- Most native Chinese speakers are able to write in only one of the two systems, though they can usually read both
- it is easier for people who learn Traditional to read both sets
- Simplified characters are less intimidating for beginners
- “if you like the traditional meanings and history of the charcters, learn traditional”
- simplified characters are more commonly used in mainland China and the business world
- traditional Chinese characters are more common in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. However, in Hong Kong and Macau, Cantonese is the more common dialect. This leaves Tiawan in a unique position as the only region that officially uses traditional Chinese with Mandarin.
- People in mainland China still use traditional Chinese for special ceremonies, cultural practices, and publications on ancient literature.
- Also note that Mandarin contains homonyms (a set of two or more words that have the same sound but differ in meaning). There’s no way around the need to recognize and produce the hanzi.
My personal goal will be to read and write simplified characters while being able to read traditional characters as a secondary goal.