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I think GP‘s point is that right now they can read the same text even if they can’t understand it spoken. Moving to a phonetic script would mean they can no lon
by wuiheerfoj 3y ago
I think GP‘s point is that right now they can read the same text even if they can’t understand it spoken. Moving to a phonetic script would mean they can no longer read the same text, ergo worse
- pmoriarty 3y agoA phonetic/phonemic script would be worse for mutual intelligibility for those privileged enough to know written Chinese, which is notoriously difficult to learn. But it might be better for literacy in general because it would be much easier to learn. And, though it is a comparably much more trivial issue, better for creating something like a morse code. That said, I know there are many other issues apart from simple ease of learning that figure in to what language people learn or want to use. Written Chinese has a rich history and culture, and it's tied to people's identity so of course jettisoning it for something arguably more practical with the added downside of loss of mutual intelligibility among those who know written Chinese would likely result in strong opposition.
- akasakahakada 3y agoIf you see the counter-arguments are coming from historical and cultural stuff, then you are making wrong assumption here. At least not in this branch. Literally you are the first one to mention this argument.