Question about the "Sa" character

[Karasawa MKII]

In the tutorial for "Sa, Shi, Su, Se, So" tutorial, Sa appears to be written in two different ways: one with two strokes that has a "tail" for lack of a better word, and another way with three strokes. I find the version with the tail easier to draw. Are both correct?

[DarthRutsula]

さ (<----------- this is what windows uses)

What you describe sounds like サwhich sounds like the Katakana version. A way you could differentiate them is that hiragana tends to be more curvey while katakana is more linear.

[Karasawa MKII]

"さ" is the character I'm talking about, as you mentioned in the previous post. Sorry about the confusion, lol. So my question is this: is it okay to write Sa like the way windows does? I find it much easier.

[Hejikai]

both are correct. so yes

[DarthRutsula]

Originally posted by Mosin-Nagant:

"さ" is the character I'm talking about, as you mentioned in the previous post. Sorry about the confusion, lol. So my question is this: is it okay to write Sa like the way windows does? I find it much easier.

It is based on usage. Katakana is typically used for words that are borrowed from other languages, emphasis, names and other things. Like the second part of my user name (Rutsula) would be ルツラ (katakana) instead of るつら (hiragana), bear in mind that the letter L is not found in the japanese language and that the language is interpretive, much like chinese. So based on my understanding it is up to your discretion on how to pronounce/spell a name. Their alphabets are phonetical so when you sound out a word, that is how it is spelled.

You'd think that since they have a phonetic alphabet they'd use just hiragana and not kanji, similar to the koreans where they have one writing system and it is really easy to learn and its all phonetic, but you'd be wrong. Simply because they don't want to.

[Tcharr]

Sometimes the hiragana sa is written with a break between the second and third stroke. The difference can even show up in hiragana tracing sheets. http://www.guidetojapanese.org/pdf/hiragana_trace_sheet.pdf
vs.
http://happyfu-fu.com/hiroshiandsakura/eng_hira3_sa.pdf
vs.
http://japanese-lesson.com/resources/pdf/hiragana_writing_practice_sheets.pdf

Could it be because the characters were done with brushes before pens?

[Barn]

On any digital device or in print 'sa' is written as 'さ' but when written by hand the tail is not connected making it three strokes instead of two. While both are correct you should not connect the tail when writing by hand.

[kwauters]

New2Game, thanks for the links to the practise sheets

[Dark Redshift]

Yes. Same with き. Most printed works and computers use the "key" ki, and many Japanese people write using the 4 stroke ki. (source: Japanese from Zero: book 1)

I write き and さ as they are shown here too. (EDIT: I am not Japanese, I'm only learning the language)