Administration Evidence

Teaching Standard of Chinese Writing between Traditional and Simplified Characters

I. Introduction

The insights of the article I found is from Taiwan news in 2009.

http://www.chinanews.com/tw/tw-rwtw/news/2009/06-09/1727231.shtml

Yin Jiu Ma, the president of Taiwan, he advocated a language policy about “Recognize the traditional Han- Zi but use the simplified characters in writing.” President Ma was trying to connect the difference of writing between China and Taiwan. Therefore, he not only encouraged Taiwanese to accept the simplified writing, but also suggested China government uses the traditional writing in official documentations and publications, as well. By taking these small steps, people who live in these two areas will be able to read the classical Chinese literature as well as to write in simplified words fluently. I agree with Butler's opinion. Butler (1997) states,“ the principle that language enacts social identities and helps to form our subjective idea of ourselves and the groups we belong to.” However, this suggestion has stirred up heated responses, from people of both sides, with the implications of political ideology and cultural identity.

II. Language ideologies

The government of China has the strong power to run the language planning. It seems very challenging to change the language policy back to the traditional corpus. “Beyond the political accommodations they contain, public texts symbolize nationality and give direction and order to the expressive and collective life of the political community” (Bianco, 2010). Some people think the main issue of traditional and simplified writing is politics. In addition, the “political mobilization may motivate the acceptance of a label from the inside, turning an ethnic category into an ethnic group” (Norton, 2015, p.400) . For instance, many people used to divide two groups of people, between Taiwan and China, because the characters they use are different. Sometimes, it becomes very tense of the language ideologies when people use the different writing text on internet social media. “A feeling of solidarity can lead people to preserve a local dialect or an endangered language in order to resist power, or to insist on independence” (Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015, p.32). People used to accept what they have been taught, and most of them sometimes have language ideologies by politicalism.

In recent years, some people who live in China wish to revival back to the traditional Chinese characters because they see the effect of simplified characters on the language remains controversial for decades from the onset of simplified character era. The main reason for revival words is some of the changes in Chinese characters have been away from the original meaning and creation purpose. I agree with Dahlstedt's attribution (1976), ”a pervasive national ideology, which accepts that language change should be rational, efficient and expert-driven.”

• Issues of concerns

“People tend to react to the consequences of externally motivated change by complaining about the invasion of foreign words (PinYin system), and to internally motivated changes as degradation of language” (Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015, p.198). They dispute the simplified Chinese is not satisfied with using because there are many concerns:

First, there are six principles (Pictographic representation, Ideographic Representation, Ideographic Compounding, Phono-semantic Compounding, Metaphorical Extension and Phonetic Loan) in character formation that traditional Chinese characters were formed. Traditional writing is the essence of Chinese culture. In contrast, the simplified characters have been sacrificed the "artistic quality” too much.

Second, as we all know the traditional Chinese has an old history of thousands of years, they claim the simplified words could not represent the deep meaning of original characters creation, also devalue the pure Chinese writing system.

Third, the simplifications undermined them and lost their initial cultural connotations. Because of this, “it is difficult for people who learn simplified characters to understand ancient literature” (BBC Worldwide Monitoring, 2009). For instance, the meaning of dust from traditional Chinese character is “塵” which means a deer ”鹿” runs on the mud "土". Learning one character can help learners to imagine the scene of word creation. However, the simplified Chinese of dust is "尘", which means small mud. This could confuse learners to other words like “sand ”, which means little mud.

Moreover, there are some simplified characters, and Pinyin text created with no meaning behind. For instance, it does not have any meaning for using the stoke of ”ㄨ” to represent the different radicals. These are some examples of traditional and simplified characters風-风, 岡-冈, 網-网, and 區-区 (traditional-simplified).

• Keep or Revival the Characters

In 1950, to better connect with the western countries, China government promoted three tasks in reforming language. There are Simplified Han Zhi, Pu Tung Hua (common speaking) and Pin-Yin system (China news, 2009). China government initiative corpus change to pursue the goals of nationwide reconstruction. The government also believes the evolution of characters is closely related to the speed of information flow, and it would be beneficial for people all around the world to learn Chinese.

After many years of language policy change, the different writing systems coexist in different Chinese-speaking polities (Gottlieb & Chen, 2001), depending on sovereignty and jurisdiction, and perform different functions (Bianco, 2010, p.147). It is obvious seeing the version of simplified Han Zhi is now accepted as the international standard. The simplified characters are used in Singapore and Malaysia, and most of the foreigner who learn Chinese. “Classically these choices involve identification of a language or communication problem, the formulation of alternative ways of resolving this problem, deciding the norm to be promoted, and implementing it via the education system: a language problem leads to a language policy, which leads to LP” (Bianco, 2010, p.144). Luckily, the language policy does not affect the speaking of Chinese. The most impact on language learning is the writing text.

Recently, many advocates have raised the issue of rejuvenating the Chinese corpus. Some people called for the restoration of traditional characters for cultural preservation. They admire “the modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han Dynasty, and have been more or less stable since the 5th century ” (Traditional Chinese Characters, n.d.). In contrast, the simplified language policy was set by 1955-1965, and the simplified characters are not only structural simplification but also a substantial reduction in the total number of standardized Chinese characters. They are at least 200 simplified characters been criticized as out of the Chinese character formation system. Additionally, many linguists suggest the revival of 50 to 200 most meaningful traditional characters from the corpus.

To help learners in developing an appreciation skill to the Chinese literacy, I believe language learning is not only learning the linguistic but also learning the culture of ethnic. The priority of revivification should be based on the principle of maintaining the original meaning of creation.

• Impact of Chinese language teaching

“Discriminatory teachers and school systems unexpected by teachers prejudicial language ideologies” (Bourdieu, 1991). As a Chinese language teacher, it is important to acknowledge deeply the Pros and Cons of the Chinese writing system.

Many Chinese educators are dedicated to the Chinese language teaching all over the world. There are approximate 230 Chinese dual language and immersion programs in the United States in 2017 (grew from 61 programs in 2011). I believe most of us are concerned about how to compromise the different versions of writing in language teaching.

One voice is some teachers argue there are four challenges in Han Zhi acquisition: Recognition, Reading, Memorization, and Writing. Even the Primary of language teacher also admits it challenges young kids to write some complicated characters. Some educators may agree to write the simplified characters because the simplified is easier to complete the writing faster. Also, the revival proposal has been criticized by those who fear such lessons would diminish the effectiveness of Mandarin-language education. (Feng, 2016)

Also, they feel the simplified characters with fewer strokes that make learning easier, so the literacy rates have risen in urban areas in China. However, “the simplification of characters alone is a determinant of literacy success any more than the many other factors involved in cultural change and educational reform” (Macaraeg & Ruel, 2006). Taiwan and Hong Kong do not have any low rate literacy issue in urban areas. I believe “language is not only the vehicle of learning but also the target of learning in this particular setting” (Mori, 2002). A great language setting should base on how you convey the first-hand learning in the standard of language education.

Furthermore, the disadvantage is while teaching simplified Chinese, students lose a chance to understand the beautiful Chinese word. "The meaning of learning Chinese characters lies in planting beautiful seeds in our children," (China Daily, 2015). We should teach those that reflect the wisdom of our ancestors that how they created these words. Also, a culture of ethnic contained the language; students use Pin-Yin instead of Chinese characters would not be able to understand the Chinese language culture deeply, either. “The globalization of the Chinese language will globalize the Chinese mindset. The consequence of this is that less Confucian attitudes will be embedded in the Chinese language and, following that, Chinese people will be Western in their thinking” (Shih, 2003).

The other voice is some educators agree to keep both versions of teaching. They believe the simplified can pursue the speed of writing, at the same time, they cannot miss learning the tradition of language culture. Many people complained one simplified character might equate to many traditional characters. As a result, a computer can be used for the bulk of the conversion but will still need final checking by a human. May suggest learners recognize two versions of characters if they are capable of connecting the relationship between the both.

III. Conclusion

• Teacher’s responsibility

“Society must have a language or language in which to carry out its purposes” (Ward, 2015, p.2) We all know being a language educator is important to teach students with communicative skill. Regarding the writing text, the Chinese characters should be considered as a second priority because we could teach students to appreciate the culture, which is behind the corpus. As a Chinese language teacher, we have a responsibility to teach the writing words that benefit students’ learning. After researched this paper, I have learned a lot of knowledge regarding how and why linguists set the rules for the simplified words. This is very important to know why it comes that way to make it as simplified radicals.

I agree with China Daily states in the article “Promoting the language policy of Recognize the Traditional but Write the Simplified is a great idea for people writes simplified word faster than traditional.” More importantly, he emphasizes to use traditional characters in the public text and official paper because some simplified words may equate to many traditional characters. Using the simplified characters may cause different meaning or confusion on the important paperwork. The teacher plays an important role to convey the knowledge to learners. Besides the language policy, the highest concern is the traditional Chinese contained the beautiful meaning that is unique than any other languages in the world. However, there is a substantial reduction in the total number of standardized Chinese characters. Many years later, the Chinese words may not be recognized and use them appropriately. I should admire this historical writing and have a responsibility to convey the pure of Chinese in my teaching. I have a strong faith to take this responsibility in teaching learners the standard of Chinese. “ We should at least let our children realize how the characters came to be as they are today” (China Daily, 2015) .

To assess these two different writing seriously before I teach my students. To let our learners realize how the characters came to be as they are today. It is important to think what writing words should emphasize in the class. Language teachers should encourage to know the meaning of the word, so they could share the deeply comprehend with these two versions of writing that based on the reasonable changed. “Processing efficiency correlated with vocabulary, so children with less efficient processing also had lower vocabulary scores” (Fernald et al., 2013). It is a great way to expose both versions, and explain the meaning behind the word at the same time. “Language exposure and use generate an intense, sustained experience that engages multiple regions of the brain” (Friederici, 2011). Teachers could provide examples of two texts to learners and encourage them to make their observation. Hoff states “Early language skills best predict school readiness and later school success” (2013). I also value it is important to help to learners the standard of characters when we introduce the first time to expose the characters. Students learn the first-hand information from their primary teacher. Gradually, learners can figure out the language patterns. When students understand the meaning of traditional Chinese characters, they also learned the culture as well. “Traditional characters are the crystallized essence of Chinese history that carry rich cultural heritage.” My teaching goal is to help learners who will possess high language skills and cross-cultural competency to be able to get the advance of knowing the classical Chinese literature.

References

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