DO NOT TRUST THE HIRAGANA AND KATAKANA STROKE ORDER OF THE TOP SEARCH RESULTS.
In particular, I did a Google image search because in class, the teacher taught some stroke orders that were different from how I had always written them. The last time I learned stroke orders was over ten years ago(!) and I rarely wrote Japanese in that period.
I only knew the search results were wrong because I looked at a few charts and they were different! Both of them couldn’t be right (unless there’s more than one correct order, which I’m quite certain there isn’t). It’s disappointing that people specifically teaching stroke order get it wrong, and it will cause many people will use the wrong order for the rest of their lives. So make sure you find out which site is correct. I won’t say anything because I haven’t researched it enough to conclusively know that I’m not teaching the wrong thing. Also, don’t trust a way just because a few sites use it. I’d say find at least ten sites using the same way, evaluate how authoritative they are and try to find reasons for the stroke order being that way. It’s a lot more than you would normally do, but there was so much variation to begin with that you can’t have any trust.
Stroke order isn’t critically important, but there aren’t many kana so might as well get them right since you will be using them so often (until you learn kanji). You always look a bit strange when someone sees you using the wrong stroke order. I’m curious as to whether some native Japanese use the wrong order. Calligraphy (which is compulsory in school) emphasises stroke order. However, for English, I’ve noticed people doing certain things (I can’t remember what in particular) that suggests that either they weren’t taught that in school, they didn’t pay attention, they forgot or they changed unintentionally or intentionally somewhere along the way.
It annoys me how people write the letter ‘a’ like with the current font. Doing the letter ‘b’ is a lot more common and acceptable because it looks a lot cleaner than the cursive ‘b’. Writing printed characters might have become more common with the rise of the Internet and computers, since people would be typing a lot more than they write.
Another thing that annoys me is people’s inability to distinguish between you’re and your, they’re and their and a few other ones I can’t recall at the moment. They’re completely different words. I’ll accept most other grammatical mistakes, especially because it’s how people talk colloquially in everyday English. I was thinking maybe the English language is evolving and one day “your” will replace “you’re” (shudder). Although everyone who does proper writing will use the proper term and it isn’t likely to disappear.
I’ve noticed that the more often you see something, the less incorrect it will look. I actually used one of the above incorrectly once and it was horrifying. So I can see how people mix it up, since they see it all the time. I am quite good at spelling, however there have been times where I was sure a word was right but it wasn’t. The right way looked wrong and made me realise that you can’t rely on whether it looks right or whether you think you’re right. It helps when you know someone who you know is good at grammar/spelling and wouldn’t possibly make a “mistake” like that. Then you find out that more often than not, you were the one that was wrong.
Another thing is that in the past I don’t remember being unsure of as many things and the correct spelling would just come naturally. I’m not sure if it’s true or if I am just more aware of it now. Probably a combination of both.
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