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Wired Youths In China & Japan Forget Character Forms

Posted by timothy on from the ain't-got-no-good-grammar-neither dept.

eldavojohn writes "The AFP brings a story of a growing concern that children in China and Japan suffer from 'character amnesia' when asked to write the complex characters they are so used to inputting via alphabet-based systems. The article claims this is a growing problem. In China, they have a word for it: 'tibiwangzi,' which means 'take pen, forget paper.' China Youth Daily polled 2,072 people and found that 83% have problems writing characters (although there's no indication if that was an online poll or not). A young woman who was interviewed explained her workaround: 'When I can't remember, I will take out my cellphone and find it (the character) and then copy it down.'"

15 of 508 comments (clear)

  1. where is that Æ again? by viking80 · · Score: 2, Funny

    where is that Æ again?

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    1. Re:where is that Æ again? by jez9999 · · Score: 3, Funny

      It was terminated by Americans when we stopped spelling things like encyclopædia.

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    2. Re:where is that Æ again? by BForrester · · Score: 4, Funny

      Correction: it was terminated by American Quakers who thought that the "a" and "e" were not leaving enough room for the Holy Spirit.

  2. Re:So? by dintech · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'd point out that Korea went from the nation in south-east Asia with the lowest literacy rate to the nation with the highest within a few decades of abandoning the Chinese ideographic writing system in favour of a phonographic one.

    That's fascinating. I'm trying to learn Kanji but it might be more achievable (for me personally) to convince Japan to change their writing system.

  3. Re:Not limited to logogram-based languages by ciderbrew · · Score: 2, Funny

    If it's confession time, add me to that list. My chicken scrawl is of the highest calibre.
    I spell better when I type too; but that's just practice and a lot of muscle memory I guess.
    If the keyboard is 5mm to the left It all goes wring.

  4. Re:American Kids can't write in cursive by grantek · · Score: 2, Funny

    Doctors' Scrawl is truly a special type of written language, worldwide.

  5. Re:Not limited to logogram-based languages by ciderbrew · · Score: 3, Funny

    No; but i'll have a look at it for you.

  6. Re:no surprise by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2, Funny

    What is this then? Romanes eunt domus, "People called Romanes they go the house"?

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  7. Re:Not limited to logogram-based languages by Rogerborg · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm a doctor

    I'm a lawyer! I'm just going to stand over there, and watch you. And wait. Carry on.

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  8. Re:Not limited to logogram-based languages by MadKeithV · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm a psychologist.
    How does that make you feel?

  9. Re:Not limited to logogram-based languages by Chrisq · · Score: 2, Funny

    You are blaming your body's natural tendency to cramp when forced to use an inferior tool?

    I got cramp wanking off, you insensitive clod.

  10. Re:Not limited to logogram-based languages by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Funny

    My handwriting is auto-encrypted.

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  11. Re:Not limited to logogram-based languages by Shotgun · · Score: 2, Funny

    So you're saying you missed the "when forced to use an inferior tool" part?

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  12. Re:Why not just use Pinyin? by fishexe · · Score: 2, Funny

    And if you read Beowulf, not the cluster, the c1000 year old English poem...

    Sorry to go a bit off-topic, but I love being part of a community where this distinction is necessary.

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  13. Re:This is my shortcut to learning chinese... by fishexe · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why 'general' but 'gear'? Or 'chair' but 'chlorine'? 'Put' but 'putty'? How the hell "Eugene Delacroix" is pronounced? Etc.

    You have to blame the French for that last one.

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