Wired kids forgetting how to write....

[Dr Mordrid]

This is frightening - and hopefully not a taste of what's heading our way....

Agence France-Presse (AFP) article....

Wired youth forget how to write in China and Japan

Like every Chinese child, Li Hanwei spent her schooldays memorising thousands of the intricate characters that make up the Chinese writing system.

Yet aged just 21 and now a university student in Hong Kong, Li already finds that when she picks up a pen to write, the characters for words as simple as "embarrassed" have slipped from her mind.

"I can remember the shape, but I can't remember the strokes that you need to write it," she says. "It's a bit of a problem."

Surveys indicate the phenomenon, dubbed "character amnesia", is widespread across China, causing young Chinese to fear for the future of their ancient writing system.

Young Japanese people also report the problem, which is caused by the constant use of computers and mobile phones with alphabet-based input systems.

There is even a Chinese word for it: "tibiwangzi", or "take pen, forget character".

A poll commissioned by the China Youth Daily in April found that 83 percent of the 2,072 respondents admitted having problems writing characters.
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[KRSESQ]

Not that surprising considering the chinese language contains over 47,000 sinographs, of which a knowledge of 3000-4000 is considered the minimum required for literacy in the language.

The growing dominence of western alphanumerics in China must have Mao spinning in his mausoleum.

Kevin

[Technoid]

47000 !!!?! do they just make new ones as the need comes up?!

I'd say this is a perfectly natural pitfall for that writing language

[VJ]

47000 !!!?! do they just make new ones as the need comes up?!

Actually, yes...
I've read that it is possible (and there are rules on how) to combine characters together to form a new word, something that is the composition of the other characters. Sort of like there would be something for "camera" and something for "bag", then the word "camerabag" could be a mix of both symbols, rather than a succession of them.

(I hope somebody can confirm this? I'm not sure, but I seem to recall it like that...)

[Umfriend]

Bleh, even the computers in use by the civil servants only facility about 10000 of these charaters which is a problem if you need an official document (drivers license, passport) and your name isn't in the alphabet.

[Evildead666]

How many of you have read online posts where the text is incomprehensible due to the fact that the 'young uns' use sms language ?

I wouldn't be surprised if a whole generation forgot how to write.....

there was a thing in the UK a little while back to allow kids to write in SMS for their exams !!!

This is a slightly different case though, where the actual act of writing the text is forgotton.
not surprised though....a friend of mine spent about 8 or 9 years or more learning to write chinese and mandarin chinese....he said speaking was relatively easy, but writing was a real chore...

[VJ]

How many of you have read online posts where the text is incomprehensible due to the fact that the 'young uns' use sms language ?

Yes, it is terrible... The sister of a friend of mine uses that while chatting... Sometimes I can't make heads or tails of it.

I wouldn't be surprised if a whole generation forgot how to write.....

there was a thing in the UK a little while back to allow kids to write in SMS for their exams !!!

That is just plain nuts!
I have read a survey though that using sms language does help kids to develop language skills: notions of grammar and so on (even though it is not the English grammar). Personally I find it a bit of a stretch though...

This is a slightly different case though, where the actual act of writing the text is forgotton.
not surprised though....a friend of mine spent about 8 or 9 years or more learning to write chinese and mandarin chinese....he said speaking was relatively easy, but writing was a real chore...

I actually must admit that after having worked long days on the computer (and weeks actually go by without me having to write something), it shows in my handwriting. It just looks even worse than normal... And to think I had to take notes as a student! When I filled in for a computer science teacher last year, I was shocked to see that the high school students now (-18) get copies of everything and don't take notes whatsoever. So if I see the difference on my handwriting, it makes me fear for theirs....