Question by Anthony L: What’s the point of learning how to write chinese characters when there is pin yin?
Wouldn’t it be so much easier if we read pin yin instead of chinese characters? That way, no one has to learn how to write all the different characters. Why aren’t people abandoning chinese characters for pin yin?
Best answer:
Answer by つまらないコト
Because there are some words that are said the same but mean differently, like homonyms in English. If you see the characters, then you would know exactly what it means. If you just learn ping yin, you wouldnt recognize them in character form. And usually signs in Chinese are written in characters.
I think learning pin yin is easier for people to learn Chinese, escpecially for ppl that speak English because that’s what it’s for.
Maybe it would be easier for you to just learn ping yin but not the same case for others. Yup.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Good point, except that pin yin is not Chinese, it’s a “foreign” language loaned to make learning Chinese easier. The 1.3 billion Chinese people would not allow Chinese writing to be wiped out after 5,000 years.
why not the other way?
ditch tradition? no way~
Pinyin is not “a foreign language” as claimed. Nor was it invented to help foreigners learn Chinese.
It was introduced in 1958 to help increase literacy among the Chinese. In this, it has been very successful. Young children learn pinyin first then move on to characters.
Few adult Chinese are totally proficient in pinyin and you see mistakes all the time.
The main reason for learning and using Chinese characters is that Chinese language has so many homophones. It is often impossible to determine the meaning from the pinyin alone. The character makes it totally clear and unambiguous.