> I wonder how much time is collectively 'wasted' due to kanji/Chinese characters. There's probably research on this in Chinese educational literature. Pinyin,

> I wonder how much time is collectively 'wasted' due to kanji/Chinese characters. There's probably research on this in Chinese educational literature. Pinyin, though now used primarily for computer input and foreign language learning, was originally conceived for use in teaching literacy to native Chinese speakers. Mass literacy in China was a particularly hard nut to crack because of the huge challenge of learning thousands of characters as compared to a small phonetic alphabet. The ambition of replacing characters with pinyin never really developed momentum for native Chinese speakers. But the increasing use of computer input, I believe, has reduced the emphasis on years of character-writing memorisation drills in Chinese schools.