Do they speak traditional or simplified Chinese in China?
1- Where They’re Used Today, simplified Chinese is officially used in mainland China and Singapore, and is often also used by the Chinese community in Malaysia. Traditional Chinese is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Traditional Chinese was originally the standard in all Chinese-speaking regions.
What is traditional Chinese language called?
The official dialect of China is Mandarin, also call “Putonghua”. More than 70\% of the Chinese population speaks Mandarin, but there are also several other major dialects in use in China: Yue (Cantonese), Xiang (Hunanese), Min dialect, Gan dialect, Wu dialect, and Kejia or Hakka dialect.
Should I learn traditional Chinese?
Should I study Simplified or Traditional Chinese? There is no right or wrong here but keeping it very general for you: If you want to study in mainland China, or even Singapore, study simplified Chinese. If you want to study in Hong Kong or Taiwan study traditional Chinese.
Why did China change the writing system?
Believing the steep learning curve of Traditional Chinese characters to be a factor, the government launched a campaign to promote literacy and education by simplifying the writing system. Approximately 2,000 traditional characters were modified, primarily by reducing the number of strokes and/or merging the characters.
Can Chinese people read simplified Chinese?
An interesting quirk in this equation is that most Chinese living in the Hong Kong and Taiwan can read Simplified Chinese, but the majority of residents from the People’s Republic have trouble deciphering Traditional characters.
What is the difference between traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese?
While Simplified Chinese took over mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong stayed with Traditional Chinese, which people have been using for thousands of years. Simplified Chinese itself has evolved over time, too. As recently as 2013, the Chinese government released an official List of Commonly Used Standardized Characters.
When did China start using the Pinyin system?
In 1977, Chinese officials made a formal request to the United Nations (UN) 6 to use the pinyin system for naming geographical locations in China. People who use pinyin are those who are more familiar with the western alphabet and are learning to speak Mandarin Chinese.