People’s Attitude On Simplified And Traditional Chinese Characters

Writing system of Chinese language is one of the oldest (about four thousand years old if we start counting from turtle shells and oracle bones script) and it contains an enormous historical and cultural background. The characters used nowadays in Mainland China are the result of simplification that took part in20th century. The purpose of this study is to analyze the incidence of using contemporary Chinese writings, to be more specific-2types of Chinese characters that are in use nowadays-traditional and simplified. Main problems of the study are analyzing how widespread and what is the role that traditional characters play in regions where the simplified version is official and vice versa.The thesis is composed of3chapters. The first chapter is the analysis of spread of Chines language in the world in general and prevalence of traditional and simplified writings in variety of Chinese speaking regions. Also the attention is focused on Overseas Chinese communities and what are the reasons why one or another type is used in particular place. Chapter two is focused on process of simplification of Chinese and Japanese characters in20th century. Emphasis is placed on main methods and tendencies for simplification. Chapter three is a research in spread of using both types depending on age, education, place of living, etc. Consideration of using characters in variety of circumstances and also the problem of learning Chinese as a foreign language.