IMHO, those Chinese who've always been very, very confident Chinese (Mandarin) should be, or could be romanized (without confusion, trouble, inefficiency, & without cultural gap between ancient and modern China), are mostly good at neither Chinese nor English, not to mention other foreign languages. And it's ironic that, they never dare to carry out a series of experiments (which I always asked them to do by themselves) to prove their theory, the method is to pick some books at random, and translate them from characters completely to pīn-yīn (latinized text), then just check whether it looks like a load of bullshit on the whole, whether it really performs better than characters does, whether considerable confusion can be easily resolved only in context (particularly the written form).
Why are Chinese characters still used?
Chinese character is without doubt a highly efficient system for Chinese languages, Japanese, and Korean (believe it or not), on the contrary, PinYin is an inefficient writing system which always seems a real pain for our Chinese. The British and Americans will never write an article with IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), similarly, neither will the Chinese use PinYin (Chinese IPA) as the standard writing system.
Frankly, I couldn't help feeling tired of explaining to almost every learner why it's a real pain for us to replace characters with pinyin, actually pinyin means nothing but a Chinese IPA system, at most a walking stick for most Chinese, it's absolutely not the true soul of Chinese languages. The reason why we couldn't accept pinyin is mostly due to the fact that, using pinyin may cause a lot of trouble, make writing system collapse, and reduce reading efficiency. We'll have to read through the whole sentences, and guess which characters they should be, and analyze the meanings based on the contexts, convert them over and over back to the abstract thought in the style of Chinese characters. So it doesn't have anything to do with our superiority complex, intense nationalism, or whatever else you would imagine. Finally, I really hope you can understand me.
Without KANJIs, there must be feasible spaces that insert between vocabularies in Japanese writing system. From a Chinese point of view, to tell the truth, we can often understand what it roughly means without knowing how it's exactly pronounced while reading Japanese newspapers or watching TV programme, but it may be just the same thing for western learners, no matter whether they learn KANJIs or not (perhaps KANJI system is a burden for them). That's to say, KANJI system is of little value for westerners, while on the other hand, is of great help for our Chinese.
Frankly, I couldn't help feeling tired of explaining to almost every learner why it's a real pain for us to replace characters with pinyin, actually pinyin means nothing but a Chinese IPA system, at most a walking stick for most Chinese, it's absolutely not the true soul of Chinese languages. The reason why we couldn't accept pinyin is mostly due to the fact that, using pinyin may cause a lot of trouble, make writing system collapse, and reduce reading efficiency. We'll have to read through the whole sentences, and guess which characters they should be, and analyze the meanings based on the contexts, convert them over and over back to the abstract thought in the style of Chinese characters. So it doesn't have anything to do with our superiority complex, intense nationalism, or whatever else you would imagine. Finally, I really hope you can understand me.
Without KANJIs, there must be feasible spaces that insert between vocabularies in Japanese writing system. From a Chinese point of view, to tell the truth, we can often understand what it roughly means without knowing how it's exactly pronounced while reading Japanese newspapers or watching TV programme, but it may be just the same thing for western learners, no matter whether they learn KANJIs or not (perhaps KANJI system is a burden for them). That's to say, KANJI system is of little value for westerners, while on the other hand, is of great help for our Chinese.
The world is bigger than Pinyin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbiES678Z5s&feature=PlayList&p=C67B8F8938BE093A&index=0&playnext=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbiES678Z5s&feature=PlayList&p=C67B8F8938BE093A&index=0&playnext=1
^That doesn't seem to be a mainstream dialect of Chinese. I recognize some, such as English class, but some pronounciations, for example "Zhe shi", is pronounced almost like Cantonese "Zhe(e) shee"; perhaps it may be Hokkien, though I'm not sure.
And if you removed the romanization and put it out in a vacuum, it would probably be indecipherable regardless of Chinese knowledge. I don't think tadpolenese does a very good job.
If it's a joke, it's not a very funny one.
Being proficient in both English and Chinese (i.e. I can appreciate the art in both English and Chinese verse and prose, and regretfully I have to say I probably am better at English than at Chinese), I have many reservations about changing the Chinese script. I have to say, Chinese can be far more concise than English in terms of words used or syllables used, and there are far too many complexities in the language -- not the least the multifarious meanings of a given sound.
We Chinese tend to dislike the use of pinyin and such phonetics; it is comparably difficult for us to read and translate these phonetics into actual meaning, even for one used to alphabetical Romance and Germanic languages such as English and French. I believe that that says something.
Of course, if demand is high enough, I'm sure somebody will publish a newspaper in pinyin or something if there are enough people unfamiliar with the Chinese language care to ask for it; but it is much easier for Chinese to be understood in symbols than in romanized pinyin. I don't see how that has to change.
(Oh and -- Cantonese uses 9 tones, not 7 as stated before)
And if you removed the romanization and put it out in a vacuum, it would probably be indecipherable regardless of Chinese knowledge. I don't think tadpolenese does a very good job.
If it's a joke, it's not a very funny one.
Being proficient in both English and Chinese (i.e. I can appreciate the art in both English and Chinese verse and prose, and regretfully I have to say I probably am better at English than at Chinese), I have many reservations about changing the Chinese script. I have to say, Chinese can be far more concise than English in terms of words used or syllables used, and there are far too many complexities in the language -- not the least the multifarious meanings of a given sound.
We Chinese tend to dislike the use of pinyin and such phonetics; it is comparably difficult for us to read and translate these phonetics into actual meaning, even for one used to alphabetical Romance and Germanic languages such as English and French. I believe that that says something.
Of course, if demand is high enough, I'm sure somebody will publish a newspaper in pinyin or something if there are enough people unfamiliar with the Chinese language care to ask for it; but it is much easier for Chinese to be understood in symbols than in romanized pinyin. I don't see how that has to change.
(Oh and -- Cantonese uses 9 tones, not 7 as stated before)
Just a few comments.
(1) Don't worry about a problem that does not exist. 杞人忧天 is a waste of energy and time. "Replace Chinese (Mandarin) with romanized writing" is a fantasy. So why do you even bother to talk about it? You have nothing else to do with your life? Why talk about something that will NEVER happen?
(2) On the other hand, without Pinyin-like alphabetized writing, even if you know Chinese characters, you will NOT be able to sing songs in dialects that are not native to you. China has hundreds of dialects, and awareness on local heritage preservation is only increasing after years of Mandarinization (推普). That is, although no one is "replacing" characters with Pinyin writing, the reality on the ground is that you need both. Dialectal forms of Pinyin are not going away: all on the contrary, they are on the rise. Pinyin and characters are not mutually exclusive. They actually co-exist and help each other.
As far as using Pinyin-like system to write dialects, I don't even know this is an issue that you should bother to worry. All dialectal writing websites I have seen are either dead or half-dead, no matter whether they use characters or Pinyin-like writing. The only place where dialects are really written is in the song lyrics. So, again, don't invent a problem where is none.
(3) "We Chinese tend to dislike the use of pinyin and such phonetics", this is simply a lie. Without Pinyin millions of Chinese wouldn't know how to type Chinese in computers. Pinyin is the most popular input method. Without ㄅㄆㄇㄈ half of Taiwan wouldn't know how to write Chinese.
---------
Mandarin is written with the very readable Chinese characters. Elegant, sophisticated, you call it.
But Mandarin songs are usually impossible to understand by listening. In other words, trash.
Chinese voice recognition rate ranks at the bottom of all world languages.
This is something unique to Mandarin. I get tired of Westerners asking me: "you speak Chinese, how come you don't understand Chinese songs?"
It's embarrassing.
How do you explain to speakers of other languages that Mandarin songs are designed to be "watched", not to be "listened to"?
When you focus too much with your eyes, you tend to forget about your ears.
(1) Don't worry about a problem that does not exist. 杞人忧天 is a waste of energy and time. "Replace Chinese (Mandarin) with romanized writing" is a fantasy. So why do you even bother to talk about it? You have nothing else to do with your life? Why talk about something that will NEVER happen?
(2) On the other hand, without Pinyin-like alphabetized writing, even if you know Chinese characters, you will NOT be able to sing songs in dialects that are not native to you. China has hundreds of dialects, and awareness on local heritage preservation is only increasing after years of Mandarinization (推普). That is, although no one is "replacing" characters with Pinyin writing, the reality on the ground is that you need both. Dialectal forms of Pinyin are not going away: all on the contrary, they are on the rise. Pinyin and characters are not mutually exclusive. They actually co-exist and help each other.
As far as using Pinyin-like system to write dialects, I don't even know this is an issue that you should bother to worry. All dialectal writing websites I have seen are either dead or half-dead, no matter whether they use characters or Pinyin-like writing. The only place where dialects are really written is in the song lyrics. So, again, don't invent a problem where is none.
(3) "We Chinese tend to dislike the use of pinyin and such phonetics", this is simply a lie. Without Pinyin millions of Chinese wouldn't know how to type Chinese in computers. Pinyin is the most popular input method. Without ㄅㄆㄇㄈ half of Taiwan wouldn't know how to write Chinese.
---------
Mandarin is written with the very readable Chinese characters. Elegant, sophisticated, you call it.
But Mandarin songs are usually impossible to understand by listening. In other words, trash.
Chinese voice recognition rate ranks at the bottom of all world languages.
This is something unique to Mandarin. I get tired of Westerners asking me: "you speak Chinese, how come you don't understand Chinese songs?"
It's embarrassing.
How do you explain to speakers of other languages that Mandarin songs are designed to be "watched", not to be "listened to"?
When you focus too much with your eyes, you tend to forget about your ears.
< not dragon Tue Oct 20, 2009 3:44 pm GMT
India is a country similar to China. The most popular Indian language there is Hindi but there is resistance to making Hindi the "mandarin" of India especially in the southern parts such as Tamil Nadu, etc., English is therefore the lingua franca in all parts of India - North and South. Perhaps China should follow suit....
Why learn Mandarin when English is the official language and lingua franca in the west, India and China!?!!! >
India is a country similar to China, but their language policies are very different. You can compare them.
India's language policy:
1. in India, the state, nationalities and ethnicities are different concepts.
2. India has 15 kinds of official languages.
3. the lingua franca of all parts of India are Hindi and English.
4. the lingua franca of every local parts of India are cover 14 kinds of India's ethnic languages and the English.
5. each of ethnic India groups have their native spoken and written language that teaching in schools.
6. in public media that allow to use all the ethnic spoken and written languages.
China's language policy:
1. in China, the state, nationalities and ethnicities are the same concept from the 1980s to present.
2. China only has 1 kind of official language; Mandarin.
3. the lingua franca of all parts of China is only Mandarin.
4. the lingua franca of every local parts of China is only Mandarin.
5. each of ethnic Chinese groups was banned their native spoken and written language that teaching in schools, unless Mandarin.
6. in public media that ban to use all the ethnic spoken and written languages, unless Mandarin.
India is a country similar to China. The most popular Indian language there is Hindi but there is resistance to making Hindi the "mandarin" of India especially in the southern parts such as Tamil Nadu, etc., English is therefore the lingua franca in all parts of India - North and South. Perhaps China should follow suit....
Why learn Mandarin when English is the official language and lingua franca in the west, India and China!?!!! >
India is a country similar to China, but their language policies are very different. You can compare them.
India's language policy:
1. in India, the state, nationalities and ethnicities are different concepts.
2. India has 15 kinds of official languages.
3. the lingua franca of all parts of India are Hindi and English.
4. the lingua franca of every local parts of India are cover 14 kinds of India's ethnic languages and the English.
5. each of ethnic India groups have their native spoken and written language that teaching in schools.
6. in public media that allow to use all the ethnic spoken and written languages.
China's language policy:
1. in China, the state, nationalities and ethnicities are the same concept from the 1980s to present.
2. China only has 1 kind of official language; Mandarin.
3. the lingua franca of all parts of China is only Mandarin.
4. the lingua franca of every local parts of China is only Mandarin.
5. each of ethnic Chinese groups was banned their native spoken and written language that teaching in schools, unless Mandarin.
6. in public media that ban to use all the ethnic spoken and written languages, unless Mandarin.
> not dragon Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:47 am GMT
Whereas the inhabitants of the Roman Empire (those parts still speaking Romance languages) have split into separate countries and regions speaking and writing Portuguese, Castillian Spanish, Catalonian, French, Italian, Romanian, etc., the Chinese people are still one people with one written language and now one primary spoken language Mandarin. <
The empire and kingdom are different politic organizations. The Portuguese, Castillian Spanish, Catalonian, French, Italian, Romanian, etc., are different nationalites or ethnicities in ancient time. The Latin tribes (Roman Empire) conquered and annexed their territories, then promoted the Latinization upon those ancient peoples.
When the Roman Empire was destroyed by the Germanic tribes in middle age, the Portuguese, Castillian Spanish, Catalonian, French, Italian, Romanian, etc., have split into separate peoples under different Germanic kingdoms, not unified as a people under a Germanic Empire that because every Germanic tribes have their own leader, in that time not all Germanic tribes were controlled by a unique leader as similar as the tribes of Mongolian or Manchurian.
The tribes of Mongolian or Manchurian have only a leader, so they can build the empires in China and the peoples of China have the chance to unified as a Chinese people, although this Chinese people are consisted by different nationalites or ethnicities.
In past 3,000 years of China, the kingdoms and empires were appear in different times. The peoples of China sometimes were belong to some different kingdoms as separate peoples, and sometimes belong to an unique empire as an unified people. The regions' speaking and writing of Wu, Cantonese, Minnan, Hakka, Gan, etc., are using by the regional peoples more than thousands years. The kingdoms or empires of past old China were operating very well, not any troubles from those regions' speaking or writing.
The Wunyenwun (Literary Chinese) is a written language at past time which was using in a very small group included the officers and scribes only. The Written Mandarin (Standard Modern Hanyu) and Spoken Mandarin (Putonghua) is belong to the ethnic Mandarin group, not belong to southern ethnic Chinese groups.
Whereas the inhabitants of the Roman Empire (those parts still speaking Romance languages) have split into separate countries and regions speaking and writing Portuguese, Castillian Spanish, Catalonian, French, Italian, Romanian, etc., the Chinese people are still one people with one written language and now one primary spoken language Mandarin. <
The empire and kingdom are different politic organizations. The Portuguese, Castillian Spanish, Catalonian, French, Italian, Romanian, etc., are different nationalites or ethnicities in ancient time. The Latin tribes (Roman Empire) conquered and annexed their territories, then promoted the Latinization upon those ancient peoples.
When the Roman Empire was destroyed by the Germanic tribes in middle age, the Portuguese, Castillian Spanish, Catalonian, French, Italian, Romanian, etc., have split into separate peoples under different Germanic kingdoms, not unified as a people under a Germanic Empire that because every Germanic tribes have their own leader, in that time not all Germanic tribes were controlled by a unique leader as similar as the tribes of Mongolian or Manchurian.
The tribes of Mongolian or Manchurian have only a leader, so they can build the empires in China and the peoples of China have the chance to unified as a Chinese people, although this Chinese people are consisted by different nationalites or ethnicities.
In past 3,000 years of China, the kingdoms and empires were appear in different times. The peoples of China sometimes were belong to some different kingdoms as separate peoples, and sometimes belong to an unique empire as an unified people. The regions' speaking and writing of Wu, Cantonese, Minnan, Hakka, Gan, etc., are using by the regional peoples more than thousands years. The kingdoms or empires of past old China were operating very well, not any troubles from those regions' speaking or writing.
The Wunyenwun (Literary Chinese) is a written language at past time which was using in a very small group included the officers and scribes only. The Written Mandarin (Standard Modern Hanyu) and Spoken Mandarin (Putonghua) is belong to the ethnic Mandarin group, not belong to southern ethnic Chinese groups.
Salamander: everything you is basically correct.
I would like to just add a point. From the archeological studies done by Su Binqi 苏秉琦 (ex-head of the Chinese Society of Archaeology), it seems necessary to introduce the concept of 方国 in China, or federations of kingdoms. These federations are more-or-less loose alliances that span across vast linguistic varieties. They are a bit like mini-versions of today's European Union.
Cultural-linguistically I can find some traces. For instance, the term for grandchild coincides with the term for nephew in several language or language groups in the Chinese South. This is true even today for Thai (lăan), Vietnamese (cháu) and Minnan (sun'al). Notice that this is not just vocabulary borrowing, because these terms are all unrelated phonetically. This can only be explained as propagation of a cultural trait, across linguistic borders.
The unidimensional view of China's dynasties is becoming replaced with a multidimensional view of many ancient kingdoms and federations of kingdoms. It is really meaningless to say which kingdom was Chinese and which one was not. There are bound to be grey areas. Su Binqi (and notice he was the highest authority in Chinese archeology) repeatedly criticized the traditional Chinese historians. Archeological evidences are very different from Chinese history books.
Chicano-mexicans often cites this sentence: "we did not cross the border, the border crossed us". The stories of the Chinese South and the Chinese Northeast are pretty much the same. It's only today that people are starting to talk about these things openly.
I would like to just add a point. From the archeological studies done by Su Binqi 苏秉琦 (ex-head of the Chinese Society of Archaeology), it seems necessary to introduce the concept of 方国 in China, or federations of kingdoms. These federations are more-or-less loose alliances that span across vast linguistic varieties. They are a bit like mini-versions of today's European Union.
Cultural-linguistically I can find some traces. For instance, the term for grandchild coincides with the term for nephew in several language or language groups in the Chinese South. This is true even today for Thai (lăan), Vietnamese (cháu) and Minnan (sun'al). Notice that this is not just vocabulary borrowing, because these terms are all unrelated phonetically. This can only be explained as propagation of a cultural trait, across linguistic borders.
The unidimensional view of China's dynasties is becoming replaced with a multidimensional view of many ancient kingdoms and federations of kingdoms. It is really meaningless to say which kingdom was Chinese and which one was not. There are bound to be grey areas. Su Binqi (and notice he was the highest authority in Chinese archeology) repeatedly criticized the traditional Chinese historians. Archeological evidences are very different from Chinese history books.
Chicano-mexicans often cites this sentence: "we did not cross the border, the border crossed us". The stories of the Chinese South and the Chinese Northeast are pretty much the same. It's only today that people are starting to talk about these things openly.
> Guest Sun Oct 25, 2009 3:06 am GMT
IMHO, those Chinese who've always been very, very confident Chinese (Mandarin) should be, or could be romanized (without confusion, trouble, inefficiency, & without cultural gap between ancient and modern China), are mostly good at neither Chinese nor English, not to mention other foreign languages. <
Some persons chat the topics about the romanized Mandarin that is a normal matter because here is a forum, the western Mandarin learners and some Chinese hope the Mandarin to adopt the alphabetic scripts. They are all just the chats. The Written Mandarin which choose or not choose Chinese character, or romanized script that is according to the will of Mandarin speaking people.
There are not any cultural gap existing in ancient (Shang people) and modern China (Mandarin people) as the case of ancient and modern Egypt, unless you can prove that the Mandarin speaking is a descendant language of ancient Shang language. The ancient culture storing in Chinese character which script is belong to the world of ancient Shang people and not concern to modern Mandarin people as similar as the Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese, whom and Mandarin people are just borrow the script of Chinese character only.
In the western countries, secondary schools provide the Written Greek and Written Latin for students to learn and that can be closed up the cross cultural gap between ancient and modern Europe. If the Mandarin people hope to know the cultural messages from Chinese character, the schools can design some courses about Shang language and culture for students to learn and close the cross cultural gap.
IMHO, those Chinese who've always been very, very confident Chinese (Mandarin) should be, or could be romanized (without confusion, trouble, inefficiency, & without cultural gap between ancient and modern China), are mostly good at neither Chinese nor English, not to mention other foreign languages. <
Some persons chat the topics about the romanized Mandarin that is a normal matter because here is a forum, the western Mandarin learners and some Chinese hope the Mandarin to adopt the alphabetic scripts. They are all just the chats. The Written Mandarin which choose or not choose Chinese character, or romanized script that is according to the will of Mandarin speaking people.
There are not any cultural gap existing in ancient (Shang people) and modern China (Mandarin people) as the case of ancient and modern Egypt, unless you can prove that the Mandarin speaking is a descendant language of ancient Shang language. The ancient culture storing in Chinese character which script is belong to the world of ancient Shang people and not concern to modern Mandarin people as similar as the Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese, whom and Mandarin people are just borrow the script of Chinese character only.
In the western countries, secondary schools provide the Written Greek and Written Latin for students to learn and that can be closed up the cross cultural gap between ancient and modern Europe. If the Mandarin people hope to know the cultural messages from Chinese character, the schools can design some courses about Shang language and culture for students to learn and close the cross cultural gap.
商=Shang
As for Shang language, I don't think there is much (orally or graphically). The closest thing that comes to it is the oracle-bone script 殷商甲骨文. However, it's a waste of time to teach students on oracle-bone script, except for caligraphy. The existing oracle-bones are either quite monotonous (only the dates, people's names and titles) or are fragmented. So I don't think there is any really useful source of text to teach, unless you are talking about teaching individual characters, but that is more a research topic.
As for Shang language, I don't think there is much (orally or graphically). The closest thing that comes to it is the oracle-bone script 殷商甲骨文. However, it's a waste of time to teach students on oracle-bone script, except for caligraphy. The existing oracle-bones are either quite monotonous (only the dates, people's names and titles) or are fragmented. So I don't think there is any really useful source of text to teach, unless you are talking about teaching individual characters, but that is more a research topic.
a. oracle-bone character (甲骨字)
the individual characters that were written in oracle-bone.
b. oracle-bone writing (甲骨文)
1. the short sentences about the prayers of almost everything in every date life were written in oracle-bones by kings and priests of Shang nationality.
2. the oracle-bones with monotonous words. (only the dates, person's names, ethnic names, tribes or place's names and titles, etc.)
3. the oracle-bones which are fragmented.
c. oracle-bone script (甲骨體)
the oracle-bone script is a kind of scripts in calligraphy.
the individual characters that were written in oracle-bone.
b. oracle-bone writing (甲骨文)
1. the short sentences about the prayers of almost everything in every date life were written in oracle-bones by kings and priests of Shang nationality.
2. the oracle-bones with monotonous words. (only the dates, person's names, ethnic names, tribes or place's names and titles, etc.)
3. the oracle-bones which are fragmented.
c. oracle-bone script (甲骨體)
the oracle-bone script is a kind of scripts in calligraphy.
Guest Sun Oct 25, 2009 3:30 am GMT
Chinese character is without doubt a highly efficient system for Chinese languages, Japanese, and Korean (believe it or not),
From a Chinese point of view, to tell the truth, we can often understand what it roughly means without knowing how it's exactly pronounced while reading Japanese newspapers or watching TV programme,
but it may be just the same thing for western learners, no matter whether they learn KANJIs or not (perhaps KANJI system is a burden for them). That's to say, KANJI system is of little value for westerners, while on the other hand, is of great help for our Chinese.
The languages of Japanese and Korean were adopted the Sinification (using Literary Chinese as written language, adopted the script of Chinese character and pronunciations.) over the past thousand years, so the Chinese character is no doubt a highly efficient script for Japanese and Korean.
If the Japanese words are written in Kanji at writing system, of course the Chinese readers can understand easily in its meanings, because the Chinese character is a kind of "Logogram". Such as these logograms; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, every person in the world can easy to know their meanings, because they are logograms. Although a Chinese speaker can understand the meaning of the most of Kanji, but don't know how is its reading, unless you learn the Japanese speaking.
Which one of Japanese writing systems did they choose?
1. logo writing system
(the Kanji script don't express the pronunciation.)
2. alphabetic writing system
(the Kana script express the pronunciation.)
The Kanji are wellcomed by the Chinese readers, because they can easy to undersatand Japanese words and don't need to know anymore about the Japanese speaking. The alphabetic writing systems are using in western languages, and so western learners are prefer the Japanese writing which using the Kana alphabet all in a text.
Chinese character is without doubt a highly efficient system for Chinese languages, Japanese, and Korean (believe it or not),
From a Chinese point of view, to tell the truth, we can often understand what it roughly means without knowing how it's exactly pronounced while reading Japanese newspapers or watching TV programme,
but it may be just the same thing for western learners, no matter whether they learn KANJIs or not (perhaps KANJI system is a burden for them). That's to say, KANJI system is of little value for westerners, while on the other hand, is of great help for our Chinese.
The languages of Japanese and Korean were adopted the Sinification (using Literary Chinese as written language, adopted the script of Chinese character and pronunciations.) over the past thousand years, so the Chinese character is no doubt a highly efficient script for Japanese and Korean.
If the Japanese words are written in Kanji at writing system, of course the Chinese readers can understand easily in its meanings, because the Chinese character is a kind of "Logogram". Such as these logograms; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, every person in the world can easy to know their meanings, because they are logograms. Although a Chinese speaker can understand the meaning of the most of Kanji, but don't know how is its reading, unless you learn the Japanese speaking.
Which one of Japanese writing systems did they choose?
1. logo writing system
(the Kanji script don't express the pronunciation.)
2. alphabetic writing system
(the Kana script express the pronunciation.)
The Kanji are wellcomed by the Chinese readers, because they can easy to undersatand Japanese words and don't need to know anymore about the Japanese speaking. The alphabetic writing systems are using in western languages, and so western learners are prefer the Japanese writing which using the Kana alphabet all in a text.