In Canada, should I learn traditional characters?

[叫我小山]

大家好！

 

I'm working my way through learning the HSK syllabus, and have just finished level 4, along with learning to write the words together and the individual characters. My question is, If I am in an environment where mainly traditional characters are used, should I also learn tradition along with my simplified characters, or should I hold off until I complete the HSKs?

 

I live in Canada, where there are a lot of Cantonese-speaking immigrants, so I find that many shops, restaurants, newspapers, etc. are all written in traditional characters. If I want to take advantage of these learning opportunities, I feel I shouldn't waste time in going through the whole HSK syllabus first in simplified, but that I should try both at the same time. My girlfriend says it will be too hard and that I will start mixing up which characters are traditional or simplified.

 

Has anyone else had issues with this? I feel traditional characters are beautiful (albeit harder to learn [and write]), and I would have access to most of the Chinese written world if I acquired knowledge of both character sets. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, and most areas of every Chinatown and Chinese immigrant area in the world employ traditional characters as well.

 

Thank you in advance for your wisdom

[stapler]

I learnt both at the same time. It wasn't any real extra effort. In fact I still maintain that learning characters is actually one the easiest parts of Chinese (compared to forming grammatically/idiomatically correct sentences, getting tones clear, etc). I encourage everyone to learn both. Most of the differences follow obvious substitution rules much in the same way British English and American English do (civilisation or civilization, colour or color, center or centre, etc). Once you know those rules using one over the other isn't any extra effort. I feel equally comfortable reading both traditional and simplified to the point where I often don't even notice that I'm reading one set rather than the other and I'm not an advanced Chinese speaker/reader/writer. Too often the whole traditional/simplified debate seems to be made into something much bigger than it really is.

[Geiko]

I started to study traditional characters when I had already read a couple of novels in Chinese (around HSK 5-6). I only wanted to be able to read them, not write, so I read a series of graded readers in traditional characters, to make the transition easier, and I gradually chose harder readings. After some months, I was comfortable with both sets and right now I'm not aware of which set I'm reading, like Stapler said. 

[Shelley]

I have started learning both at the same time after many years of self study of simplified. I think there is lots of useful information in traditional. I am not learning to write them but I want to be able to read them.

In your situation surrounded by traditional characters it makes sense to me to learn to read them. I wouldn't worry too much about writing them.

I don't think there should be too much confusion between the two if you learn them thoroughly.

I agree with stapler, its not as difficult at it seems.

 

 

 

 

[889]

There are a good handful of characters which are very different, like 衛 to 卫 , but most are just radical changes, like 話 to 话, and very easy to remember. If you're serious about Chinese, then ultimately you're going to be familiar with both, so you may as well start early.

[陳德聰]

Yay Canada.

 

If it is information of any use, most Chinese people I interact with in Chinatown in Vancouver who use Simplified as their go-to can read Traditional without problem. But my Cantonese grandma who only uses Traditional can only recognise the Simplified characters that are based on the shorthand/cursive version of a character. Also my Traditional-using friends often send me pictures of Simplified characters they can't understand expecting me to decipher haha.

 

Only issue for you is it might increase your likelihood of only being able to recall the Traditional character when you're trying to write in Simplified but that's not a huge issue.

[889]

"Only issue for you is it might increase your likelihood of only being able to recall the Traditional character when you're trying to write in Simplified but that's not a huge issue."

 

And outside of a classroom, nine odds out of ten any writing you do will be on a machine that takes care of the right character set.

[叫我小山]

Hello guys, thanks for the quick responses.

 

I am learning to write only because it's really the best way to recall characters when reading. I tried just using Anki and reading alone, but I would find I would mix up similar-looking characters like, 买，实，and 使，便，or 看，着，and things like that. With less common and more obscure characters and words I would find I couldn't tell what it was.

 

I have no plan on writing long letters to anyone, maybe just to write and order in a restaurant once in a while. It is also really cool to see how there is more meaning behind traditional characters, and I find I can sometimes create mnemonic stories to remember them because there are more radicals (or more strokes within said radicals) that I can piece together in my head.

[Geiko]

I do write a lot by hand, and I hate mixing both character sets, so I decided to stick to simplified for handwritten and use traditional when I type. Sometimes I toy with the idea of writing in traditional, but one of my best penfriends lives in 華豐 street and these two characters make me reconsider the whole thing

If you want to learn to write both character sets, it might take you a little longer at first, but in the long run it will be very useful knowledge. And after all, learning Chinese requires years of time anyway. 

[Mati1]

Of course, the one time that I forget to copy my post before posting, the forum ignores my submit command and the browser eats what I just wrote. What's going on?

 

Anyway, regarding simplified characters and reading / listening I can recommend the DeFrancis series of textbooks and readers.

[roddy]

Sorry Mati1, it'll have been this.

[Karencream]

Here in Vancouver, most chinese people use simplified. Like in chinese mall, restaurants and menus. Lots of newspapers and magazines are also simplified. Rarely do I see any traditional anymore.