French Ministry of Education handwriting models - with downloadable fonts

[Mercian]

Hi all,

I have seen the occasional mentions on FPN of the pleasant cursive handwriting that used to be taught in the schools in France.

I decided to try to find a book or guide to enable me to try to learn that cursive style, and recently found the following items on the website of the government of France.

 

My first link is to the webpage on which can be found the download links, plus their copyright/usage rights notices.
Clicky!

 

My second link is to a document that was published in 2013 by the French Ministry of National Education.
The document contains a discussion of the value of learning cursive handwriting, and then of two different models for handwriting. The ethos behind the design of each of the handwriting model alphabets is explained, and then full example alphabets of majuscules and minuscules are shown, plus the numbers. The two model alphabets are also displayed in ‘ornamented’ versions that contain extra flourishes. The 52-page PDF document also contains other links to other, similar resources.

Link to PDF.

 

Sets of fonts for the two different models (‘Écriture A’ & ‘Écriture B’) can also be downloaded from the links page (underneath the caption “Documents à télécharger”).

The two fonts are provided in normal ‘Roman’ and in slanted ‘Italic’ versions, and with both varieties of each font also being available on a lined background.

 

The website & the PDF file are, obviously, written in French, not in English.
I resorted to using my usual online translation tool to decipher the sentences for which my exceedingly-rusty memory of my second-rate High School French was insufficient! 😉

 

Anyway, I hope that these items prove to be useful.

Alors, salut maintenant!

 

 

[Intensity]

These are great for general practice—thank you for the links!

[Mysterious Mose]

Tant pis 😞 The pdf document (Document_accompagnement_polices_de_caracteres_cursives_V2_295059.pdf) is entirely in French.

[VillersCotterets]

Merci beaucoup.

I am surprised that, even though I didn't attended school in France, model A is quite similar to what I've been taught. Maybe my teacher in primary school was using this standardized cursive writing. If I applied myself more I would still write mostly like this. This gives me an incentive to practice my penmanship.

[VillersCotterets]

34 minutes ago, Mysterious Mose said:

Tant pis 😞 The pdf document (Document_accompagnement_polices_de_caracteres_cursives_V2_295059.pdf) is entirely in French.

Non, au contraire. Enfin un document qui ne soit pas en anglais. 😉

[JulieParadise]

Merci beaucoup! 

[dennis_f]

I cannot believe there's a gov't webpage dedicated to handwriting.  How great is that.

 

Thanks so much for the link!

[twigletzone]

Ooh, these are awesome!

 

I've gone off on one recently to improve my increasingly illegible scrawl and I'm trying to learn some of the French style of cursive in the hope that a bit of it will take root permanently. I found some books via Amazon's French website (luckily I did modern languages for a degree and one of the two I focused on was French). Also bought some Seyes ruled paper, which is exactly what I need to get my ascenders visible again! The books haven't turned up yet so I can't review them, but the ones I got were:

 

Cursive Handwriting Workbook for Beginners - aimed at children 

Cursive Handwriting Workbook for Kids

A Cursive Writing Practice Book with Motivational and Inspirational Quotes for Beginners - this one looks more adult focused.

 

There's also this one which I didn't buy:

Cursive Handwriting Workbook for Teens - also has the motivational quotes thing.

 

 

[Mysterious Mose]

1 hour ago, twigletzone said:

Ooh, these are awesome!

 

I've gone off on one recently to improve my increasingly illegible scrawl and I'm trying to learn some of the French style of cursive in the hope that a bit of it will take root permanently. I found some books via Amazon's French website (luckily I did modern languages for a degree and one of the two I focused on was French). Also bought some Seyes ruled paper, which is exactly what I need to get my ascenders visible again! The books haven't turned up yet so I can't review them, but the ones I got were:

 

Cursive Handwriting Workbook for Beginners - aimed at children 

Cursive Handwriting Workbook for Kids

A Cursive Writing Practice Book with Motivational and Inspirational Quotes for Beginners - this one looks more adult focused.

 

There's also this one which I didn't buy:

Cursive Handwriting Workbook for Teens - also has the motivational quotes thing.

 

 

For using Seyes ruled paper, wouldn't it be more appropriate to refer to French handwriting books?  Conversely, for using your books, wouldn't it be more appropriate to use Western ruled paper?

[twigletzone]

13 hours ago, Mysterious Mose said:

For using Seyes ruled paper, wouldn't it be more appropriate to refer to French handwriting books?  Conversely, for using your books, wouldn't it be more appropriate to use Western ruled paper?

Those are English translations of French books. Which is why I thought they might be relevant here.

[twigletzone]

13 hours ago, Mysterious Mose said:

For using Seyes ruled paper, wouldn't it be more appropriate to refer to French handwriting books?  Conversely, for using your books, wouldn't it be more appropriate to use Western ruled paper?

... also France is further west than any other country in Europe bar Spain, I don't don't think it counts as not Western!

[Pointyscratchy]

I think the French are admirable in this instance.Can't we get (UK) an MP or Govt minister to push this?

 

For a start we should have our own English hand, an Oxford hand, or an Aberdeen hand, a chuchill hand, or the Buckingham palace.It should be simple and clear and basically italic.

 

It always helps to have something to aspire to.This would cost our government nothing, but would be immensely prestigious.The Americans, Australians, and lots of others would I'm sure join in the fun even if they thought their scripts were superior.

 

In the current lockdown millions are doing Jigsaw puzzles and other such pastimes.A little push from Boris (UK PM ) would start an avalanche.

 

Alas another missed opportunity for mass cultural improvement plus feel good factor.I hope Kier Starmer (OPP leader) doesn't read this and  run with it all the way to number ten.

[ParramattaPaul]

28 minutes ago, Pointyscratchy said:

I think the French are admirable in this instance.Can'tget (UK) an MP or Govt minister to push this?

 

For a start we should have our own English hand, an Oxford hand, or an Aberdeen hand, a chuchill hand, or the Buckingham palace.It should be simple and clear and basically italic.

 

It always helps to have something to aspire to.This would cost our government nothing, but would be immensely prestigious.The Americans, Australians, and lots of others would I'm sure join in the fun even if they thought their scripts were superior.

 

In the current lockdown millions are doing Jigsaw puzzles and other such pastimes.A little push from Boris (UK PM ) would start an avalanche.

 

Alas another missed opportunity for mass cultural improvement plus feel good factor.I hope Kier Starmer (OPP leader) doesn't read this and  run with it all the way to number ten.

 

You offer a worthy suggestion that I suspect will be left unheeded.

 

Someone, here or on another forum commented that accents have are becoming 'homogenized by exposure to American TV shows. That begs the question do people want 'accented' handwriting at a time when their speech is losing it?

 

Then, we know that there have been failed attempts at standardization in British schools throughout the 20th Century.  Rosemary Sassoon spoke about this in her book  

[Inkyways]

This is exactly what I was looking for !! At last ...I got it.

 

Merci, mille fois!!!

[Mr Ink]

This is wonderful. Thank you, Mercian!

[Anne-Sophie]

Merci beaucoup Mercian for finding and taking the time to share that document!

 

For those who lament not being able to read French, the document has a lot of lengthy explanation, that are not very useful.

 

The best of those pages are the lower cases instruction grids, they are worth being printed out, multiple times.

 

Then use them as tracing models with a pencil, then using tracing paper, with a fountain pen, then use Rhodia notepads or notebooks in grid, dot or Seyes rulings.

 

Seyes is best, but living in the U.S, I am aware that Seyes ruling is sometimes, hard to find.

You might be able to make your own Seyes ruling using the dots in the dot grid Rhodia ruling.

 

 

The minuscules, which are the lower case letters, look pretty much like the cursive methods which have been taught in France, for a very long time.

 

I use the 3 lower and uppercase forms on page 16, they were taught from the late 19th century (the first one), to the mid-1960's (the lower one) to the mid-1970's (the form in the middle).

 

I also use the uppercase letters on the upper right of the page.

 

The text in French is a lengthy criticism of those uppercase forms, which I find unjustified. 

 

Their new method uppercase letters are not cursive at all.

 

May I be so bold, to include below, my own thread about French Cursive.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/243889-french-cursive/#comments

 

 

[Anne-Sophie]

Link to a post that has a pdf to make your own Seyes ruling.

 

It was created by The Fountain Pen Network original founder.

 

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/files/file/6-seyes-rules-for-notepads-and-paper/