In my experience, it is much more accurate in reproducing the actual sounds of spoken Mandarin.

Zhuyin and Pinyin map 1-1 at the syllabic level. Anything that can be written with one system can be written in one and only one way in the other system. Therefore, it’s impossible for one to be “more accurate in reproducing the actual sounds of spoken Mandarin”.

Also, consider that Pinyin was developed primarily for is is used primarily by Chinese school children who are still learning characters. Well over 99.9% of all pinyin usage is by native Chinese people.

On another note, you aren’t the only one I’ve heard say good things about ICLP. Nearly everyone has had good things to say about it, aside from the price.

I was trained in pin yin in the States. I find zhu yin infinitely more helpful on a practical basis. I had my teachers at ICLP, NTU, specifically work with me on the pronunciation of the zhu yin sounds.

Zhu yin was developed by Chinese for Chinese in the early years of the Republic of China. In my experience, it is much more accurate in reproducing the actual sounds of spoken Mandarin.

Also, there are thousands of books available, mainly for adolescents and children, that provide excellent and interesting practice in reading real Chinese written for native speakers.

I bought many while studying during the 2008 summer in Tai pei. Presently, I am working my way through a translation of Sherlock Holmes with zhu yin. It keeps me going because the story is interesting and, if I wish, I can consult the original English.

Of course, I don’t expect anyone to follow my example with zhu yin. However, I am delighted that it exists and have found it very helpful in learning the characters.

I also agree that it is easier to learn the Traditional first and then go to the Simplified. I have never been to the mainland. Where I lived in Tai pei County, just over the Tai pei city line in Zhong he, virtually no one spoke English. I rarely had anyone trying to practice English with me. I never lacked for people with whom I could speak Mandarin.

Incidentally, I highly recommend the ICLP program at National Taiwan University. It is for those who are willing to devote considerable time to improving their Mandarin. I only was there for the summer session, 2008, but the improvement in my Chinese has been remarkable.

The student to teacher ratio is 3-4 to 1 in group classes. Every day each student also has a 1 on 1 with a well-trained teacher.

I plan to return next summer for more.

There are a lot of good tests of the English language out there, like the GEPT or the TOEFL. When will Mandarin have a test that measures all four language skills? I guess there is no need.

But the reason that china in 1950s switched traditional chinese to simplified chinese was becuz Mao, the leader of communist party, wanted to decrease the illiteracy in china.

also ur question:

“if simplified characters don’t have any historical roots, then why would “traditional” characters? I mean, traditional characters have changed quite a bit since the era of Oracle Bone Script (甲骨文), right? ”

first, do u really know what is 甲骨文? it only contains about 4 thousands words..so it’s not a written character that chinese people used for thousands years til now, but traditional character is..

it’s true that traditional characters have changed from thousands years ago, but i can say that every change has a meaning rather than nonsense simplified every chinese words.

for example, 下麵 means cookin noodles, 下面means under or below. but in simplified chinese they both write in the same 下面…however, the root of 麵 is 麥 on the left side of 麵, which means wheat. so now u can see why simplified chinese has no meaning at all…

if u still have questions about why traditional characters have historical value..then u can go find 古書 or any kind of chinese history records..and compare those chinese words with modern traditional chinese words..u’ll see they are almost the same.

also do u see any書法家 use simplified chinese words on writing 書法? of course not…traditional chinese has been using for thousands years, and everyone knows that.

china simplified chinese is hoping to decrease the illiteracy..also at that time some crazy stupid “experts” said if don’t change the form of chinese characters, china will vanish…

if u don’t believe me u can go online search by urself..

i can tell u that one of the crazy experts name is魯迅,a famous historical figure in both china and taiwan, but few people know about his proposal on changin chinese characters.
he’s only well known in his chinese literacy…
see how ironic is that..he wrote chinese, spoke chinese, read chinese, but when communist party controlled the whole china..he began to criticize the chinese words…

I just like to ask you if it’s OK that I link this article to my blog “The sky of Hanyu”?
I have already linked them together,
If you have any opinion please let me know, I will withdrow it from my blog.
Thanks.