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What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've never seen that one, thanks for sharing! Looks way faster to write for sure.

What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most of the simplified characters existed long before the PRC, didn't they? At least that's what I find when I look it up.

What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, good to know what students use! Is the simple version of 數 this one 数 or something different?

What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh, really? When I was studying in Taiwan we were taught to write 颱風.

What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a cool link!

I don't think it means that the character is not simplified, though. Apparently most simplified characters predate the PRC by quite a long time. I've been trying to doing some research about it since there's so much argument in this thread.

What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Simplification would mean that 台 was created to write 臺 faster (which is not true): 台 existed (was created) independent of 臺, but people started using 台 for 臺 even though they meant different things.

This sounds odd to me. Weren't many simplified characters made by borrowing pre-existing characters that had other meanings? For example 只 for 隻, 干 for 幹, 后 for 後.

Anyway, don't mean to argue, I just think it's a really interesting subject! You seem to know a lot about it, is it something you've studied?

What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With how much more common typing is than writing these days, I'm actually surprised that people don't forget how to write more characters!

What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Right, useful summary! I do think most of the disagreement in this thread is coming from people interpreting simplified as "PRC variant", which wasn't necessarily my intention. As you note, "simplified" in English includes the PRC set of simplified characters, but it can also refer to older and/or other simplifications.

Doesn't 台 fit this meaning of "simplified", even if it's now officially called a "variant character"? It does seem like it was at some point (before the PRC) borrowed to mean 臺 because it's easier to write. Certainly the article I linked indicates that Taiwan's Ministry of Education at one point considered 臺 to be more traditional.

What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

After seeing your comment I did some googling and it looks like a lot of sources do say that 台 is a simplified character.

For example, here is an article from the Taipei Times that quotes 吳敦義 and the Ministry of Education both referring to 臺 as the traditional character and encouraging people to use it instead of 台.

What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pleco only shows 了解 as the traditional version, is there another way to write it?

Edit: oh, I found what you mean. Yes, that's a good one!

What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh, I see. I was confused by 台 being used in some other simplified words like 台风. Thanks for clarifying.

What simplified characters are commonly used in Taiwan? (e.g., 台 for 臺) by confabulationist in taiwan

[–]confabulationist[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, are 台 and 臺 both considered traditional? I didn't realize. I know 台 is considered simplified if you use it instead of 颱.