#simplified characters

I had always heard that Japanese has simplified kanji, kind of like how Chinese has simplified characters. They are called shinjitai (新字体). When I traveled to Japan (knowing Chinese but not knowing any Japanese), I instantly began noticing shinjitai and comparing them to simplified characters.

It was fascinating how I was able to understand some shinjitai instantly, whereas others took more time to decode. Some are actually identical to simplified Chinese characters. Below are all the shinjitai I noticed on my trip. This has been in my drafts for ages...!

Simplified in Japanese only

(Order: traditional / shinjitai)

冰-氷

乘-乗

舍-舎

拜-拝

窗-窓

Same simplification in both languages

(Order: traditional - simplified/shinjitai)

萬-万

來-来

寫-写

區-区

醫-医

國-国

學-学

當-当

淺-浅

會-会

體-体

Different simplifications in each language

(Order: traditional - simplified - shinjitai)

兩-两-両

單-单-単

傳-传-伝

價-价-価

兒-儿-児

Window shopping recently and saw this ↑…

不内耗 《道德经》 带你活出松弛感

No Internal Strife. Let the “Tao Te Ching/Dao De Jing” show you how to lead a relaxed life;

跟着老子做少欲无为的生活家

follow (*this old dude) Laozi and become a master at a life of few desires and letting things take its course;

走出自设的囚笼，为人生做减法

walk out of the cage of your own design, cut back on things in life;

修出一颗慈矛心　明明白白活一生

cultivate a magnanimous and gentle heart (and) live life clearly and honourably.

～ by someone called 马超 (Ma Chao), which is also the name of a Han Dynasty/Three Kingdoms era military general.

More infrequently another thing happens. Recently I was looking at this: 在这个逼仄的世界找不到容身之处，笼罩在窒息感中

and with this mindset, upon seeing 逼仄, I wondered what on earth 仄 used to be, before it was subjected to this fate. I write it into Pleco, only to find...

Introducing 乱体字, AKA the result of me, a learner who can only write simplified characters, trying to write traditional characters. 混体字 might be the more appropriate name, but I like the sound of 乱体字 better.

Top row: 简体字 simplified characters

Middle row: 繁体字 traditional characters

Bottom row: 乱体字 my hybrid characters

Characters:

质量的质（質）

观察的观（觀）

身体的体（體）

展览的览（覽）

Most of my posts use simplified characters because those are what I have been learning and using since I was young. I do have some posts that also use traditional characters or are about traditional characters:

Cross-Strait Tones Differences

Variant Characters You Should Know

Traditional Characters That Haunt Me

And about half of the posts in my Mandarin Music March series use traditional characters.

A Comparison Table between Simplified and Traditional Characters  - only includes spelling and characters, it presumes you know their meaning, organized alphabetically.

A list of some common characters that are different between Simplified and Traditional - short, which kind of sucks, but it seems to contain most of the high frequency characters that are different. It includes definitions and pinyin. It’s a good quick reference list to glance through.

HSK Characters List - most characters on this site include mnemonics on their entries to help you remember meaning, along with definition and pinyin.