2009 May | Learn Cantonese/Mandarin Here

Archive for May, 2009

Simplified or Traditional Chinese?

To be or not to be? 簡體還是繁體（简体还是繁体）

Let’s put it this way. If you hear or use “What hast thou?” more than “What do you have?”, or if you have to live in Taiwan without the need to go to Mainland China or communicate with people in Mainland China, you should use traditional Chinese. Most of the Chinese people （in Mainland China, Singapore and even Japan) use simplified Chinese of some forms.

Some people try to keep traditional Chinese for political reason or personal preference ( more artistic? Old habits die hard? ) Or they may be just some archaists. Some may not even have a choice — everyone around them is using traditional Chinese, like people in Taiwan or Hong Kong.

If you do have a choice, why not start with simplified Chinese? Then with the pleasure of using this beautiful Chinese language, you may want to spend more time to master the traditional Chinese characters with ease and some simple rules. I learned simplified Chinese at 7 and easily mastered traditional at 8.

Don’t take me wrong. I do not want to praise the communist for its achievement with simplified Chinese characters. I was not born in Mainland China and have lived in the US for over 17 years. Simplified Chinese characters still have lots of merits, I must say.

When I taught the kids Chinese at Laney College in Oakland, California, I showed them both simplified and traditional Chinese, most of them hate to write or even read the traditional ones, even I kept telling them they need to know traditional ones are useful in the US. TV and newspapers in the US are using traditional Chinese for historical reasons.

Before you want to start the arguments with me, please review the article in Wiki. And this: Debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters