Chinese: An Ancient Writing System

China is a cradle of civilization. It is known for its wonderful culture as well as a highly influential nation. The country’s language, which is Chinese, is one of the world’s oldest languages. It is also one of the most spoken languages on earth. Because of the wide use of this language, many people from various countries learn it. Although the language itself sounds complicated, it is not as hard as it seems.

The Chinese language is an evolution of symbols and characters. How was the Chinese language developed? Of course, like every other languages, it always coincides with an alphabet or a written form. However, Chinese is very unique is a sense that it has no alphabet. In fact, it is the only language in the world that does not have the alphabet as its basis. The Chinese linguistic evolution has made way to many characters that have formed its uniquely intricate language system. The language itself is a collection of symbols and characters that are pronounced according to syllables.

How did the Chinese writing and language system come to life? The Chinese language has a long history behind it. Its language stems back from Sino-Tibetan influences. China has so many spoken dialects. Each dialect is different from each other but has some similarities on it such as pronunciation and vocabulary. The common unintelligibility of the array is the main basis for referring to them as different languages. However, Chinese is still considered as its main ground.

The Chinese written language is an ancient and traditionalist communication form that assigns a specific character or symbol to every word on its vocabulary. The oldest Chinese texts to have been noted are sayings carved on shells and cattle scapulae by diviners during the Shang dynasty. These are popularly known as the oracle-bone inscriptions. Despite the fact that many of Chinese ancient symbols and characters have been altered through time, the principles of its system still remains in tack. Like other ancient writings, Chinese originated form picture scripts. Then later on, it evolved into a word per word illustration.

The Chinese refer to their language system as Han-a, which they have derived from the ancient Han dynasty. As the twentieth century approached, Chinese was changed into a much understandable writing system for locals and foreigner. This movement for language reform had three goals. This included the simplification of characters that were written in classical Chinese. The number of strokes and lines among selected characters were reduced. Some characters that have single meanings were fused into one. As part of it modification, the Beijing-based variety was chosen as a standard. The movement also aimed to alphabetize the Chinese writing system. This means that the ancient characters will be gradually replaced with letters. To express contemporary impression, Chinese generally makes equivalents from its indigenous reserve of meaningful syllables, or delivers such terms or characters in phonetic spelling.

Chinese is a very historical communication system. The cultivation of its language is essential in order to preserve ancient history. The Chinese language is in fact a world heritage.