Simplified Chinese vs Traditional Chinese // What’s Best For Me?

Choosing between Simplified Chinese, 简体中文 (jiǎntǐ zhōngwén), and Traditional Chinese, 繁體中文 (fántǐ zhōngwén), is one of the biggest decisions new learners face. Whether you’re learning Chinese for work, education or travel, understanding the differences between these two writing systems is essential.

Learn Simplified Chinese if you plan to study or work in mainland China or Singapore, or if you’re not sure where you’ll end up, since most Chinese published today uses simplified characters. Choose Traditional Chinese if you’re heading to Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macau. Both scripts are spoken exactly the same, and many characters look similar, so picking one now won’t make much difference in the long run.

You’ll see these two labels in every app, textbook and language menu, so they’re worth recognising from day one.

This guide will help you understand how Simplified and Traditional Chinese characters differ, which regions use each system, and which one might be the best fit for your learning goals. If you’re confused about where to start, you’re not alone- nearly every Chinese learner has been in the same position!

Let’s get started.

Knowing where to start is hard so let’s try and help.

Simplified vs Traditional Mandarin || Why did Simplified Chinese come about?

Simplified vs Traditional Mandarin || Where do you want to Study Chinese?

Simplified vs Traditional Mandarin || HSK or TOCFL? Matching Your Exam to Your Script

Simplified vs Traditional Mandarin || Take Advantage of Pleco

Simplified vs Traditional Mandarin || What’s The Best To Learn?

Simplified vs Traditional Mandarin || Is Traditional Chinese Always More Complex?

Simplified vs Traditional Mandarin || Comparing 30 Common Characters

Simplified vs Traditional Mandarin || FAQs

Why did Simplified Chinese come about?

Simplified Chinese actually has a very recent history.

The idea first came about in the 1920s, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that Simplified Chinese was actually born, with the first official list of simplified characters published in 1956. If you want the longer story, read our guide to the history of Chinese characters.

But why did China feel the need to implement a simplified system? The reasons are two fold:

• To help promote Chinese culture
• Make it easier to learn how to read and write Chinese

In the 50’s a huge 80% of the population were illiterate, an astounding number.

Therefore, by giving them an apparently easier way to learn their language, it allowed the number to decrease rapidly.

On the contrary, Taiwan, Macau and Hong-Kong kept using the traditional characters they have been using for thousand years.

Supporters in these regions say traditional Chinese characters need to be preserved because they better reflect Chinese heritage and legacy.

Others think traditional characters are more beautiful, and the more strokes, the less ambiguity on the meaning it conveys.

Where do you want to Study Chinese?

Breaking it down quite simply for you:

If you want to study in mainland China, or even Singapore, study simplified Chinese.

If you want to study in Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, study traditional Chinese.

PS – we have a school in Taiwan! You can start studying with traditional characters in Taipei from your very first lesson, or head further south to our school in Kaohsiung.

To be frank, as a Chinese language learner, whether you choose traditional or simplified Chinese, it won’t make much difference in the long run.

Both sound exactly the same when spoken, and in many cases there are plenty of similarities to the characters.

If you are certain on your destination being Hong Kong or Taiwan it makes perfect sense to start with TRADITIONAL CHINESE as that’s what you are going to be faced with day-in day-out.

If you are uncertain of your destination, or it could vary, go with SIMPLIFIED CHINESE because the chances are, you’ll be spending more time in places with simplified Chinese than traditional Chinese.

FUN FACT – The vast majority of Chinese published today, from news sites to novels, is in simplified characters.

The same goes for learning materials. Most mainstream textbooks, graded readers and apps for international learners start in simplified, while traditional-script learners lean more on books published in Taipei and Hong Kong. TIP💡 Many apps now let you switch scripts in their settings, so check before you commit to one.

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HSK or TOCFL? Matching Your Exam to Your Script

Your choice of script also decides which Chinese test makes most sense. The HSK, together with its speaking test the HSKK, is set in simplified characters. It’s the exam universities and employers in Beijing, Shanghai and other mainland cities usually ask for.

The TOCFL is the test used for study, scholarships and work in Taipei. It comes in both a traditional and a simplified character version, but if you’re heading to Taipei, prepare in traditional, because that’s what you’ll read every day.

Still weighing them up? Our guide on which Chinese test to take compares levels and formats side by side. When you’re ready, our teachers can help you prepare for your language proficiency exam, backed by our 98% HSK pass rate.

Take Advantage of Pleco

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or just haven’t gotten stuck into Chinese yet, you’ll no doubt know what Pleco is, but just in case you don’t…

Pleco is an online Chinese dictionary which is a saviour for pretty much any foreigner out there.

Not sure of the Chinese word?

No problem, Pleco will help you out with numerous translations for any given word. Just type in the English and your problems are solved!

What does this have to do with Simplified or Traditional Chinese?

Here’s why…

Pleco shows both the simplified and the traditional form of every entry, so whichever script you choose, you won’t be caught short without a Chinese dictionary.

The same goes for typing. The pinyin keyboard on your phone or computer works for both scripts: type “xuexi” and you’ll get 学习 or 學習 (xuéxí, to study), depending on whether it’s set to simplified or traditional. Pinyin, the standard system for writing Mandarin sounds in the Latin alphabet, is identical for both scripts, so typing traditional is no slower than typing simplified.

The extra strokes only cost you time when you write by hand. In Taipei you’ll also see locals typing with Zhuyin (bopomofo), but a pinyin keyboard outputs traditional characters just as well.

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Simplified Chinese vs Traditional Chinese || What’s The Best To Learn?

You can certainly make a case for learning both in tandem.

It will do more good than harm, BUT if you are starting out as a Chinese beginner, it’s probably best to simply get used to the characters themselves first, the radicals, the stroke order etc.

These are essential in understanding how a character is built.

You’ll notice that traditional characters are WAY more complex than their simplified counterparts in some instances. It’s no good putting yourself through that at an early stage, but still…

… there is no reason why you cannot get familiar with some of the more basic examples and ease yourself in from an early stage.

For example one of the earlier characters you’ll probably get to know when studying Chinese is the word for Gate which is 门 Mén.

Now take the traditional version of this – 門.

Not exactly much of a sweat is it!

Once you know the simplified, you’ll be recognising the traditional with absolute ease and this can be said for a number of other characters.

Another common word you’ll learn is the word for Now which is 现在 Xiànzài.

The traditional counterpart is – 現在.

Again, it’s not exactly difficult to pull these apart.

The point being here is that familiarising yourself with some basic traditional Chinese is absolutely worthwhile and it’ll give you a head start if that’s the path you so wish to take in the future.

Ultimately though this comes down to your study goals, everyone’s situation is different, everyone has a different end goal.

So on that note…

If you don’t believe traditional Chinese to ever be of any genuine use to you, why would you learn it?

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Is Traditional Chinese Always More Complex?

In most instances yes, but sometimes there are some rather odd exceptions!

Here is one of our favourite examples, take the Chinese character for “enough”

NOTE – the traditional version is in brackets, to the right of the simplified version.

See what they did here, the traditional version of the simplified character is exactly the same, but just flipped from left to right.

It’s not always crazy complicated!

That said, we’d be lying if we said all examples were like that, because they are not!

• Turtle in Simplified Chinese is 龟
• Turtle in Traditional Chinese is 龜

And then there were more

• Dragon in Simplified Chinese is 龙
• Dragon in Traditional Chinese is 龍

This sets the tone (sorry, pun intended), but that shouldn’t scare you.

Right now, it might look like a crazy mess of squiggly lines, but once you get to know it, you’ll see everything breaks down quite logically and sometimes, bizarrely, it’s even easier to recognise the traditional character, because there are more parts to the character.

Students of Chinese have many very weird and wonderful ways of remembering simplified and traditional Chinese characters. You don’t have to understand it, it should just work for you.

Comparing 30 Common Characters

Some characters, like 一 二 三 (one two three) and 我 (me, I) are the same in both traditional and simplified Mandarin.

However, there’s a whole lot of characters that look almost unrecognizable in their different forms!

So, let’s take a look at 30 of the most common characters in Chinese and see how they compare:

BONUS || Listen To Our Podcast

If the topic of Simplified Chinese vs Traditional Chinese is one that really gets you, take a listen to our podcast.

In this episode our Marketing Guru’s / Mandarin Speakers, Katie & Max talk about the differences in further detail – and how they confront the issue!

Enjoy

Simplified Chinese vs Traditional Chinese || FAQs

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