各位读者，大家好！
Hello, everyone!
This is Chinese, simplified Chinese. In traditional Chinese, it would look like this: 各位讀者，大家好！
As you can see, only one word changed, 讀. Essentially, not every traditional Chinese character has a simplified form. For the ones that do, interestingly enough, it will not take you long to see a pattern or correlation between the two.
Here are some common and simpler ones that you will find a pattern almost immediately:
說 – 说
們 – 们
這 – 这
樂 – 乐
開 – 开
The following ones would be much harder to determine or identify a pattern. The phrases on the left are in traditional Chinese, and the ones on the right are the simplified versions of the same phrases. Cover the right side and give it a shot to see how many you can decipher! I have included the 漢語拼音 at the end to denote the tone of each word.
聯繫 – 联系 (Lián xì)
群眾 – 群众 (Qún zhòng)
實際 – 实际 (Shí jì)
業務員 – 业务员 (Yè wù yuán)
遊覽 – 游览 (Yóu lǎn)
公園 – 公园 (Gōng yuán)
廣場 – 广场 (Guǎng chǎng)
遊戲 – 游戏 (Yóu xì)
蠟筆 – 蜡笔 (Là bǐ)
興致勃勃 – 兴致勃勃 (Xìng zhì bó bó)
Many places, like Hong Kong and Taiwan, still practices traditional Chinese, whereas Singapore and mainland China are now all about the simplified form. The simplified form was initially introduced in China during the 1950’s with the intention of increasing literacy and education rates amongst the farmers. Nevertheless, those who are more conservative still prefer to stick with the traditional format for it more closely resembles the ancient form and the origination of each character with its meaning. Others, like us, prefer the simplified form because each character requires fewer strokes to write, which makes it much easier to learn and remember.
So, which do you prefer?
It’s interesting how traditional characters had to be simplified instead of just being simplified characters since the beginning. I was surprised at how simplified characters were introduced in the 1950s. I always thought it would be later, since my parents still prefer traditional characters over simplified. I’ve always wondered why people still stick to traditional and if they still teach it at school. I personally think simplified characters are so much more efficient when writing and a lot easier to remember.
I think that this article is very interesting! I find it very impressive how many people understand both simplified and traditional Chinese. Traditional characters are so much more complicated than simplified characters and it is very cool how some places still practice traditional Chinese.
This article was really interesting. I feel really connected to this article because of my dad. My dad does write in the traditional form but I learn it in the simplified manner at school. Traditional characters are really difficult to learn in my experience and they look so complicated. I believe that simplified is better overall and is easier to remember.
I never knew that separate parts of China used different types of characters. it was nice to learn that not all traditional characters can be translated to simplified. it was interesting to find that some the traditional characters looked different from simplified, but others looked similar. Considering naming the characters “simplified” and “Traditional” I knew that the traditional characters came before the simplified characters.
I definitely prefer simplified characters. This is because simplified characters are easier to write than traditional characters. The examples of differences between the two helped me better understand the reason for the transfer to simplified characters. The history behind the switch is interesting. Great article.
This particular topic has long been a debate between different countries that have Chinese as their national language. My family is from Taiwan so I grew up learning traditional Chinese. Although I put in more effort to learn Chinese characters the traditional way instead of the simplified way, I feel proud. In a way, I view Chinese characters as a kind of art form. In my opinion, simplifying characters to an extent where two characters don’t even look alike anymore is taking away from the art and beauty of the Chinese language. I would always go the extra mile to write and learn traditional characters.
Thank you so much for sharing this comprehensive article! I never knew different parts of China use different styles of characters. Learning simplified Chinese for 3 years, I haven’t had the opportunity to correlate traditional to simplified, but this article definitely breaks everything down really well. It’s also really cool to see how sometimes the character changes a lot and sometimes it might not even change at all. It makes sense that the reason for the switch was to increase literacy and education rates, as traditional looks a lot more confusing.
This article is very interesting!!! This article gave me a new profound understand how the language has changed over periods. Chinese was using traditional characters to what is now simplified characters, in between there were numerous changes. For example, the word “relationship” in simplified looks drastically different from that of traditional characters. Similarly, in English language there were new words invented and deleted to fit changing society; this might happen to Chinese as time moving forward.
Thank you for another interesting and informative article about the Chinese language. I prefer the simplified characters to use in school as they are much easier to learn and write when compared to the traditional form. I think that simplifying the characters was a smart decision as the literacy and education rates increased. It always amazes me how the traditional character gets reduced to the simplified version, and it always takes me a while to see the correlation between the two. However, I hope that we still get a chance to be exposed to the traditional characters at least once in Chinese class.
This is an interesting article. It’s cool to see how Chinese characters have changed over time. I prefer the simplified version because it’s simpler and easier to learn. I don’t know much about the traditional version but from seeing the differences between the two, the differences are clear.
You really brought this topic to my attention. I always thought that for every traditional character there was a simplified counterpart. I knew some changes were big, but some can be small even if it was a change in a tiny stroke, however, I never thought that some characters remained the same. What suprised me the most was the change in the word “爱.” Upon closer inspection, I realize that there is actually a “心“ in the traditional character but not the simplified one. Overall I thought it was a great informative article.
This article teaches me a lot. That is the first time I read traditional with simplified Chinese seriously. I never knew simplified Chinese was introduced during 1950s. For me, simplified version will be easier, but I think the best is to remember both traditional and simplified. I want to learn more about traditional Chinese.
This is fascinating! I had grown up learning simplified Chinese characters instead of the traditional that my mom knows. I remember seeing different characters that my mom had written and wondering what they had meant, although I had actually learned them before in their simplified forms. This was very informative! I look forward to learning more about the traditional forms of the Chinese language.
Being such an ancient language, seeing the history and evolution of Chinese is always interesting. I was surprised to learn that many aspects of the characters remain the same in traditional and simplified Chinese. I also was unaware of the recency of the change to simplified, I was wrong to think traditional characters as a thing of the far past. However, I definitely am going to stick to simplified; it is both easier to learn and read!
It is very interesting that they introduced simplified because certain people don’t have enough of an education making it easier for those people to learn Chinese. I personally get very confused between simplified and traditional. I know that they developed simplified because it’s easier and I am very curious to know why countries certain countries such as Singapore and mainland China use simplified and Hong Kong and Taiwan on the other hand use traditional? Overall, what I learned from the article is the origins of simplified chinese and the pros and cons of each.
Wow, great article Hitomi; I had no idea that simplified characters were almost unrecognizable when compared to their traditional counterparts. In places like Hong Kong and Taiwan where they still use the traditional form, so many everyday tasks must take longer including writing a letter, crafting an email, or even just commenting on a website like this one. I understand the Chinese government’s reasoning behind simplifying characters: to boost literacy rates, but I feel as though the Chinese government should have done more to preserve the history of their language, one of the oldest in the world. That being said, I am very glad that students learning in Chinese do not have to learn traditional as that would discourage many from experiencing Chinese language and culture. I wonder how many people are literate in traditional Chinese writing? Great article Hitomi. Keep up the good work!
I always thought that both simplified and traditional were very similar, but I’ve really only learned simplified so I prefer that. My parents on the other hand learned traditional but when when you really compare them its just personal preference. I believe many people always preferred simplified because it was just really easy even though many words stay the same some characters have more strokes compared to their simpler version. But it really is amazing seeing the difference between simplified and traditional.
This article helped me understand the differences and similarities between simplified and traditional Chinese. I never knew that different parts of china used different characters. It is cool how people can understand both types of writing. I prefer simplified because it is what I have been learning that for longer. I am happy I don’t have to learn traditional since it seems more complicated.
Wow I always thought that every simplified character had a version in the traditional form. It’s fascinating to see the reason why simplified characters were first introduced in China and how recent this event took place. For me, I prefer simplified characters, as I’m sure many others would too when they are first picking up the language. But the significance of traditional characters is rooted in its complexity and message behind the character. I wonder if we will learn more about traditional characters as the year goes on.
This was very interesting! I’d always thought that nearly all traditional characters had been simplified. I also hadn’t known that simplified characters had only been introduced in the 1950s, for the purpose of increasing the literacy rate in China. Simplified characters do look much easier to learn! Looking at the long history of the Chinese writing system, it would be cool to learn more about the history behind each character.
This article amazingly displayed the differences between simplified and traditional Chinese writing. Personally, I prefer writing traditional characters as the meaning of the character is not always displayed in simplified writing. It was interesting to learn that simplified Chinese was introduced to increase literacy, as simplified writing is undoubtedly easier to learn. Of course, growing up learning under Tawainese teachers and living in a Cantonese household, traditional characters were taught to me ever since I was young. I hope places such as Tawain and Hong Kong continue to use traditional characters to preserve the
“ancient” Chinese way of writing.
I’m surprised at the difference between traditional and simplified characters. While for some characters you can see the difference when you put them next to each other, for others, it’s unrecognizable. I’m sort of glad I don’t have to write in traditional characters because of the difficult strokes. At the same time, I want to learn how to write them in their ancient form. I found this article interesting and helpful.
I really like this article by Hitomi because we only learned simplified Chinese in school. My family only uses simplified as well and I feel like the majority of people use simplified. So it was surprising to see major places such as Taiwan and Hong Kong still use traditional. Although some simplified and traditional letters are the same, I don’t think I will ever try traditional because it seems a lot harder to write and memorize the characters. It was also an interesting story to how simplified chinese was introduced. People wanted poorer people and farmers to get more education.
The difference between traditional and simplified characters are surprisingly odd. The relationship between them makes sense, but when taking a closer look at them, it is difficult to see a connection between them. In class we use simplified and most of the people that I know use simplified, but it is cool to see that there are still people who do use traditional characters around Asia. My parents know traditional and I know simplified so it makes for great discussion when we both try to write the same sentence but they look completely different. I learned a lot and hope to one day learn how to write traditional as well.
This is a really interesting article! I never knew that some Asian countries made the switch from traditional to simplified Chinese to increase literacy and education rates among farmers! I also didn’ know that some countries still use traditional. After comparing the characters of traditional and simplified I can see the many pattern and similarities. Thank you for sharing this article!
I found this article informative and interesting. Before reading this I thought that simplified and traditional were completely different, I also didn’t know that different countries/regions spoke either simplified or traditional. I also thought the reason that the two systems were developed is very interesting. The two different systems of Chinese remind me of the script and print that are in English.
I personally prefer simplified characters because I think they’re easier to read. I think that many radicals in each of the characters are the same. Also, I see many characters that are traditional only in Chinese festivities. I think that learning about Chinese traditional characters is something I have to work on. This article is so interesting!
This was a very well put together article, that I feel took a lot of effort, and so I’m grateful for it. I’ve always seen traditional Chinese as something entirely foreign to me, and so it is very interesting to see it being brought to life like this in comparison with characters that I already know. Of course, I prefer simplified because that’s what I’ve always learned, but it is beautiful to see the similarities and differences between the two versions of writing Chinese! I hope to one day learn traditional Chinese as well!
This article does a great job of explaining the relationship between traditional and simplified Chinese writing. The history of how simplified writing came to be is truly fascinating. In my opinion both forms of writing have upsides. The simplified form is very much easier while traditional is far more complicated. However traditional writing has a beauty to it that simplified takes away. It is difficult to say which is “better” but traditional should never die out.
This is such an interesting article! It’s amazing that there is a tradition and simplified version of Chinese. I only learned simplified so… I like how you explain how they are similar. Its amazing that some characters are very similar. I also find it amazing that not every tradition character has a simplified character.
This is an interesting article. It’s cool to see how Chinese characters have changed over time. I prefer the simplified version because it’s simpler and easier to learn. I don’t know much about the traditional version but from seeing the differences between the two, the differences are clear.
Simplified and traditional Chinese is an interesting way to look at the evolution of a language. Traditional Chinese was seen as very difficult, complicated, and confusing, which led to less people learning Chinese and becoming literate. The simplified form is a purposeful simplification of the Chinese writing system, which allows Chinese to become more prevalent as a world language, as it is easier to learn. It also increases literacy rates. Some argue that simplified Chinese undermines traditional Chinese culture, and although I don’t agree with that point of view, it’s good to remember that the Chinese that you’re learning is far easier than the one that would have been taught 100 years ago.
What a topic! The history and culture of this distinct language is so incredibly deep, and the differences in characters are the perfect example of this. When I was in China this past summer, I looked at the differences between traditional and simplified characters, as well as the ancient characters before China’s unification in 221 BC. It was such an intriguing topic to study, and taught me a great deal about how this nation became what we know it as. I thank you for reporting on this subject, and hope that you have equally developed a passion for this as myself. Excellent work, Hitomi.
Nice article! The difference between traditional and simplified characters is so subtle, but makes all the difference. Personally, I prefer the traditional characters. They reflect the true meaning of a pictographic written language, since they include fundamental radical characters to help decipher the meaning. Although it requires a few more strokes in some cases, it helps new learners gain a better grasp of the true meaning and origin of each character. Not only that, but it helps students of the language learn new words easier by identifying some of the key radical components with already well-known characters. Regardless, the simplified language is dominant in today’s society and it is great we have the opportunity to learn it.
Thanks so much for writing this article. Solely studying Chinese through the school’s Chinese class, we mainly learn simplified Chinese as opposed to traditional Chinese. Through this article, I was able to learn more about the traditional aspect of Chinese which I find to be quite fascinating. One thing that I now think is interesting, is how similar the two forms of Chinese are, sure, there may be a few more strokes added to each traditional character, but most simplified and traditional characters look similar and have similar meaning as well. I have come to grow a greater appreciation for the traditional form of Chinese, and have come to see that it more closely resembles the pictographic language that Chinese has always been. I have found it quite interesting as well, that when people distinguish between traditional and simplified Chinese, that might only be the difference of one stroke between traditional and simplified; I find that pretty cool!
无论是繁体字还是简体字，都是中国文化的一部分，繁体字记录着几千年的历史，简体字则带动了中国现代的发展，两者缺一不可
This article was very informing and interesting to read. The history between simplified and traditional Chinese is quite amazing! I usually like to go with simplified characters since I tend to be better with them. I noticed right after how the two are quite similar! Great article and very pleasant to read
i find it amazing that within a language there almost seems to be a whole different language. i have never encountered a written language that is like the Chinese language. what is even more beautiful is that traditional Chinese and even simplified Chinese is just like art. each character is unique and represents something different. however less and less people are learning traditional Chinese and i hope this beautiful part of the Chinese language will be kept alive and practiced.
This article was very intriguing and very informative. Even though traditional Chinese characters are more complex and harder to read, people still use them to this day. I also learned both simplified and traditional Chinese characters too. Both simplified and traditional characters have many similarities. I believe that simplified characters are easier to learn
This is an interesting article. It’s cool to see how Chinese characters have changed over time. I prefer the simplified version because it’s simpler and easier to learn. I don’t know much about the traditional version but from seeing the differences between the two, the differences are clear..
I always preferred the simplified characters because it was much easier to write compared to traditional. Traditional characters were always complicated to work with and write. The differences are there but it is really hard to tell sometimes.
I still prefer simplified, as I actually can write them, and I’d have to learn everything all over again. Although I never really knew the differences between simplified and traditional until now. And now that I think about it, traditional might actually be easier to learn since no patterns have been removed from the characters to simplify them. But simplified is definitely easier to write. In reality, preference will definitely vary from person to person
繁体字和简体字看着很不一样， 但是实际的意思和读法都是相同的， 繁体字比简体字要难写，所以现在大家一般都用简体字， 我自己也是更喜欢用简体字来读和写。
Wow I’m barely able to remember just simplified characters! it is hard to choose which i like more. Simplified is simpler, so they’re easier to remember. on the other hand, some traditional characters have more radicals, which help me find the meaning of characters. Overall, I like simplified characters more since I’ve been learning it for longer. The differences are very interesting though.