People who "cross the T's and dot the I's" in their hand writing, how do you visualize a word when you write?

You may know this but the saying is referring to cursive writing, in which one would never lift one's pen mid-word to cross a t.

People who "cross the T's and dot the I's

Is there somebody who doesn't?

keep track in your head [...] then remember

In theory yes, but that's kinda muscle memory. Nothing to really think about.

other languages like accents from other languages too, e.g. á, à, ü...etc

I live in such a language and therefore I think ASCII is stone age and all software that still has exceptions with some characters is buggy AF.

I don't go back to do it. I do it as I'm writing. The pen doesn't go back on the word for final touches. It's just part of the movement of doing that letter.

Edit: my dad is one of those that goes back to do it. He also writes the u's, i's, n's and m's exactly the same (like little upside down n's). He has a "funny" story about writing the word minimum and not being able to find the i's once.

I don't think I visualise the word. At the end of the word I still remember what word I wrote and how to spell it. In other languages the spelling part it is easier because they have spelling rules so if you know how a word is pronounced you usually know how to spell it.

I'm really confused by the question.

This is how cursive was taught to me in Austria:

Here it only makes sense to cross the "t" to flow into the next letter. Usually I kept track of the various dots and accent marks for each word, though sometimes I would write them immediately.

I don't write in cursive any more, so it doesn't really make a difference if i do the accents immediately or later.

Interestingly, cursive is now taught slightly differently in Austria:

You literally just finish writing the letters as you write i guess?

I need a ton more weed for this one

I don't visualize it. It's just there, just escaped from my head right onto the paper, and it's written just how one is supposed to be writing it.

To me, it's a question of practice. The more (regularly) you write the more it become a reflex, the more you enrich your vocabulary (read widely, read as often as possible) the more you will 'know' words and how to write them (also true for grammar and full sentences). I never think about crossing the t or put on accent on 'à, é, è, ë, and so on' when I need one... it comes naturally because I internalized the various (French, or whatever other languages I can write) grammatical rules.

BTW, it's ok to forget them on occasions, provided the word/sentence remains legible. My handwriting is pretty shitty but I'm used to reading it so I need not write every single accentuation or diacritic sign in order to be by able to re-read myself. I also devised my own shorthand along the years and most of my notes will be written using that shorthand (meaning a lot of symbols instead of traditional words)... I would never use shorthand, and would take a lot more care with accents and punctuation (and grammar) knowing someone else will be reading what I write.

As for the signature, I just decided on mine when I was maybe 15 or 16 and have kept using it since then, now nearing my 60. So, yeah it just flows out of the pen without me thinking much about it.

how do you visualize a word when you write?

I don't, I just write.

So for the letter t, do you just keep track in your head to write the vertical curve first then remember the horizontal dash after?

It's not really something to remember, past like.. pre-school where they first teach you to write, it's just instinctual to write it that way

For longer words, do you sometimes forget these final touchups?

Can't say that I have :p

Also does signing a signature come natural for you, i.e. due to the non stop motion?

Most people I know have a signature that consist of multiple strokes, so it's not really any more non-stop than any other kind of writing.

And not just "t" and "i", if you do the same thing for letters from other languages like accents from other languages too, e.g. á, à, ü...etc. Then please share your thoughts too.

We don't write accents typically in my native language, but we do have some special characters (ą, č, ę, ė, į, š ų, ų, ž) for the diacritic marks that aren't attached you'd treat them the same as writing dots on i's and j's in terms of write order, for ą, ę, į, ų the final stroke or the letter is in place to write the diacritic in the same stroke

I think the question is about cursive writing, where you would finish a word before going back to add those lines/dots/symbols

Interestingly there's another comment in this thread showing how some cursive styles don't follow this format, so this question was still insightful for people familiar with one type of cursive writing

I've said to coworkers in the past: I don't really know my passwords, but fortunately my fingers seem to. It's just the path they know. It's kind of the same thing for my signature (on the rare occasion it's needed).

I've heard signatures described more as art than handwriting. You're drawing a picture of your name, not writing it out.

To be honest I feel like in my experience people where I live don't typically have their full name as a signature anyway (or at least I haven't seen a full name as a signature for the people I've interacted with in life). Usually it's just initials with a lot of embellishments, so it's even more like drawing a picture than writing in that regard :3

When I'm doing calligraphy, the letters are made out of building blocks. And I deliberately look over my work to check if I missed something somewhere.

In handwriting I keep track of the t's, j's and i's and strike those when the word is finished. We also have ¨ above some letters sometimes which I also keep track of. I never forget, it's unreadable when I forget. That's how you know, when you read the word and it doesn't read right.

I also drilled my signature, I don't think about it, it's just a fluid motion.

Depends what kind of cursive you were taught as a child. Mine had the pen up basically after every character, and that's when you just did it.
Different version of cursive: the whole word is one line, then you go back and finish the word. You are supposed to read a finished word, double-checking what you wrote so that's the time you do it.
And there is no visualization, just you and the letters shaping a word on the paper.

This was my thought. I don't really know how to answer the question though because it feels like asking to describe sight to blind person. How does one visualize anything? That said, at some point it really becomes muscle memory. I don't really visualize how the word or letters should look anymore. I'm just thinking of how to spell it.

The only exception is when I'm writing in the dark or near dark. I have to try to visualize how the word actually looks based on my hand movements so I can figure out spacing and where the i/ts are. It's obviously not perfect, but I'm writing for myself in these situations so it's less about it being legible and more a way to remind myself that there is something I need to remember. It's my remembrall.

EDIT: As for the other question from OP, I look at the word I wrote and add any dots/dashes that are needed. Like, I know "and" doesn't need anything but I know "italics" does. Not like I check every word. Just the ones I know need them, cause I know how the words are spelled.