"Why I think the Chinese writing system is TERRIBLE"

That's the title of this YouTube video (12:39; 4,572 views  Nov 18, 2022) by ABChinese (34K subscribers):

The presenter also adds the following verbal comment:

No, it really is. I have come to the conclusion that Chinese characters aren't just difficult for English speakers to learn. They're difficult to learn on an ABSOLUTE SCALE. For lovers of Chinese though, this doesn't have to change anything. We can still admire the beauty in Chinese characters while recognizing that it's truly an inefficient and illogical system of writing… or I may be wrong.

NOTE: I also forgot to mention in the video, but another argument for why alphabetic writing is superior is that ALL computer languages are alphabetical. I'm not a coder, but from what I understand, Chinese coders tend to code in English because Chinese writing and computer languages are incompatible.

After these observations, ABChinese appends a useful set of "Research videos on Chinese writing and reforms", plus interesting information about himself and the things he loves.

ABChinese has many other thoughtful, well-informed YouTube videos about Chinese language and script, for which see here.

 

Selected readings

• "The Awful Chinese Writing System" (Geoffrey Pullum, Lingua Franca, 1/20/16)
• "Which is worse?" (1/21/16)
• "Pinyin for ABCs" (5/14/20) — fabulous video (23:14) of three smart, hip, articulate ABCs ("American-born Chinese"), the Fung Bros; "10 REASONS WHY CHINESE AMERICANS CAN'T SPEAK CHINESE!" "10 REASONS WHY LEARNING CHINESE IS HARD FOR AMERICANS"

[Thanks to David Moser]