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I find hard to believe every language in the planet can be successfully expressed using some sort of alphabetic system, except for Japanese/Chinese (and local v
by emblaegh 2y ago
I find hard to believe every language in the planet can be successfully expressed using some sort of alphabetic system, except for Japanese/Chinese (and local variants)
- DiogenesKynikos 2y agoThey could be written alphabetically, of course. The question is just what you lose, given that the characters are a massive part of Chinese and Japanese culture. Chinese has evolved alongside its writing system for about 3000 years, and switching over to pinyin (the standard Latin transliteration) would be a complete revolution in Chinese culture.
- emblaegh 2y agoI was responding to the assertion that writing Chinese using an alphabet would render the text incomprehensible, not arguing that China or Japan should switch over.