[stupandaus]

One big problem with this analysis is that the information conveyed per word cannot be compared exactly like this. The Chinese language as a whole is very idiomatic, and often 'words' are combinations of 2-4 characters. Analysis on a per character basis doesn't make much sense. What really should be analyzed is an 'Ideas per Minute.' Perhaps the best way would be to have parties from both languages who are fluent in a 3rd language try to summarize a passage in the 3rd language as succinctly as possible into Chinese and English respectively and see which language is more efficient in this manner.

While the post does note that he is in Taiwan, I suspect that there are large differences in reading speed between Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese for a few reasons:

1. Simplified Chinese has less information density per character

2. Simplified Chinese combines more character and uses less characters overall

3. Traditional Chinese uses more 'old-fashioned' vocabulary and idioms which are nearly gone from the Mainland Chinese vernacular

Really my only complaint here is that he should specify that he is talking about Traditional Chinese.

[wangweij]

None of the three reasons you said is correct. Yes, a Simplified Chinese character contains less strokes than a Traditional one, but they convey almost the exact same quantity of information. You will understand this when you notice that although people in (Mainland) China and Taiwan wrote differently, they speak almost the same, using the same number of characters to express the same meaning.

On the other hand, there is a difference between Classical (Literary) Chinese and modern plain speech Chinese. The Classical Chinese, used in ancient times mainly for writing purposes, with its different grammar and vocabulary, does use less characters.

[stupandaus]

1. They do not convey the same amount of information. Take 发 for example. This is now a split tone word which can mean either 發 or 髮. The information density has been reduced and it's now ambiguous without context which character this represents.

2. People in Mainland China and Taiwan most certainly do not speak the same. There are a litany of spoken differences between 普通話 and 國語. As someone who travels frequently between the two countries, I am constantly shocked how much the two have deviated. There are numerous idioms that are completely unused on either side. Many very basic terms such as the terms for SMS (短信 in China, 簡訊 in Taiwan) are completely unrecognized outside of the respective areas.