Why are Chinese Characters still used?

Question

I mean, they may be beautiful, but they're horribly obsolete, cumbersome and impractical. Thousands of little drawings to memorise just to read a simple article in an unsophisticated news daily.
Besides, using an obsolete pictographic writing system certainly doesn't help in spreading literacy (especially in case of foreigners trying to learn the language).
Why does China still cling so stubbornly on to them?
Some might say that disposing them off would 'destroy Chinese language and culture' but seriously, wouldn't many more people learn the Chinese (or Japanese) language if they had a more practical orthography?
Japanese intrigues me even more. They use two syllaberies in conjunction with Chinese characters, why not just use the syllaberies instead?
It's not like they're a good shorthand or anything- writing 'yuuki'-courage takes 23 strokes in characters and at most 7 or 8 strokes in kana (syllaberies), likewise 'ai'-love 13 strokes in characters and 5 strokes in kana, 'ryori'- cuisine- characters 21 strokes, kana 6 strokes.
Please don't be offended, I'm not opposed to linguistic or cultural diversity, nor am I one of those 'Anglophone fanatics' who surf through Hindi, Spanish, and Portuguese videos on youtube just to write 'LEARN ENGLISH YOU THIRD-WORLD BEASTS!' I'm a native Hindi speaker myself and take great pride in my language. I'm just curious about why Chinese Characters have managed to endure despite everything against them, please don't perceive my question as an attack on your culture, I never meant it to be.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

I actually like Chinese more than the English language. Yes, English is easy to learn because there's only 26 alphabets.The Chinese language is made up of hundreds of characters, but each character tells you a lot about the context that in a way can save space.

For example the word "they" in English, in Chinese, it can be 他們, 她們, or 它們. All pronounced the same (ie. same pinyin), but each means something different. 他們 = they (men or men+women), 她們 = they (women only), 它們 = they (animal or inanimate objects). 們 simply means "plural". In English, one would have to explain who "they" include.

The Chinese language has been around for many thousands of years and not only is it impossible to introduce a "new system" but it's not practical. Because it would require the entire nation to learn a new system and as a result, the language and literature would be come "lost". Like Hebrew, Egyptian and the other languages. It is a pity how so little people nowadays can still read and understand them. Imagine if more people could understand them, how much more information and history can we learn.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Your answer does make the most sense. I've been learning Mandarin for six months and although they did frustrate me at first (or rather, they still do) I can't deny that sometimes they help in comprehending certain nuances of meaning which can't be expressed in English unless clearly stated. Thanks!

Answer 2

Yes chinese Characters are still used. They are used in china...
There are basic Characters and there are complex characters. The complex characters are harder to memorize and the basic all chinese people know. There are over 2,000 chinese characters but few people know them all.

Answer 3

I am an English speaking native Australian who studied Chinese in China. Once you get over the initial learning hurdle, the grammar and simplicity of the language makes English look very mundane and cumbersome. Also don't forget, the brain recognizes something pictorially faster the deciphering, like is done when you read English. Generally Chinese writing can be read and comprehended nearly twice as fast as reading English. And the Translations/meanings of the words make so much more sense than English. Oh don't forget its the most "spoken" (not most widely spoken) language in the world.

Answer 4

China and japan are using this languagea .. those are Pictorial languages ....
basically for Kanji ( The Pictorial Language) was firstly introduced thouses of thouseds years ago .. But It was hard to read and write for ladies and chindrens or the person those din use this language so much .. but after that .. 'Hiragaana' was devloped .. that is as easy as 'Hindi" to use . .. but after that a new languadge was Also devloped that is : Katakaana' For forgian words in Japaan ..
so finally thay use .. Hiraagana as Main language ..
katakaana for Forgian words
Chainease or Kangi for jurnal words ( Man, Chair, Tree .. etc.)

hope this will help you

Answer 5

i thnk it will be chopsticks

Source(s):

can you say what is meaning of nurjahan

Answer 6

Jibbs isn't quite right.

Simplified Chinese is used mainly in Mainland China. Not all of the characters are simplified and many of the differences are small. Most other worldwide Chinese communities (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, expat communities etc) all use the traditional characters. There are about 3,000 characters in everyday use- which EVERYBODY knows, but there are something like 50,000 in total.

Not sure how true it is, but I once read the Communist Party considered switching from traditional characters to a romanisation system originally, instead of simplified characters.

No doubt using pinyin or bupumufu would increase the ease of learning for natives as well as foreigners, but I imagine it would be incredibly difficult to convince the majority to switch to a new system so far removed from the current one. And what with the PRC being so concerned with sovereignty, national cohesiveness and identity and whatnot, I find it difficult to see any major break-through in the next few decades. I think the best you can hope for is the increased use of English. This is more difficult for a country like China than Singapore, as there is no need for most Chinese people to learn English.

When I first started learning Mandarin I was quite upset and bewildered about why people want to use these characters. My Taiwanese friends explained it was a traditional thing. I'm still struggling with characters, but they are fun as hell to write!