What is the difference between traditional and simplified characters?
The simple answer to this question is that the simplified characters are traditional characters with reduced number of strokes. It was implemented by the government of People’s Republic of China in the 1950’s as a way to simplify the learning of the characters to help reduce illiteracy. Outside of mainland China, the simplified characters are also adopted in Singapore. The traditional characters are still used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and by overseas Chinese. With the rise of PRC as a major economic power, the simplified characters are gaining more international acceptance. It is worth noting that the conversion between simplified and traditional characters is not as simple as a mouse click. Just like the differences between UK/US English and Portugal/Brazilian Portuguese, there are different vocabulary and grammar usage between the Mainland Mandarin and Taiwanese Mandarin. Everyday words such as “tomato” and “bicycle” are called different things in mainland China and Taiwan. Although the
