For every Chinese beginner, one of the most important choices is whether to learn Traditional or Simplified Chinese. Although they both belong to the same spoken language, the two are different in appearance and their practical usage. In 1949, a new ‘simplified’ writing system was officially adopted by China, and over the next few
decades, it was incorporated into the school systems and in the distribution of documents. Today, it is the standard writing system for over one billion Chinese citizens. Why was the Traditional Chinese writing system replaced in modern China? With over 50,000 characters in its lexical inventory, the practice of simplifying the writing system is far from unprecedented. Different versions and interpretations of the Chinese script have been circulated unofficially for years. Then,
in 1949 when The People’s Republic of China was established, an initiative was put in place to develop an official, simplified writing system. The goal was to make reading and writing more accessible to a largely illiterate population. Chinese linguists worked in partnership with the government to simplify approximately 2,000 Chinese characters. Simplified Chinese, as the name indicates, simplifies each
character, so they are easier to write and memorize. Traditional Chinese, on the contrary, keeps the original forms that have evolved over the course of a thousand years. Therefore, it is easier for people who understand Traditional Chinese to pick up Simplified Chinese, but it will be more difficult for people who understand Simplified Chinese to learn Traditional Chinese. Some examples include:What are Traditional and Simplified Chinese?
Differences in Appearance
Mama-Traditional Chinese
Mama-Simplified Chinese
As you can see, the left half of the character is the same, but the right half has removed a couple of horizontal strokes and combined the 4 small strokes at the bottom into a line. At its core, simplified Chinese is a simplification of the traditional Chinese alphabet. This simplification is accomplished in two ways: stroke reduction and merged characters.
Where is Each Used?
Today, simplified Chinese is officially used in mainland China and Singapore, and it is also used by the Chinese community in Malaysia. Traditional Chinese is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Simplified Chinese is the standard script for residents of mainland China—some 1.43 billion people. A small subset of this population—mostly older generations—can still understand and write Traditional Chinese.
For traditional Chinese, there are two officially-recognized varieties: Traditional Chinese for Hong Kong SAR and Traditional Chinese for Taiwan. The differences between the two are more nuanced than those between Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
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Which Should I Learn?
For new beginners, simplified Chinese is easier to learn because the characters are simple and clear for people to recognize, especially for little kids. There are clear shapes and fewer strokes to write. However, for adults who might have business connections in Hong Kong and Taiwan, traditional Chinese is more practical to study.
All in all, the two are not contradictory, instead, they can complement each other. Simplified is good for people to use in daily life while Traditional (which more closely resembles the Oracle bone script) is interesting for adults who enjoy reading historical documents.
If your child is going to learn Chinese, Simplified Chinese is a great place to start. Sign up on Lingo Bus today; book class and don’t miss out on our Black Friday savings!
Learn Chinese Now
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese? To non-Chinese speakers, having two versions of the same language might seem confusing—especially since simplified Chinese is anything but simple!
Are you learning Chinese? Are you in the market for Chinese translation services? Here are 6 facts you should know about simplified Chinese versus traditional Chinese.
1) Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese are the two primary writing systems for all Chinese dialects.
People in China speak more than 300 different dialects, and some of the dialects are mutually unintelligible. However, they all share the same script. Chinese characters are quite possibly the oldest continuously used writing system in the world.
There’s only one problem: it’s also one of the most complex systems of writing in the world. To be functionally literate in Chinese, you need to know thousands of characters, some of which can be quite complex.
2) Simplified Chinese uses fewer characters than traditional Chinese.
Approximately 1,027 traditional Chinese characters became obsolete after the simplification reforms. Reformers consolidated variant characters with the same meanings. They also replaced some characters with other existing characters with the same sound.
3) Simplified Chinese characters use fewer brushstrokes than traditional Chinese characters.
Reformers used a variety of strategies to make the characters easier to write, including:
- Using already existing “cursive” characters
- Replacing some components of some characters with simpler symbols
- Completely removing some character elements
- Creating new, stripped-down versions of traditional characters that preserved the original shapes
4) The Chinese government began reforming the writing system in 1956.
The goal was to improve the literacy rate among the populace by making the characters easier and faster to write.
The first round of simplified characters was released in 1956 and in 1964. There was also a second round published in 1977, but it was not popular, and the Chinese government officially gave up on it in 1986.
5) Readers’ preferences depend partially on how old they are.
Older Chinese people who grew up with traditional characters are often more comfortable with traditional Chinese than they are with simplified Chinese.
This is especially true of older Chinese people in the United States, who might have left China decades ago without having the opportunity to learn the simplified script. In fact, most Chinese speakers in the United States use traditional Chinese.
However, if your audience includes younger, more recent Chinese immigrants, it would be a good idea to offer material in simplified Chinese, as well.
6) Geography is also an essential factor.
Not every country in which Chinese is spoken uses simplified Chinese today. In general, simplified Chinese is used on mainland China, as well as in Malaysia and Singapore.
However, traditional Chinese is still used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
Understanding which form of Chinese to use at certain times can help simplify your communication and marketing strategies directed toward native speakers. To learn more about global languages, explore the rest of our blog!