# Should I learn traditional or simplified?



## Lofty (Aug 24, 2009)

I am taking intermediate Chinese this year and my text contains both and I only have to learn one of them. Which one should I learn? All beginning Chinese classes at my school were traditional so thats what I'm familiar with. I plan on spending next summer in mainland China and have no plans to go to Taiwan. So should I go with Simplified?


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## fanwuq (Aug 24, 2009)

Simplified if you are going to mainland and not Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. In everyday life, you only use simplified; you might see traditional in calligraphy or something.


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## PharaohsVizier (Aug 24, 2009)

From what I hear, learning simplified is easier, so you'll learn quicker. However, if you ever want to learn both, theoretically it would be simple, but I heard that going from simplified to traditional is a lot harder than going from traditional to simplified. That being said, mainland China uses simplified... so it might be wise to stick with simplified.

Personally I'm learning in traditional, just because it was the one they taught... Didn't really think too much into it.


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## Jokerman5656 (Aug 24, 2009)

i dont see why you cant learn both


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## PCwizCube (Aug 24, 2009)

My mom grew up with learning Traditional (she grew up in Taiwan). She claims she can read Simplified Chinese easily without restudying it or anything because the simplified characters are sort of like the Traditional characters. My mom was the best in her class and went to the best Taiwanese college (meaning she worked hard in her studies and is very familiar with the Chinese language, but I don't know if that really has anything to do with it)

I got to Chinese school and learn traditional and I can't really recognize simplified that much. That's probably because I stink at Chinese in general  (speaking it, understanding it, reading it)

Adding more stuff:
As you may know, traditional and simplified characters are kind of similar. Some traditional character have a bunch of lines and dots and stuff and simplified Chinese kind of gets rid of some of the stuff. I a lot of easy traditional characters are the same as simplified ones. 

What I'm trying to say is that a person who is very fluent in reading traditional Chinese should be able to read simplified Chinese too, because the basic outlines of both character is similar. Of course they'llread a lot slower than normal, but I think most fluent people can read simplified. So if you already know some traditional, switching to simplified shouldn't be that hard, and some of the characters are exactly the same too.

I think if you're a fluent simplified reader, it's really hard to read traditional and also change to traditional. So I think you should go with Simplified because you probably won't use Traditional, and transitioning shouldn't be that hard. (Plus simplified characters are easier!  lol)


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## StachuK1992 (Aug 24, 2009)

Sorry, but this thread reminds me of my favorite thread:
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5298


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## Lofty (Aug 25, 2009)

I suppose I should maybe give slightly more information. I have taken only one year of Chinese in traditional characters. Ten credithours in college. With a language as different from english as Chinese is I really don't know much. I few characters throw me off that I'm just so used to writing but I'm sure I'll very quickly get over it. Like 門,見 and 學. 
I think I'm going with simplified since thats what is used in mainland China. 
On a completely random note, does anyone know how I can type in pinyin using the Colemak layout? When I use windows to type in pinyin it changes my layout to qwerty....


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## Rikane (Aug 25, 2009)

My mom (from Hong Kong) says that she has trouble reading simplified chinese for certain characters. Personally, I would suggest traditional because most things I see are written using traditional.


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## fanwuq (Aug 25, 2009)

Lofty said:


> I suppose I should maybe give slightly more information. I have taken only one year of Chinese in traditional characters. Ten credithours in college. With a language as different from english as Chinese is I really don't know much. I few characters throw me off that I'm just so used to writing but I'm sure I'll very quickly get over it. Like 門,見 and 學.
> I think I'm going with simplified since thats what is used in mainland China.
> On a completely random note, does anyone know how I can type in pinyin using the Colemak layout? When I use windows to type in pinyin it changes my layout to qwerty....



I also have the problem. Since I rarely type in Chinese, I haven't bothered with it. Maybe ask some of the people on the colemak forums. Most words are the same for traditional and simplified anyway; I don't even notice until I see an insanely complicated character. Simplified is just so much easier to write out. 
I suggest to just work on simplified just because that's what you are going to use. Learn the language of the place you are visiting.


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## PCwizCube (Aug 25, 2009)

Rikane said:


> My mom (from Hong Kong) says that she has trouble reading simplified chinese for certain characters. Personally, I would suggest traditional because most things I see are written using traditional.


That may be the case in Hong Kong, yet most people speak Cantonese.

Most people who speak Mandarin in mainland China use Simplified Chinese.



Lofty said:


> On a completely random note, does anyone know how I can type in pinyin using the Colemak layout? When I use windows to type in pinyin it changes my layout to qwerty....


Sorry, I don't know. My main keyboard layout is QWERTY so I just use that with Pin Yin.


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## rachmaninovian (Aug 25, 2009)

i hate chinese at school 

go with simplified, since there are less strokes to remember, and easier to read...since everything doesn't seem as messy =P =P


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## daniel0731ex (Aug 25, 2009)

simplified sucks

the only reason mainland china uses simplified characters is because they want to save inks.


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## boiiwonder (Aug 25, 2009)

Simplified.

I don't know much, but if your going to a place where they will be using simplified then learn it. If you plan on visiting Taiwan or Hong Kong in the near future then learn the traditional.


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## blah (Aug 26, 2009)

Everyone's only been talking about practical purposes here, if that's what you're learning Chinese for, then yeah, go for simplified.

But otherwise, traditional is much better in almost every sense. I come from a Chinese society (very possibly the only one in the world) that can read and write both traditional and simplified Chinese fluently, even up to this generation. Traditional Chinese enables the learner to understand and appreciate (体会) the depth and origins of the Chinese culture and language. Simplified Chinese was simply introduced to increase literacy rates in China a couple of decades ago. Besides, traditional is much more aesthetically pleasing


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## Rikane (Aug 26, 2009)

Rubik's Cube Fan said:


> Rikane said:
> 
> 
> > My mom (from Hong Kong) says that she has trouble reading simplified chinese for certain characters. Personally, I would suggest traditional because most things I see are written using traditional.
> ...



Written Chinese is the same for both Cantonese and Mandarin. I'm not sure about the other dialects. They're impossible to learn imo.


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## PCwizCube (Aug 26, 2009)

Rikane said:


> Written Chinese is the same for both Cantonese and Mandarin. I'm not sure about the other dialects. They're impossible to learn imo.


Oh really? I had no idea... They sound so different though lol IMO (I can't understand a thing people or saying in Cantonese)



blah said:


> But otherwise, traditional is much better in almost every sense. I come from a Chinese society (very possibly the only one in the world) that can read and write both traditional and simplified Chinese fluently, even up to this generation. Traditional Chinese enables the learner to understand and appreciate (体会) the depth and origins of the Chinese culture and language. Simplified Chinese was simply introduced to increase literacy rates in China a couple of decades ago. Besides, traditional is much more aesthetically pleasing


Oh, that's pretty interesting. And I don't think you're the only one in the world who can write/read both simplified and traditional fluently. There must be some other people who can do that.... maybe middle age people in the 1920s? Or whenever China changed to simplified.


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## daniel0731ex (Aug 26, 2009)

Rubik's Cube Fan said:


> Rikane said:
> 
> 
> > Written Chinese is the same for both Cantonese and Mandarin. I'm not sure about the other dialects. They're impossible to learn imo.
> ...



dude, mandarin is written in both traditional and simplified


you deserve a :fp


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## PCwizCube (Aug 26, 2009)

daniel0731ex said:


> Rubik's Cube Fan said:
> 
> 
> > Rikane said:
> ...


What are you talking about. I already explained earlier that I know Mandarin is written in both Traditional and Simplified.

Rikane said that written Chinese is the same for both Cantonese and Mandarin (traditional), and I didn't know that. What does that have to do with Mandarin being in both simplified and traditional form?


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## Rikane (Aug 26, 2009)

Well, there's really no BIG difference between traditional and simplified (there is, but I need this for a point). Just to make myself a bit more clear. 
Written Chinese (in any form (be it, traditional or simplified or whatever else is out there)) is the same for Mandarin and Cantonese.

e.g. (I don't know how to speak Mandarin but...) Let's say we want to write out the only Mandarin sentence I know "Wo ai ni" (I love you (lol))
And in Cantonese that's "Ngo oi lei" (Cantonese phonics destroy me).
anyway, if we were to write that in either traditional or simplified, it would end up looking the same.

As a side thought, it's quite smart how that works. If two Chinese people couldn't communicate verbally, they can do it through written form.


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## Lofty (Oct 21, 2009)

I have stumbled upon how to type in pinyin with Colemak. I know hindsight is 20/20 but it seems so obvious now. 
If I use the Heise colemak.exe to use colemak what it does is just remap all your keys. So no matter what layout I'm using it remaps them the same. So instead of actually setting my keyboard to colemak if I use colemak.exe then chinese and english get remapped and I can type pinyin with Colemak.


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## blah (Oct 21, 2009)

Rubik's Cube Fan said:


> blah said:
> 
> 
> > But otherwise, traditional is much better in almost every sense. I come from a Chinese society (very possibly the only one in the world) that can read and write both traditional and simplified Chinese fluently, even up to this generation. Traditional Chinese enables the learner to understand and appreciate (体会) the depth and origins of the Chinese culture and language. Simplified Chinese was simply introduced to increase literacy rates in China a couple of decades ago. Besides, traditional is much more aesthetically pleasing
> ...


That wasn't what I said. Please don't put words into my mouth.

I said the society I come from is the only one in the world whose members can read and write both traditional and simplified Chinese fluently. We use both interchangeably in everyday life.


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