Isn’t there also shorthand where you just write the base components and people understand what you mean because even though the radicals are missing, the core meaning of the glyph is still close enough?
The difference is that the shorthand isn’t based on phonetics but on the core meaning of the calligraphic strokes.
It’s why Japanese writers can communicate with Cantonese speakers through quick strokes on their palms. The radicals are all different but the base components are the same.
Similar to a German person stripping back words to core syllables.
cloudless@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Yes. For example in Chinese underground metro is 地下鐵路 roughly “ground under metal road”.
The shorthand is 地鐵, roughly “ground metal”. And everyone understands that as the metro.
match@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
how easy is it (e.g., number of key presses) to get 鐵 on your keyboard? it looks massively complicated, I’m counting like 22 strokes or so
cloudless@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
There are different input methods. I use phoenetic one so I only have to type 3 letters and select the character.
There is also "quick" input method which you only need to pay attention to 2 parts of the character when you type, then it gives you a selection of the most likely characters.
Lemminary@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Oh, boy, do I have a Radiolab episode for you! “The Wubi Effect”
match@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
oh boy!