Chinese college students forget how to write

[Nazi Flower Power]

I just got an email with this weird story about Asians who literally forget how to write their native langauge because they use phonetic transliterations so much on the computer and in text messages.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100826/tc ... technology

I find it funny, but at the same time it's kind of sad. What do you think of this? Do you think Chinese characters and Japanese kanji will eventually be replaced by phonetic transliterations in the next few decades or centuries? How much of a problem is it if these traditional writing systems are wiped out by electronic media?

There is technology that can be used to input characters into electronic devices, but is that really as practical as using a phonetic system of typing and writing? Obviously, it is possible to continue using characters, but do you think it's practical?

[Zephie]

I was always curious about this, when I play some online games there's asians on it that speak their languages, but it's always in phonetics. I am not sure, many of their languages aren't suited for the internet, especially when some have thousands of characters.

[Ashmoria]

i think they'll move to english on the computer and use their own languages in the rest of their lives. its just too hard to read chinese in transliteration.

[Dododecapod]

I just got an email with this weird story about Asians who literally forget how to write their native langauge because they use phonetic transliterations so much on the computer and in text messages.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100826/tc ... technology

I find it funny, but at the same time it's kind of sad. What do you think of this? Do you think Chinese characters and Japanese kanji will eventually be replaced by phonetic transliterations in the next few decades or centuries? How much of a problem is it if these traditional writing systems are wiped out by electronic media?

There is technology that can be used to input characters into electronic devices, but is that really as practical as using a phonetic system of typing and writing? Obviously, it is possible to continue using characters, but do you think it's practical?

No, it isn't. I've used a system that allows you to create and read Kanji (part of my attempt to learn Japanese). I'm not the world's fastest typist, but that system slowed me down to about one character (effectively, one word/concept) per minute. I imagine a person more familiar with the language could do better but still not anywhere near the rate of phonetic typing.

[Vetalia]

I think they'll die out in everyday use simply because those characters are inferior when it comes to electronic and printed communication; it's much easier on all ends to have a small set of phonetic characters that can form any sound or word in the language as opposed to learning two thousand or so characters to achieve basic literacy, to say nothing of those you'll need for reading the more advanced texts in that language. Furthermore, they pose a major barrier to foreigners learning these languages, which of course is problematic given the ever-growing need for translators.

However, for artistic and literary uses I'd say they'll remain quite widespread. They're beautiful and have a rich history behind them that surpasses anything comparable in our alphabetic languages.

[Nazi Flower Power]

i think they'll move to english on the computer and use their own languages in the rest of their lives. its just too hard to read chinese in transliteration.

But they're forgetting how to even write the characters. I would think if they switched to English on the computer, they would just switch to English in general -- but still use Chinese for mottos and such similar to how Latin is used in the West.

It is really hard to read Chinese in transliteration. When I was in China I got pretty decent at reading the characters, but if I saw something written in pinyin I would just get confused. My Chinese is bad to begin with, though.

[New Manvir]

They should just learn English like the rest of the world.

[Nazi Flower Power]

However, for artistic and literary uses I'd say they'll remain quite widespread. They're beautiful and have a rich history behind them that surpasses anything comparable in our alphabetic languages.

I would argue that Arabic calligraphy is comparable, and Arabic has an alphabet. Chinese really is fun, though.

[Zephie]

i think they'll move to english on the computer and use their own languages in the rest of their lives. its just too hard to read chinese in transliteration.

But they're forgetting how to even write the characters. I would think if they switched to English on the computer, they would just switch to English in general -- but still use Chinese for mottos and such similar to how Latin is used in the West.

It is really hard to read Chinese in transliteration. When I was in China I got pretty decent at reading the characters, but if I saw something written in pinyin I would just get confused. My Chinese is bad to begin with, though.

There's a difference between learning a totally different language than using a different alphabet to communicate your language in. I know the cyrillic alphabet and some russian, and if I had to use the cyrillic alphabet to communicate in English, I would be able to for the most part, and find that way easier than becoming fluent in Russian.

[Lackadaisical2]

My evilmutually beneficial plans are working.

[Vetalia]

I would argue that Arabic calligraphy is comparable, and Arabic has an alphabet. Chinese really is fun, though.

I'm more partial to Chinese calligraphy myself, but I agree with that.

[Numerika]

I seriously doubt they will be replaced esp. in Japanese. They bust the kids ass to learn hand writing specifically for that. Or maybe hand writing will just become obsolete and it won't matter. In the future, when everyone carries something like ipads (but that don't suck) maybe handwriting will be useless.

[Lackadaisical2]

I seriously doubt they will be replaced esp. in Japanese. They bust the kids ass to learn hand writing specifically for that. Or maybe hand writing will just become obsolete and it won't matter. In the future, when everyone carries something like ipads (but that don't suck) maybe handwriting will be useless.

Only when iPads become small, foldable and inexpensive. (i.e. when paper is truly obsolete)

[Gullivania]

There is technology that can be used to input characters into electronic devices, but is that really as practical as using a phonetic system of typing and writing? Obviously, it is possible to continue using characters, but do you think it's practical?

Well, considering those (or at least the ones that aren't terrible) systems convert phonetic, alphabetic input into the corresponding characters, it's really not that much slower once you get used to it. I can personally attest to this. Problems arise from homophony within the language itself, not the orthography.

However, for artistic and literary uses I'd say they'll remain quite widespread. They're beautiful and have a rich history behind them that surpasses anything comparable in our alphabetic languages.

You don't think alphabetic writing systems have an intricate history behind them? I think getting to the Latin alphabet from Egyptian hieroglyphs is quite a fascinating story. Also, a language itself can't be "alphabetic".

I would argue that Arabic calligraphy is comparable, and Arabic has an alphabet.

Actually, what Arabic has is an impure abjad.

[Numerika]

I seriously doubt they will be replaced esp. in Japanese. They bust the kids ass to learn hand writing specifically for that. Or maybe hand writing will just become obsolete and it won't matter. In the future, when everyone carries something like ipads (but that don't suck) maybe handwriting will be useless.

Only when iPads become small, foldable and inexpensive. (i.e. when paper is truly obsolete)

Maybe they'll just print out on the go. That's even faster than handwriting.

[Ashmoria]

i think they'll move to english on the computer and use their own languages in the rest of their lives. its just too hard to read chinese in transliteration.

But they're forgetting how to even write the characters. I would think if they switched to English on the computer, they would just switch to English in general -- but still use Chinese for mottos and such similar to how Latin is used in the West.

It is really hard to read Chinese in transliteration. When I was in China I got pretty decent at reading the characters, but if I saw something written in pinyin I would just get confused. My Chinese is bad to begin with, though.

i dunno maybe they can develop super simplified chinese characters. not ulike txtspk in english

[NERVUN]

Possably, but I wouldn't hold my breath on it. There'd be a LOT of blowback about protecting the writting systems.

i dunno maybe they can develop super simplified chinese characters. not ulike txtspk in english

They do, Japanese kids have developed a very complex system of sending short messages packed in with a lot of meaning due to large amounts of homonyms in Japanese (It's a phonetically poor language), different readings of kanji, and really, really, really bad puns.

[Nazi Flower Power]

Possably, but I wouldn't hold my breath on it. There'd be a LOT of blowback about protecting the writting systems.

i dunno maybe they can develop super simplified chinese characters. not ulike txtspk in english

They do, Japanese kids have developed a very complex system of sending short messages packed in with a lot of meaning due to large amounts of homonyms in Japanese (It's a phonetically poor language), different readings of kanji, and really, really, really bad puns.

I figure Japanese will have less reason to change because some of the writing is already done phonetically.

[Hornopolis]

How could they manage that? They created writing..

[Big Jim P]

In a few generations no one will know how to use a pen, or write without a keyboard. Meh, how many of us can write Sumerian cuneiform, or Norse runes? (Wilgrove is disqualified at this point )?

Progress.

[Dododecapod]

How could they manage that? They created writing..

Not even close. The Sumerians were millenia earlier.

[Militsia]

I just got an email with this weird story about Asians who literally forget how to write their native langauge because they use phonetic transliterations so much on the computer and in text messages.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100826/tc ... technology

I find it funny, but at the same time it's kind of sad. What do you think of this? Do you think Chinese characters and Japanese kanji will eventually be replaced by phonetic transliterations in the next few decades or centuries? How much of a problem is it if these traditional writing systems are wiped out by electronic media?

There is technology that can be used to input characters into electronic devices, but is that really as practical as using a phonetic system of typing and writing? Obviously, it is possible to continue using characters, but do you think it's practical?

We got Unicode, which can be used to write text for all living, dead and made up languages (like Klingon), so the technology is there.
The problem is the slow adaption of Unicode, but give it another ten years and it will be by far the dominant characterset, and the poor input devices. You can not have a keyboard on a cellphone that would be efficent writing Chinese, so other ways of inputing data needs to be invented. We could think that thouch screen technology might be part of the solution. The problem is not new. For a long time 7-bit ASCII was the dominant character set, it was limited to 126 different characters and about 20 or so was used for control signals. You was not able to write proper English (the UK one) words like: encyclopædia, mediæva and cæn. This is probably because the ash-three character is not used in US English.

[Yootwopia]

I just got an email with this weird story about Asians who literally forget how to write their native langauge because they use phonetic transliterations so much on the computer and in text messages.

Doesn't happen in English because of text messaging, don't see why it'd be the case for the Chinese.

[Yootwopia]

We got Unicode, which can be used to write text for all living, dead and made up languages (like Klingon), so the technology is there.

Aye problem with that is that it contains over a hundred thousand characters. Don't think I'll be learning all of them particularly quickly.

[Militsia]

We got Unicode, which can be used to write text for all living, dead and made up languages (like Klingon), so the technology is there.

Aye problem with that is that it contains over a hundred thousand characters. Don't think I'll be learning all of them particularly quickly.

Unicode got rooms for millions of characters, and you do not need to learn them all. You just need to learn the characters that are (commonly) used in the languages you write. However Unicode ensures that it is possible to create textfiles that contains several languages like Chinese, English, Klingon, Summarian etc.