Traditional Chinese vs. Simplified

[mugenpower168]

Personally, I prefer Traditional. Some of my reasons are:
1. Many Simplified characters have merged two separate characters (with different meanings) into one character. e.g. 裏or裡and里(merged as 里), 衹or只and隻(merged as 只), 穀and谷, 餘and余 etc.
2. It seems that during the "simplification" process, the pronunciation of character in dialects other than Mandarin were disregarded. Many characters that are pronounced the same in Mandarin (but differently in other dialects) are merged. e.g.鬱and郁, 湧and涌, 嚇and吓 etc.
3. I feel Traditional characters look much better than Simplified characters. New York Chinese classical literature expert Hsieh Xuanjun quoted, "Simplified characters look like a group of beggars and disabled people who lack arms or legs, crowding together." I can't say I completely agree with this but I do feel Traditional is much more beautiful.
4. Chinese characters evolved over thousands of years. This evolution was a gradual and much more "natural" process. Simplified characters seem "artificial".
5. Unlike their Traditional counterparts, many Simplifed characters have lost the meanings that are conveyed through radicals. To clarify this point:
麵(「面」)無麥，
運(「运」)無車，
導(「导」)無道，
兒(「儿」)無首，
愛(「爱」)無心，
佇(「伫」)無腳，
親(「亲」)不見，
產(「产」)不生，
廠(「厂」)空空，
飛(「飞」)單翼，
有雲(「云」)無雨，
開(「开」)關(「关」)無門，
鄉(「乡」)里無郎，
聖(「圣」)變怪，
義(「义」)成凶，
魔(「魔」)仍是魔！
A partial translation can be found here: cml.cycu.edu.tw/cml/English/node/94
More examples: www.douban.com/photos/album/43577733/

So which do you prefer? Even if you cannot read Chinese, which one do you think is aesthetically better?

[christine]

I prefer traditional. I can't really read Chinese, but in the classes I've taken and in my own attempts to memorize and understand what characters mean based on their looks, I've learned each component has a specific meaning that seems to get very lost in the simplified versions. I know simplified was invented because of the high illiteracy rate, but I do think it is worth studying traditional Chinese to really understand the background of the characters.

[Henry]

Dear Colleagues,

Please see:

roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/chinese-language-ever-evolving/#eileen

I support the view of Hsuan Meng and personally, I love the beauty of the classical traditional Chinese characters - for me - it is also an art form.


Henry

[douglaslam]

Kin,

You took the word right out of my mouth. How I detest the simplified form, and I had less than five years of primary education in Chinese. ! It is ugly, it does not even look Chinese. It is prostituting our culture and literature. The Cultural Revolution has not really ended until this simplification nonsense is stopped.

I applaud Taiwan and Hong Kong for standing firm on the traditional form. You can't blame illiteracy solely on the traditional characters.

A few years ago, the University of Sydney's Chinese Dept. was going to make the simplified form the only accepted form. It was roundly criticized and the proposal had to be rescinded

[mugenpower168]

Henry: Thanks for the link, very interesting.
Douglas: I too feel strongly against the use of Simplified and it has nothing to do with being anti-Mainland Chinese or anti-CPC. To me it's about the preservation of Chinese culture, traditional Chinese culture. You are very right when you say that you can't blame illiteracy solely on the traditional characters. Most people who were illiterate in China prior to the Communist takeover were illiterate because they could not afford to get an education and learn to read and write, not because traditional Chinese is "harder" to learn. Even IF we concede that simplified increases literacy rates, I do not feel that it is worth sacrificing traditional Chinese culture. I always think, if we want make things "easier," do we also start to eliminate anything else that is "difficult" in Chinese culture? Should we limit the number of tones in all Chinese dialects to 4 so it is as easy to learn as Mandarin? Should we stop using chopsticks because a spoon and fork is easier? Should we get rid of Chinese characters altogether and replace it with Pinyin only? I know these analogies seem extreme but the point I'm trying to make is that we should strive to preserve all aspects of traditional Chinese culture, no matter how "difficult" it may seem. I really do feel that thr CPC should abolish simplified characters ASAP. Simplified characters have been implemented in China for less than 100 years so it is not too late to reverse the process. Of course, it would be quite costly for the government to do this but I think it would be worth every cent, regardless of how expensive it is.

[Henry]

Dear Colleagues,

My 91 year old mother has trouble reading and understanding the simplified Chinese characters - the use of simplified Chinese characters in the case of my mother - has made her somewhat illiterate.


Henry

[baksha]

Hi All,
My vote also goes to traditional chinese as my preferred form. My chinese language school education was in reading and writing in the traditional Chinese chararcters. I even learned to use a brush pen to write Chinese calligraphy, first copying classic words, later free hand - and it is like art. Most importantly, learning the stroke order helped me memorize the words.

I'm lost when I travel in China and try to decipher the simplify Chinese signs. I can understand that simplified Chinese was a format to educate the mass, but give me traditional Characters !

[Doug 周]

My preference is traditional. Unlike most people answering this poll, I have no Chinese language skills. I cannot even recognize my Chinese name if someone flashed it in front of me.

I view the characters as images. When I am looking at analog images of Chinese names, I would enlarge the reference image and place them next to the document I am researching. I look at each stroke and curly squiggle and compare them with my copy. My eyes would go back and forth between the two images until I am satisfied they are the same. It is like looking at and comparing inkblots. If the Chinese text is digital, then I use the search function to find the desired name.

I therefore like the more complicated and intricate lines of traditional characters to simplified, purely from an aesthetic point of view. It is much like my kids enjoying the 'Where is Waldo' pictures; there is just more to study and admire.
Image attribute

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[baksha]

This is a picture of metal medallions that were found buried under a fence in California. These words are stylized seal characters and are examples of early Chinese script that would challenge someone. Have you seen anything like this before?

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[baksha]

Here's the rest of the story on the metal medallions ...My yoga teacher brought in an old wooden board with twelve metal chinese medallions fixed to it. She said it was found when they replaced their old fence in Pacifica. The characters look like early Chinese characters. She wanted to know if they were "ancient"... Initially, I told her that they might be vintage, but looked like an item a tourist might buy because some of the characters (words) are upside down. Out of curiosity, I took the board home to clear off the caked on mud with an old, wet toothbrush. The medallions are 1 3/8 " diameter and 1/8" thick. They look like brass with copper patina on some of the edges.

I did some research and looked up some of the characters in the book I bought at the Oracle Bone Museum in Anyang, China last year. The Oracle Bones were tortoise shells with early chinese characters scratched into them. I was able to match some of the characters on the metal medallions and did a computer search. I searched the character 酉 and it said it was the 10th of 12 Earthly Branches. From there, I googled the Earthly Branches and a Wikipedia article explained that in Taoism, the words are used to identify the 12 months of the year and the zodiac animals. Many of the metal medallion characters appear on that system. Both my native speakers verified it too, and one of them said there are some missing words.

[laohuaqiao]

The medallion has most, but not all of the characters of 子、丑、寅、卯、辰、巳、午、未、申、酉、戌、亥

Before western clocks were introduced to China, time of day was identified by twelve 2-hour periods shi 時 , 子時、丑時、寅時、 ...

Since the hour is a smaller period, hence, I think, the translation for hour 小時 "small shi".

[laohuaqiao]

As to simplified vs traditional debate, I on the side of having both. Most Chinese use 3-4,000 words daily. The simplified character set contains over 8,000. Those who want to can learn the traditional Chinese.

The reality is, in this technology age, I use computers; I've forgotten how to write many characters, whether simplified or traditional, by hand, though I recognize them.

[helen]

My husband says - use it or lose it. We have a dictionary called Grand Chinese Dictionary, and he is able to use that for re-call

[baksha]

Thanks laohuaqiao for additional explanation on the medallions.

I used to refer to my copies of the Chinese-English and an English-Chinese Dictionaries. These days, I've been using the nicku.com site for quick look-ups on the traditional characters. It sure bets finding the Chinese character via number of stroke order...
Although, nicku.com is convenient, it didn't help when I was looking up the medallion characters. The only clue was the mention that a particular characters was no.10 of the 12 earthly branches.