{"id":9311,"date":"2019-11-03T02:09:59","date_gmt":"2019-11-03T02:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-words-phrases\/angle-5-traditional-vs-simplified-chinese-characters\/"},"modified":"2019-11-03T02:09:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-03T02:09:59","slug":"angle-5-traditional-vs-simplified-chinese-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/mm\/angle-5-traditional-vs-simplified-chinese-characters\/","title":{"rendered":"Angle 5: Traditional vs. Simplified Chinese Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the 1950s, the government of Mainland China "simplified" the written forms of many "traditional" characters in order to make learning to read and write the language easier for its then largely illiterate population.<\/p>\n

Simplified characters may or may not be less pleasant to look at; however, the simplification project did succeed in making a more literate society. Whatever your opinion of outcome, this historical fact means we now have in print and on the Internet two sets of Chinese characters to deal with.<\/p>\n

NOTE<\/span> <\/p>\n

Traditio<\/em>nal characters are called <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>(fàn t\u012d zì). Simplified o<\/em>nes are know as <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>\"Angle(j\u012dan t\u012d zì). <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>"zì" itself means "character" or "writing," and written Chinese is called <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>\"Angle(hàn zì). Since <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>(hàn) is the ethnic majority of China, <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>(hàn zì) is literally "Writing of the Han People." Note that the Japanese pro<\/em>nunciation of <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>(hàn zì) is <\/span>kanji<\/i>.<\/div>\n

Limiting yourself to just one set can be too, well, limiting. Just as you should become familiar with more than one system for romanizing Chinese pronunciation, learning both traditio<\/em>nal and simplified characters will open up that many more resources for you. A good plan might be learning to read both sets, while focusing your writing efforts on just one at first.<\/p>\n

NOTE<\/span> <\/p>\n

Characters have been simplifying, evolving, or de-evolving as long as there have been characters. Korea and Japan adopted Chinese characters along the way, and some of the older forms they borrowed and still use have long since disappeared from use in China and Taiwan.<\/div>\n

Keep in mind too that not every character has been simplified, o<\/em>nly some of the more complicated forms. Plus, this simplification of characters did follow some logical principles. Therefore, learning simplified characters alo<\/em>ngside their traditio<\/em>nal counterparts is not too difficult. For comparison, here is a list of examples. Traditio<\/em>nal forms are on the left, followed by their simplified forms, pinyin pronunciation, and English equivalents.<\/p>\n

\"Angle<\/div>\n

With the exception of the simplified character examples shown here, traditio<\/em>nal characters are used throughout the rest of this site for two reasons.<\/p>\n

First, Mainland China interacts more all the time with other Chinese-speaking regions wher o<\/em>nly traditio<\/em>nal forms are used. As a result, Mainland Chinese professio<\/em>nals are increasingly willing and able to work with traditio<\/em>nal characters, or fàn t\u012d zì.<\/p>\n

Second, they just look a heckuvalot nicer, don’t they?<\/p>\n

FOOD FOR THOUGHT<\/span> <\/p>\n

A note on learning traditio<\/em>nal and simplified characters together: In certain border areas of Mainland China, people can pick up television signals from other Chinese-speaking regions, wher all programs have have traditio<\/em>nal character subtitling. In these areas, people have learned to recognize, and sometimes to write, <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>\"Angle <\/span>(fàn t\u012d zì).<\/p>\n

Yes, there are official censor signal-blocking waves in place, but these mostly provide good small business opportunities for those who can hotwire TV sets to bypass them. If Mainland China ever wo<\/em>nders how it could switch back to traditio<\/em>nal characters, there’s my suggestion: Start with the TV.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n