|
 |
Traditional and Simplified Chinese | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Z.J.J Senior Member China Joined 5615 days ago 243 posts - 305 votes  Speaks: Mandarin* | Message 9 of 80 20 July 2009 at 12:04pm | IP Logged | ||
In mainland, it's really a pity that, traditional characters have almost been wiped out from most occasions, such as TV stations and publications (dictionaries, newspapers, magazines, textbooks), except for the department of Chinese language in universities, while traditional character system is fortunately officially used in Taiwan, Hongkong, Macau, and overseas China Towns. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6323 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 10 of 80 27 August 2009 at 1:15pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Just out of curiosity, would there be any problems in filling out forms and the like in Mainland China using only traditional characters? Would many people have difficulty understanding and would you be asked to use simplified instead? Basically, could you live in China with only a knowledge of writing traditional?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Z.J.J Senior Member China Joined 5615 days ago 243 posts - 305 votes Speaks: Mandarin* | Message 11 of 80 27 August 2009 at 2:04pm | IP Logged | ||
1. Perhaps you would be well advised to refill in your forms with Simplified characters, but maybe not. 2. Only a few Chinese have difficulty easily understanding some profound Traditional characters. 3. We would be asked to use Simplified instead, but only on formal occasions (exams/thesis/reports). 4. Generally, one could make a living quite well with only the knowledge of Traditional characters. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| dragonfly Triglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 6486 days ago 204 posts - 233 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, Mandarin | Message 12 of 80 09 September 2009 at 8:31am | IP Logged | ||
|
So, what would you advise to a learner of Mandarin? Try to remember both types of character?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Z.J.J Senior Member China Joined 5615 days ago 243 posts - 305 votes Speaks: Mandarin* | Message 13 of 80 09 September 2009 at 8:50am | IP Logged | ||
I'm afraid not. We suggest that you should try to learn Simplified characters, though I personally prefer Traditional style much. If you've never wanted to be a Sinologist (漢學家), just put Traditional characters aside and spend more time on Simplified ones. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6301 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 14 of 80 09 September 2009 at 10:46am | IP Logged | ||
|
Learning simplified after you know traditional is not a big problem.
Learning traditional will help you a tad more with Japanese and Korean than simplified. Frankly, I'd say be ready to work with both traditional and simplified and go with whichever is in the textbook you are using. Knowing how to read both won't hurt you and it is unlikely that you are going to have to write long documents by hand. If you are typing on a computer it, doesn't matter if it is simplified or traditional because (IMHO) the easiest way to input the characters is phonetically. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6901 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 15 of 80 09 September 2009 at 10:54am | IP Logged | ||
|
I'd recommend simplified first, unless you are specifically planning to go to Taiwan or some other place where traditional are used.
Learning them is a huge task either way, and progress is bound to be slower than you'd like. With simplified you will just be able to cover more ground for each hour of effort you put in. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Z.J.J Senior Member China Joined 5615 days ago 243 posts - 305 votes Speaks: Mandarin* | Message 16 of 80 09 September 2009 at 11:45am | IP Logged | ||
|
If you weren't frightened to learn both, perhaps that would be a better plan for you.
However, once in a while, the Traditional input methods, which were created by Mainland, might cause you trouble on automatic conversion from Simplified to Traditional, for example, if you type 「發展」(develop/development), maybe it shows you 「髮展」, or if you type 「髮廊」(salon: where you can get your hair cut), maybe 「發廊」 pops up, so you'll have to pick the right characters based on your solid foundation. Luckily, this issue would never happen to those who use Traditional characters as the only writing system. That's to say, as a whole, Simplified characters have some disadvantages which seem a bit unjustified, illogical, and arbitrary. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
