Page 26 - MAndarin_Neat

Chit'\ese Characters at'\d Simplified Characters

"'(he Chil'\eSe cha .. actel" is the 01'\ly ideo91"aph still il'\ daily lASe il'\ the Wo .. ld today.

lA"'Iike the alphabetic S}::'Stems ~ b}::' most lan9Aa~, Chinese is made t-tp of chal"acters,
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the majo .. it}::' of which a .. e pictopho"'etic". Most co"'sist of a compol'\el'\t i"'dicatin9
the sot-tnd of the cha .. actel" 1 the phol'\etic, COI'I'\bi"'ed with a semal'\tic compo"'ent, the

si9"'ifical'\ce of the .. adical, which shows the cat~o .. }::' of meal'\il'\9 to which the chal"acte.-
beiOI'\95·
Chil'\ese chal"acte.-s al'e mOI'\osyllable.s 1 cmd 9el'\el"all}::' each cha.-actel" l"epl"esents a
si"'9le 11'\0I"pheme. ne total ~be .. of Chil'\ese chal"acte.-s is estimated at ovel" 40,000,
of which ol'\ly 5;()()()- 8 1 000 al"e f..eqt-tently lASed, while 3 1 000 at"e 1'\0I"mall}::' adeqt-tate fol"

evet"}::'day si+t-tatiol'\5.
A COI'\Side.-able ~e.- of Chi"'ese chal"actei"S at"e composed of ~e.-ow; sh-okes
al'\d al"e the.-efol"e complicated to Wl"ite. With a view to facilitati"'9 Wl"itil'\9 1 people have

made co"'ti"'t-tot.\5 attempts to simplify the WV'iti"'9 S}::'Stem. The simplificatio"' of Chil'\ese
chal"acte.-s il'\clt-tdes two aspects: to l"edt-tce the 1'\t-ti'Y\bel" of chal"actel"s 1 al'\d to l"edt-tce
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the 1'\t-tmbel" of stl"okes. What al"e kl'\oWI'\ as simplified chal"actei"S" l"efel" to those
chal"acters that have been ~simplified; h-aditiOI'\al chal"acters, Ol'\ the othe.- ha"'d, al"e
those that l"etail'\ theil" eal"lie.- fo..-ms.

"'(he lASe of simplified chat"actei"S is 1'\0W official polic}::' il'\ the p eo pie's 'Rep1Ablic of
Chi"'a, while tl"aditiol'\al chal"actei"S al"e l"esivicted mail'\1}::' to academic lASe ol" aesthetic
pwposes. Simplified chal"actei"S have the adval'\ta~s of bei"'9 easiet" to leal"''\ 1 memol"ize,
l"ead al'\d wl"ite. t-lel"e al"e two examples:

mothe.- ~ ( ivaditiol'\al ) M ( simplified )
dool" P, ( waditiol'\al) n ( simplified )
Simplified chal"acters al"e lASed il'\ this textbook.