What is the difference between traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese?

The most obvious difference between traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese is the way that the characters look. Traditional characters are typically more complicated and have more strokes, while simplified characters are, as the name suggests, simpler and have fewer strokes.

How did Simplified Chinese come about?

The government of the People’s Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s to encourage literacy. Simplified character forms were created by reducing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of Chinese characters.

Who invented simplified Chinese?

Students struggling to learn Chinese might not know it, but their task has been made easier because of the work of one man. Zhou Youguang helped invent Pinyin, a writing system that turns Chinese characters into words using letters from the Roman alphabet.

Is traditional Chinese or Simplified?

Simplified Chinese is the standard way of writing in mainland China. Traditional Chinese writing is the choice mostly preferred in Taiwan and in Hong Kong. Although the majority of the population uses the Simplified Chinese system, there is a growing trend towards Traditional Chinese.

What is traditional Chinese?

Traditional Chinese is the written script used in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. 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.

What is the difference between Chinese and Mandarin?

Here’s the short answer: Mandarin is a form of the Chinese language. Some call it a dialect. Chinese is an umbrella language term that encompasses multiple dialects/languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, and more. Mandarin is a type of Chinese.

When was traditional Chinese invented?

The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the king Wu Ding’s reign, who was mentioned as the twenty-first Shang king by the same.

Is traditional Chinese used in China?

Simplified Chinese is now used in Mainland China, Malaysia (in official publications), and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is used in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. Chinese communities outside of China are now seeing a gradual shift to Simplified characters, most likely due to new immigrants from Mainland China.

When was Chinese simplified created?

A relatively modern form of text, Simplified Chinese (SC) was created as a way to encourage literacy and was made official with the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The characters have fewer strokes than Traditional Chinese (TC).

When was traditional Chinese created?

The retronym “Traditional Chinese” is used to contrast traditional characters with “simplified Chinese characters”, a standardized character set introduced in the 1950s by the government of the People’s Republic of China on Mainland China.

When to use simplified or traditional Chinese?

If you are uncertain of your destination, or it could vary, go with SIMPLIFIED CHINESE because the chances are, you’ll be spending more time in places with simplified Chinese than traditional Chinese. FUN FACT – 98\% of new Chinese publications worldwide are in simplified characters. 12 Untranslatable Words in Chinese You Never Knew 🤔

What is used more simplified or traditional Chinese?

Traditional Chinese is more commonly used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, whereas simplified Chinese is used in mainland China. The main difference between the two characters is that the simplified version does not have the component, 心. In Chinese, 心 (xīn) means “heart.”.

Should I learn traditional or simplified Chinese?

If you are studying Chinese because you live in either Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macau you should learn traditional characters. If you are only studying Chinese because you plan on visiting one of those places you should also learn traditional. Everyone else should start with simplified.

Is simplified or traditional Chinese better?

This theory has an effect on the mind of the Chinese learner as well, thereby making simplified characters seem “easier” to learn than traditional. In reality, no character set is truly easier to learn than the other because of the way our mind processes the character. It’s not stroke by stroke, but by looking at the entire character as a whole.