


Pinyin is the term used to refer to the system of writing Chinese words in the Latin (English) alphabet.As a result, most systems support both Traditional and Simplified Chinese in parallel. Although it is relatively easy to convert from Chinese Traditional to Chinese Simplified, the reverse is not always true. As part of the of the simplification, several Traditional characters were collapsed into one character in Simplified. Chinese Simplified was developed in Mainland China (and adopted in Singapore) as a way of simplifying the older system in order to increase literacy.Chinese Traditional characters are more complex and more numerous. Chinese Traditional is the older form of the script and is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and other locations outside of China, including various "Chinatowns" in the West.There are several variants of the the Chinese script used in different contexts. Characters as a Bridge Between DialectsĬhinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Pinyin.

Note: The script does also have a phonetic component.Īlthough there are several distinct varieties (or "dialects") spoken in China including Mandarin and Cantonese (Hong Kong),they can all read many of the same "written words" because the script is more based on meaning, not on sound. Represents a single concept characters are then combined The Chinese script is a logographic script structured so that each character Activate Input/Typing Utilities for Typing.
