Chinese Language - the most concise and systematic

Chinese language is the most concise and systematic language in the world; its written form is also one of the most beautiful calligraphy arts. Oftentimes the Westerns unfairly or unknowingly label Chinese as one of the most difficult languages to learn, partly because Chinese is still a less-commonly taught language and each Chinese character may contain seemingly complex strokes compared to its counterpart English vocabulary.

After considering the following facts and starting learning Chinese a little bit, we will realize Chinese is the most concise and systematic (and probably scientific) language on earth.

No Strict Grammar

In Chinese, we do not have past, present, and future tenses. We also do not have singular and plural nouns, articles (a, an, and the), sexes, and strict grammars. Yet the Chinese can still clearly tell those differences in contexts.

Minimum Number of Vocabularies

The number of frequently used Chinese characters is about 3000 in our modern society. One or several characters may be combined to refer to a noun, a verb, or a phrase which are usually self-explaining (though they look seemingly complex and longer compared to English counterparts). Usually a person who has graduated from junior high school (15 years old) no longer need to carry a Chinese dictionary to read articles of literature, philosophy, math, physics, chemistry, engineering, business and so on; thus we seldom memorize new vocabularies since then. The systematic design of Chinese language compensates for the seemingly complex number of strokes in Chinese characters, and in return, makes almost every glossary in different fields of knowledge direct and self-explaining - no need to guess or look up in the dictionary.

A foreigner will need to memorize at least 20,000 English vocabularies to read the Time Magazine or other professional journals in many fields of knowledge. In contrast, the average Chinese can read all fields of knowledge and understand the wordings all the way without looking up in a Chinese dictionary.

Basic examples:

Numbers	Chinese	Months	Months in Chinese	Days of the Week	Days in Chinese
1	一	January	一月	Monday	星期一
2	二	February	二月	Tuesday	星期二
3	三	March	三月	Wednesday	星期三
4	四	April	四月	Thursday	星期四
5	五	May	五月	Friday	星期五
6	六	June	六月	Saturday	星期六
7	七	July	七月	Sunday	星期日
8	八	August	八月
9	九	September	九月
10	十	October	十月
11	十一	November	十一月
12	十二	December	十二月

Less Space and Length in Printed Paragraphs

Even if the combined characters may look more complex and tedious than the counterpart English vocabularies or words, the total number of Chinese strokes in a paragraph may still be less or close to the number of English letters of exactly the same contexts.

The Classical Chinese Style ( 文言文 ), though not used in modern conversations and in the fields of today's sciences, is still widely used in Chinese literature, philosophy, and art studies. They are even more concise as compared to modern Chinese used in our daily life.

Sample 1: Translated from Classical Chinese Style to English

歐陽詢書論 Oh-Yang Sheun's Essay On Calligraphy

澄神靜慮，端己正容，秉筆思生，臨池志逸。
Be clear in mind and deliberated in serenity with the body well seated and at ease. Have the idea in mind before we take up the brushes so imagination and aspiration can flash during writing.

虛拳直腕，指齊掌空，意在筆前，文向思後。
With the fist hollow and the wrist level, and the fingers firm and the palm void, start to write as the mind commands before writing the brushstrokes with the artistic ideas already conceptualized.

分間布白，勿令偏側。
Be very careful with the general shape and spacing, and do not let the character tilt sideways.

墨淡則傷神彩，絕濃必滯鋒毫。
Too pale an ink will dim the characters' luster and downgrade the spirit, too thick a one will obstruct the brush motion.

肥則為鈍，瘦則露骨，勿使傷于軟弱，不須怒降為奇。
A broad fleshy stroke looks gross; a very slim one exposes the "bones." Do not spoil a character by over-pliancy, nor exaggerate it with affected fury and quarrelsome characteristics.

四面停勻，八邊具備，短長合度，粗細折中。
Let all four sides be evenly proportioned and all parts corroborated and coordinated in eight directions. Short and long strokes must be calculated in relation to one another, and compromising effects well balanced between the rough (or coarse) and delicate (or fine) strokes.

心眼準程，疏密欹正。
Mind and eye together should calculate and determine density or looseness of textures as well as upright or aslant inclinations.

筋骨精神，隨其大小。
The will and spirit of characters depend on the their proportions and sizes.

不可頭輕尾重，無令左短右長，斜正如人，上稱下載，東映西帶，氣宇融和，精神灑落。
It is fatal to place a light head on a heavy base (or to write a stroke, say a Vertical or a Horizontal, with a bulged head and a light tail) or to overly shorten the left side in relation to the right one. The stance of a character should be like that of a well-built man. Achieving these qualities by synchronizing the top portion with the well-supported bottom portion in coordination with well-fitted equilibrium of the the left (west) and right (east) parts will delight our mood in writing with comfort and light up our spirit.

省此微言，孰為不可也。
By thinking over and following my humble suggestions, there will be no reason for wasted time and failure - I doubt who cannot be good at calligraphy!

Sample 2: Translated from Classical Chinese Style to English

夫篆刻豈小技乎？其中有書法、有意法、有刀法，三者不可不講也。所謂書法者，古人作字不外六書，失之毫釐，謬以千里。若不深加考據，妄以己意奏泊，非書法也。章法者，點劃之間，自有向背。一字有一字之法，幾字有幾字之法，方圓不同，修短各異，照應收放，悉有原本。微有牽率強合之病，非章法矣。至於刀法，非燕尾鋸齒之謂也，日漸月摩，純熟之至，迎刃而出，自然渾融，具有天趣。否則，刻意摹古。痕跡未化，非刀法矣。

清．王撰《寶晉齋印譜》

Chinese seal carving is not an average skill. It is indispensable to deal with the methodologies of (seal script) calligraphy, ideas, and carving. The ancient Chinese wrote according to the Six Principles to compose Chinese scripts; a minimal error or deviation results in wide divergence. If one creates new scripts without studying and obeying the principles, the writing is not considered calligraphy. As for designing the arrangement of scripts in a seal, one has to consider the disposition of strokes and the various effects. The designs are different for seals with one or several characters - their angles, roundness, and lengths differ. There always exist principles as to modify the angles, roundness and lengths. If there is a minimal incoherence, it is not a good design. As for carving, do not imitate the shapes of a sparrow's tail or a saw's teeth. Practicing diligently for many days and months will help the carver obtain proficiency, natural smoothness and coherence, and joyfulness. On the contrary, if one labors to copycat ancient seals without understanding, traces of incoherence will show and this is not considered good carving.

Adapted from Seal Collections of Baojin Studio by Wang Zhuan of Ching Dynasty

More samples for comparison can be found from English and Chinese textbooks in many other fields of knowledge.

More to be added ...

(Back to Home)