Situation #4.5: The stroke order of a Chinese character seems very important, but I am not sure how much we should press my child to memorize it.Reality: Stroke order is intended to maximize the ease of reading and writing, and to improve the overall look of the character (i.e. a box-like shape). Once one learns certain rules, he can mostly infer how most other characters are to be written (e.g. left before right, top before bottom). Of course there are some exceptions. But it should not cause much inconveniences in everyday writing. The stroke order becomes extremely important, however, in Chinese calligraphy, where the beauty of the character is revealed more distinctly from the brush stroke.

It is more difficult to revert to the correct way once a habit has been established. In light of priority, however, it is not quite as important, considering the little amount of time and the opposing forces about your child in learning Chinese in an English-dominant society. It is very beneficial, however, to enforce the basic rules in the beginning of character writing. The child will in turn figure out the rest, and if not, ask you about it. The worst to do is to impose stroke order when the child is in a position of reluctance and frustration in learning Chinese. As long as he is interested, you can teach him this interesting phenomenon.

Situation #4.4: I am not sure whether my child should study simplified characters or traditional characters.Reality: Traditional and simplified characters came about due to historical and political reasons. Most traditional compound characters have a phonetic component that sometimes gives a clue to their sound and a semantic component that sometimes gives a clue to their meaning. During the simplification process, simplified characters have not consistently preserved these two components in the formation. Moreover, some simplified components in certain characters are not always simplified in other characters. Overall, simplified characters have been changed based on a mixed set of rules. On the other hand, it is plausible that the fewer number of strokes in simplified characters makes writing easier for some children.

No research, probably due to historical and political reasons, has been performed to conclude which styles are easier to learn. However, there is research that shows that cognitively, simplified characters demand more visual skills than traditional characters. Simplified characters do not distinguish themselves from each other to the extent that traditional characters do. This extra visual demand makes it more difficult for beginning readers, who tend to focus on the entire character visually, to recognize the characters quickly and accurately.

Some other factors can be considered as part of your decision. China and Singapore use simplified characters, but Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia use traditional characters. Anything pre-World-World-II is written in traditional characters. Therefore, one may not be able to read any literature from that time period that has not been converted to simplified characters. Simplified characters, however, have fewer strokes, so it can be easier for a child to write, depending on when she starts writing. There is still much controversy of both sides claiming to be the better writing system, but your family should make a decision based on your mission and your child’s learning style.