Simplified vs Traditional Chinese Characters

I’ve been slowly but surely making sense of the Chinese writing system over the last year, and I’m finally beginning actually understand the difference between simplified & traditional characters. Now that I have a somewhat clear understanding of the difference, where they are used, and the importance of each one, I’ve decided I’ll be learning BOTH😍

Simplified vs Traditional Characters

The character to the left is the simplified character for “horse,” while the character to the right is the traditional character for “horse.” They both mean the same, but the traditional character has more lines and details than the simplified one.

Where These Characters Are Used

Simplified Characters

Simplified Characters are used in mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. These are the characters you’ll want to learn if you’re planning to visit China or consume content created there.

Traditional Characters

Traditional characters are used in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. You’ll need to know traditional character if you intend to visit any of these countries or watch or read content from there.

My Decision to Learn both Simplified & Traditional Characters

This character practice book has been extremely useful in helping me see the difference between simplified & traditional characters.

The first 60 percent of the book is characters that do not have different forms in simplified & traditional. The last 40 percent is characters that do have both and how to write them.

Why I’m learning both:

I plan to visit mainland China
I’m currently working with Chinese teachers from Taiwan & Hong Kong
I want to be knowledgeable of the language & varieties

And so, I’m learning both traditional and simplified characters as I study Mandarin begin at HSK 1.

Pssssst! There’s more😉

I had a conversation with a Chinese teacher from Hong Kong on the differences between Cantonese & Mandarin and how simplified & traditional character come into play😍