Is it okay learn both Mandarin Chinese and Traditional writing?

Question

My 4 y.o. son and I are learning Mandarin through Rosetta Stone, but we are practicing Traditional writing and calligraphy. Is this a waste of time?
I understand that through learning traditional, I can eventually learn Simplified. I'm not sure when we will ever get to China and there are no local Chinatowns near us, so still not sure if I should learn to speak Mandarin or Cantonese. Most of the books and resources seem to be in Simplified from catalogs and websites.
I just want to know the best way to go about learning Chinese without wasting time, money and effort.
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Simplified writing is simpler, but traditional writing is much more meaningful. I would recommend learning traditional characters, unless you really don't care about characters other than learning as little as possible. As well, traditional characters are used in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

If you don't know whether to learn Mandarin or Cantonese, definitely learn Mandarin. It is spoken by far more people, it has a much simpler set of sounds and tones, and it is not a written language in China (it is a written language in Hong Kong), and there are far more and better text books. I speak both Mandarin and Cantonese.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

As being a Chinese myself, I strongly recommand that you learn simplified form, since it is the most widely used form of writing. Besdies, simplified characters normally have far less strokes than that of traditional forms; and there4 easier to learn. To tell the truth, a lot of Chinese find it difficult to write traditionally, but for the most of the time we dont have much trouble in recognizing the traditional characters. If you really interested in the CHinese language and the Chinese culture, you can learn the traditional form later after you have fully grasped the simplified form. It'll be alot easier. By the way, traditional way of writing is still in use in Taiwai, Hong Kong, and Macao. If you have to study or work in those regions, I think it is advisable for you to start with the traditional.
As for whether to learn Mandarin or Cantonese, I suggest that you learn Mandarin. The reason is very simple; everyone in China can understand Mandarin, but only a few people can understand Cantonese. Besides, most Cantonese speakers can speak Mandarin as well.
Hope my answer will be useful to you. Good luck with your Chinese!

Answer 4

I am from Taiwan. I strongly recommend you to learn the Traditional Chinese, because after you learn the Traditional Chinese, eventually you can guess the meaning of the Simplified Chinese, but not the other way round. Besides, if you learn the Traditional Chinese, it's easier for you to appreciate the Chinese Classic Literature. I have heard that a lot of mainland Chinese have difficulties in reading Classic Lit. because of language barriers (yes, it's true!) Learning the Traditional Chinese will not be a waste of time.

Answer 5

I agree with both answers above. furthermore i'd like to say that artistic works and what not are usually done in traditional writing, because it's considered more balanced and beautiful.

I like writing in traditional. I find that it's more beautiful, as well.
I would learn Mandarin because it's the most widely used. As well, many people who understand Cantonese will at least have a basic knowledge of Mandarin.

Answer 6

simplified is used in mainland china....traditional in hong kong and taiwan.
the only thing simplified about the simplied characters is their stroke counts.
If you learn traditional you will at least be able to guess at the simplied characters(not the other way around)..Simplified characters do not make sense in the original chinese language concept.
Pinyin is fine upto a certain point and then you really have to learn the characters to understand the language..It is much simpler if you learn both character and sound at the same time as pinyin.

Answer 7

Chinese will be a good language to have for jobs in the future. You might want to study PinYin rather than classic calligarphy. I believe Microsoft has Pin Yin fonts for word.

Answer 8

in case you desire to comprehend Mandarin yet you haven't any longer have been given any clue the place to start then a application for Mandarin is the very superb on the information superhighway direction for the novices by way of fact it particularly starts off with the muse.

Answer 9

agree with ssliao728. I learned mostly the traditional, but because of that, I can guess the simplified.