Simplified ↔ traditional Chinese
Mainland China writes simplified characters; Taiwan and Hong Kong write traditional ones. Characters with several full forms (发 → 發 or 髮) follow the word they're in.
Result
我的頭髮很長。他發了一封信。我們後天在圖書館見面。
One simplified, several traditional
| 简 | 繁 | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 发 | 發 · 髮 | 发信 → 發信 “send a letter”, 头发 → 頭髮 “hair” |
| 后 | 後 · 后 | 后天 → 後天 “the day after tomorrow”, 皇后 → 皇后 “empress” |
| 干 | 乾 · 幹 · 干 | 干净 → 乾淨 “clean”, 干活 → 幹活 “to work” |
| 面 | 面 · 麵 | 见面 → 見面 “to meet”, 面条 → 麵條 “noodles” |
| 里 | 裏 · 里 | 这里 → 這裏 “here”, 公里 → 公里 “kilometre” |
Questions and answers
How do simplified and traditional characters differ?
In the 1950s mainland China simplified about two thousand characters: 學 became 学, 龍 became 龙. Simplified is written in mainland China and Singapore; traditional in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. The HSK uses simplified.
Why not swap character for character?
Sometimes one simplified character replaced several full ones: 发 stands for both 發 “to send” and 髮 “hair”. The converter looks at the whole word to choose.
Should I learn simplified or traditional?
For the HSK, mainland China or mainland business, simplified. Traditional is for Taiwan and Hong Kong. Knowing one makes the other far easier to read: most characters are the same or close.
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