Simplified vs. Traditional

When learning to read and write Chinese characters, should you learn "simplified" Chinese or "traditional" Chinese?

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 population and those trying to learn the language.

Simplified characters may or may not be less pleasant to look at; however, the simplification project did succeed in making it easier to read and write Chinese characters. 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.

Traditional characters are called 繁體字 (fán tǐ zì). Simplified ones are know as 簡體字 (jĭan tĭ zì). 字 "zì" itself means "character" or "writing," and written Chinese is called 漢字 (hàn zì). Since 漢 (hàn) is the ethnic majority of China, 漢字 (hàn zì) is literally "Writing of the Han People." Note that the Japanese pronunciation of 漢字 (hàn zì) is kanji.

Limiting yourself to just one set can be too, well, limiting. In Hong Kong and many foreign Chinese communities living abroad, traditional characters are used when writing. Just as you should become familiar with more than one system for romanizing Chinese pronunciation, learning both traditional 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.

Keep in mind too that not every character has been simplified, only some of the more complicated forms. Plus, this simplification of characters did follow some logical principles. Therefore, learning simplified characters alongside their traditional counterparts is not too difficult.