian and English and computed how much backtracking I would have to do if I were to write it in cursive. The English version needs backtracking for 51% of words with 0.68 backtracks per word on average. In Russian, only 6.4% of words need backtracks, with 0.066 backtracks per word on average. 为了量化这种不适感，我分析了陀思妥耶夫斯基的《罪与罚》的俄语版和英语版，并计算了如果用连体字书写，我需要进行多少次回笔。英语版本中 51% 的单词需要回笔，平均每个单词有 0.68 次回笔。而在俄语中，只有 6.4% 的单词需要回笔，平均每个单词仅有 0.066 次回笔。

One way to remove backtracking is to lift the pen immediately instead of waiting until the end of the word, as if doing italic calligraphy. Pen lifts alleviate the mental queue problem and give a chance to readjust the palm, but they break the writing flow. Dots and crosses are even more irritating on digital notebooks because the undo feature works on the stroke level. Often, I want to remove the last word I’ve written. If each word required only one stroke to write, I could do it in a single tap. But since every other word requires multiple strokes, I resort to the eraser tool, which is slower and more distracting. 消除回笔的一种方法是像写意大利斜体书法那样，不等到单词写完就立即抬笔。抬笔虽然缓解了心理队列的问题，也提供了调整手掌的机会，但却打断了书写的流畅感。在数字笔记本上，点和横线更加令人恼火，因为撤销功能是按笔画生效的。通常，我想删除刚写的最后一个单词。如果每个单词只需一笔写成，我只需轻点一下即可。但由于几乎每个单词都需要多笔，我不得不求助于橡皮擦工具，这既缓慢又容易让人分心。

The redemption

救赎之道

I couldn’t find a cursive script that would address my annoyances, so I designed one. It’s based on SmithHand, with occasional borrowings from the Russian script I learned at school. SmithHand renders most lowercase letters in one stroke, except x, t, i, and j. 我找不到一种能解决我这些烦恼的连体字书写系统，于是我设计了一套。它基于 SmithHand，并偶尔借鉴了我上学时学的俄语书写方式。SmithHand 将大多数小写字母处理为一笔完成，除了 x、t、i 和 j。

x is the easiest letter to fix. Instead of using two diagonal strokes, I draw two mirrored c’s, as my Russian penmanship teacher would suggest. The fix for t is also straightforward. Instead of crossing the vertical line in a separate stroke, I add an auxiliary line that moves the pen up and left and then crosses the stem. It’s the same motion you’d use to draw digit 4, but mirrored both horizontally and vertically. This variant of t often appears on logos. I counted three instances just walking around Zürich main station. For example, logos of Stocker bakery, Leonardo ice cream parlor, and the Hotelplan group use it. If it reads well on Swiss logos, it’s good enough for my scribbles. x 是最容易修正的字母。正如我的俄语书法老师所建议的那样，我不再使用两条对角线，而是画两个镜像的 c。t 的修正也很简单。我不再用单独的一笔去横穿竖线，而是增加了一条辅助线，先向上向左移动，然后再横穿主干。这与写数字 4 的动作相同，只是在水平和垂直方向上都做了镜像处理。这种 t 的变体经常出现在标志设计中。我仅仅在苏黎世火车站周围走了一圈，就发现了三个例子。例如，Stocker 面包店、Leonardo 冰淇淋店和 Hotelplan 集团的标志都使用了它。如果它在瑞士的标志上看起来很清晰，那么用在我的草稿里也足够好了。

Single-stroke letter t often appears on logos. If you’re feeling fancy, you can make a loop on the upstroke, giving the letter a little bow. I prefer this variation in the th and te ligatures because it pairs well with its neighbors. 单笔书写的字母 t 经常出现在标志中。如果你想花哨一点，可以在上行笔画中加一个圈，给字母系上一个小蝴蝶结。我更喜欢在 th 和 te 的连字中使用这种变体，因为它与相邻字母搭配得很好。

Word theater written in a single stroke. The tt ligature requires planning: draw two vertical stems first, then add a horizontal stroke crossing them both. 一笔写成的单词 theater。tt 连字需要规划：先画两个垂直的主干，然后加一条横线穿过它们。

Word pretty written in a single stroke. 一笔写成的单词 pretty。

i and j gave me a hard time. I tried skipping their dots entirely, but the result was subpar. I tried writing the dot before the stem, trading a backtrack for a pen lift, but I couldn’t get used to it. It also broke the flow, unless the word started with a dotted letter (as in in or just). An acceptable solution must connect the dot and the stem in a legible way. The breakthrough came from my prior experiments with dot shapes. I write with an extra-fine nib, so dots can disappear in a dense grid packed with letters. I considered using little circles instead. The change didn’t seem worth the trouble on its own, but the pen lift constraint gave the idea a new appeal: dots become invisible when connected to a stem, but circles remain distinctive. The design that worked fuses the circle and the stem. To write an i without lifting a pen, I draw a tight loop above the midline that flows into a stem on the downstroke. The placement and the alignment of the circle are crucial. If the circle is below the midline, the letter looks like a Greek ε. If the circle doesn’t align with the stem, the letter looks like an r. i 和 j 让我很头疼。我试过完全省略它们的点，但效果不佳。我也试过在写主干前先写点，用抬笔代替回笔，但我无法习惯。除非单词以带点的字母开头（如 in 或 just），否则这也会打断书写的流畅感。一个可行的方案必须以清晰易读的方式将点和主干连接起来。突破口来自我之前对点形状的实验。我用的是超细笔尖，所以点在密集的字母网格中可能会消失。我考虑改用小圆圈。单看这个改动似乎不值得折腾，但“不能抬笔”的限制赋予了这个想法新的吸引力：点在与主干连接时会变得不可见，但圆圈却依然清晰可辨。最终奏效的设计是将圆圈与主干融合。为了在不抬笔的情况下写 i，我在中线上方画一个紧凑的圈，然后顺势向下画出主干。圆圈的位置和对齐至关重要。如果圆圈在中线下方，字母看起来就像希腊字母 ε；如果圆圈与主干不对齐，字母看起来就像 r。

The circle above the letter i must be above the midline and align with the stem; otherwise, the letter is easy to confuse with ε or r. Word jitter is perfect for practicing the script because it contains i, j, and a challenging tte ligature. 字母 i 上方的圆圈必须位于中线之上并与主干对齐；否则，该字母很容易与 ε 或 r 混淆。单词 jitter 是练习这套书写系统的绝佳选择，因为它包含了 i、j 以及具有挑战性的 tte 连字。

Word jitter written in a single stroke. 一笔写成的单词 jitter。

Some capitals required minor adjustments. The horizontal bar of capital T turned into a loop. Capital F acquired a little bow that connects to the next letter. Capital K has two renderings: in two top-down strokes (requires a pen lift) or in one stroke that traverses the top arm twice (once up and once down). Here is the full alphabet for reference: 一些大写字母需要微调。大写 T 的横杠变成了一个圈。大写 F 增加了一个连接下一个字母的小蝴蝶结。大写 K 有两种写法：两笔从上到下（需要抬笔），或者一笔完成，即顶部斜臂往返两次（一次向上，一次向下）。以下是完整的字母表供参考：

Backtrack-free cursive Latin alphabet. 无需回笔的连体拉丁字母表。

I’ve been using this script for several months, both on paper and digital notebooks. My i’s are still inconsistent, my t’s and x’s aren’t as elegant as they used to be, but writing English finally brings me as much delight as writing Russian. 我已经使用这套书写系统几个月了，无论是在纸上还是在数字笔记本上。我的 i 依然不够稳定，t 和 x 也不如以前优雅，但书写英语终于能带给我像写俄语一样多的快乐了。

Words delightful and destination, each written in a single stroke. 单词 delightful 和 destination，均由一笔写成。