Having trouble with a mish-mash of traditional and simplified characters

[PinYin55]

So, I studied Mandarin at an American university for 2 years. We learned simplified. I'm definitely not great at Mandarin, but I am at an intermediate level.

Then, I moved to Taiwan. Of course, everything here is in Traditional characters. While I naturally began to recognize some of them, I never really studied them.

Now, though, I am taking a Chinese course in Taiwan, and I opted for the traditional textbook. I've always wanted to know traditional, and it just seems like the thing to do here in Taiwan.

Thing is, I think the traditional textbook is hurting my progress. I am having trouble keeping up in class and reading, because I don't know half of the characters.

So, my two options seem to be this:

1) Continue using a traditional textbook, which is something I always wanted to do. But, it might actually stunt my chinese learning as a whole, since reading-wise, I am jumping back a solid 2 years.

2) Learn in simplified, and plan to learn the traditional characters later or on my own.

Number 2 seems more logical at the moment, but I just feel silly learning simplified in Taiwan.

Of course, the end goal is to learn both. But I don't know which route is more logical.

Anyone been through something similar?

[anonymoose]

How would learning in simplified help you keep up in class? Presumably the texts you use in class are all in traditional.

 

I have never specifically studied traditional, but I can read fairly competently in traditional just from my knowledge of simplified. The differences between many characters is predictable anyway, and most of the rest can be guessed from context.

 

If you are finding it difficult reading in traditional, your knowledge of simplified was probably not at an advanced level anyway. I'd say don't bother wasting time learning simplified if you are in a traditional environment. It sounds like you just need to knuckle down and practise more.

[gato]

This old thread might help:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/25651-learning-traditional-characters-after-studying-simplified-for-4-years/?p=214033

Learning Traditional Characters After Studying Simplified

[OneEye]

I had a lot of classmates while I was taking language courses who were in the same situation. Just put in a little extra work at first and you'll transition to traditional characters just fine. 2 years of American university Chinese classes doesn't add up to all that much in the grand scheme of things, so you'll be caught up in no time.

[PinYin55]

How would learning in simplified help you keep up in class? Presumably the texts you use in class are all in traditional.

 

I have never specifically studied traditional, but I can read fairly competently in traditional just from my knowledge of simplified. The differences between many characters is predictable anyway, and most of the rest can be guessed from context.

 

If you are finding it difficult reading in traditional, your knowledge of simplified was probably not at an advanced level anyway. I'd say don't bother wasting time learning simplified if you are in a traditional environment. It sounds like you just need to knuckle down and practise more.

 

 

I apologize for not being clear. I can request the same textbook in simplified, so that I can use it in class. 

 

My knowledge of simplified certainly wasn't advanced. Intermediate at best. I can definitely recognize a majority of the characters, but some are wildly different.

 

As for being in a traditional environment, I am for the time being. But, my job has be in China, Taiwan, HK, etc. Ideally, I need to know both.

 

I guess my main question is whether I should continue with simplified (since I have a foundation there) and learn traditional later, or vice versa.

 

From reading these responses so far, it seems as there may not be a "logically-correct" answer. I guess it's just preference.  

 

Thank you for the advice, and I apologize if this was a silly question. I just thought perhaps someone had been through something similar and maybe had some advice.

[OneEye]

Yeah, lots of people have been through something similar, like I said in my post above. You live in Taiwan. Simplified characters are next to useless here, as even many Taiwanese people have a hard time reading them. Put in the effort to learn traditional. Simplified characters are easy enough to learn once you're competent in traditional, if you're so inclined (personal experience here), and vice versa. The pragmatic choice is to learn the one that's most immediately useful to you and don't worry about the other until you need it.

[imron]

but some are wildly different.

All up, only about 500.  Put them in to a flashcard program and drill them for a couple of weeks and you should be up to speed.  If you know what ones you have already learnt, you can probably even delete all the other ones, so you will have significantly less to learn.

[jbradfor]

 

I can request the same textbook in simplified

Would it be possible for you to request it and take a look, but not commit to using it?

 

Based on what you've said ("because I don't know half of the characters."), I'm guessing your issue is that you have a smaller / different vocabulary that what you think you have.  There aren't *that* many characters in common use that differ substantially between traditional and simplified (beyond common radical changes), so if you don't recognize half (even allowing for exaggeration), I don't think you can blame traditional. 

 

So I suggest you take a look at the simplified textbook and see if you can understand substantially more.  If you can't, there's your answer.  If you can, then I'm wrong, and you have a harder decision. [but I would vote for learning traditional anyway.]

[imron]

But, it might actually stunt my chinese learning as a whole, since reading-wise, I am jumping back a solid 2 years.

Not really.  You say you need to learn both eventually anyway, so it's not setting you back, you're just taking a different path - the total distance remains the same.

[Guest realmayo]

I'd get both textbooks   You can follow the advice here to push hard and learn the traditional forms that need learning, but on days when you feel you've just got to do the classwork from the textbook without any extra hassle, you've got a fallback.

 

I'm right now trying to learn the traditional forms, using the spreadsheet via imron's post #7, which is okay.

[Lu]

Are traditional characters really that hard? I can't believe it will take you two years to learn the same characters in traditional that you already know in simplified. It took me only a few weeks to learn them the other way around.

I suggest you first try and learn some basic traditional, namely

1) how the radicals are simplified (traditionalied?)

2) some of the common traditional characters that are simplified beyond recognition (雖/虽, 這/这 and such).

This should take a few weeks at most, perhaps even less if you put a strong effort in. There will still be characters you need to look up, but it should help enormously. Also, do you have a dictionary that you can quickly look things up in?

I agree that learning simplified in Taiwan is not a very useful route. You miss the daily reinforcement of seeing the stuff you learn outside of the classroom, and you might end up studying hard and still unable to read simple menus. Also, the teacher will probably be less good at simplified than at traditional and might make mistakes.

[Demonic_Duck]

It's worth mentioning that it's often possible to work out what the character is from context, even if you're not familiar with that particular traditional form and wouldn't be able to recognise it on its own. It might slow you down a bit, though.

 

I'd agree with those saying you should stick with traditional whilst you're in Taiwan. If you do indeed have a solid grounding in simplified, it shouldn't take you too long to catch up to speed, and certainly not two years (unless your study load is like... 15 minutes a week).

[Nathan Mao]

I'm about as strong of a simplified character proponent as there is, and even I say: just bite the bullet and dive into the traditional character deep end.  You'll be glad you did.

[mouse]

OP, when you were taught Chinese, were the radicals properly introduced to you? As Lu says, paying attention to the radicals can significantly reduce problems with transitioning between traditional and simplified. If you have a proper grounding in radicals, then disregard this. If not, I think it would be worth spending a few days studying them, as most simplifications are via radicals, e.g. from 飠to 饣.

[Hofmann]

It only takes a few days to observe the differences between character sets in your vocabulary. 30 minutes if you're quick. Just do it.