I was browsing in a bookstore recently, and came across this book:
Spahn & Hadamitsky "The Kanji Dictionary"
ISBN: 0804820589
Going through the book, I was pleasantly surprised to find such a large number of characters and character combinations where, despite a vast difference in pronunciation, the meanings are virtually identical to those of Chinese. They could either be:
1. Chinese-origin words adopted by Japanese, or
2. Japanese-coined terminology that were adopted by the Chinese (e.g. 政府, 圖書館).
The commonalities were not just a matter of a few disparate entries peppered here-and-there; I estimate that about 99% of the entries I read were common to Chinese, or at least contextually-comprehensible to a Chinese-educated reader.
This reinforces the power of universality that Chinese characters held over the East Asian nations (China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam), which I have written at lengths about in a previous forum thread regarding Literary Chinese.
However, my emphasis for this thread is not so much about Literary Chinese in history, but rather its relevance today as a bridge between the Oriental nations, where Chinese characters have had such a strong historical significance in the development of the respective modern languages today. Over the passage of time, the languages of the East Asian nations have diverged - in much the same way the the Chinese dialects themselves diverged from Old Chinese.
The interesting question that crops up in my mind is, could it be conceivable that if - in theory - all the East Asian nations returned to the older style of writing in Chinese characters (i.e. Literary Chinese), while at the same time retaining modern terms that somehow have become common - could the universality of the Chinese written language be restored, such that the East Asian nations can, once again, understand each other perfectly through the written word?
Of course, I am aware that what I am proposing here flies in the face of a century of language reform in China, the development of the Japanese language, the ascension of Hangeul as a replacement for Hanja in Korea, and the Romanisation of the Vietnamese language to replace Chu-Nom. And with such diverse and isolated modernisations, the prospect of having all East Asian nations return to Literary Chinese as a common written language is highly remote (at least in the foreseeable future).
But at the same time, I do not think it is something totally impossible. Signs in airports written in Kanji can be perfectly understood by people educated in the Chinese language, and vice versa (to a certain extent). Koreans still use Hanja for personal names, and you can still see some commercial signs in Seoul written using Chinese characters. Japanese and Korean schools still teach a minimum of 2,000 to 3,000 Chinese characters. Many Vietnamese words have Chinese origin, and their pronunciations are not so far off from Chinese. And it is well-known that up until the turn of the 20th century, Literary Chinese was still generally understood in pre-modern China, Japan, and to a lesser extent, Korea.
In a lingusitically-Uthopian context, I would like to imagine being able to write a letter in Literary Chinese to, say, a Japanese friend who speaks no Chinese or English, and he will be able to fully understand me through the written word. That was possible a century ago, and it is my (somewhat idealistic) dream that it can, once again, be so today.
To be politically-correct, I would not venture so far as to say that the Chinese language will be a universal language of the Far East, which I think is too anachronistic an assertion. I would limit my suggestion to say that the classical written language be a universal written language for the Far East (perhaps a neutral name like 漢文 would be suitable?).
Instead of foreign students being taught hanzi, kanji and hanja as three separate linguistic entities, would not be so much better if they were introduced and taught as one and the same 漢字?
Of course, to put things in the proper context, I am not suggesting that all the East Asian countries abandon their current national vernaculars to adopt one common spoken language. That would sacrifice the unique linguistic cultures of the various countries. Perhaps what I am suggesting as a start is some form of standardised written 漢文 grammar learnt only at high school level (my bias towards the Literary Chinese model is only as a matter of convenience, since it is already a historically-proven written language vehicle), coupled with the adoption of standard modern terminologies that have been universally accepted (e.g. 飛機場, 消防車).
One trade-off is that this 'standard 漢文' would entail the written Chinese language having to retreat from modern 普通話 terms to older words, e.g. 食 for 'eat' instead of 吃, 飲 for 'drink' instead of 喝, 所在 for 'place' instead of 地方, etc., and the same with standard Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese - in order to achieve true universality.
What I am suggesting here is not just a linguistic proposal, but also a political one. A universal East Asian language will certainly help to strengthen the ties and understandings between the East Asian nations which, over the centuries, have culturally diverged for so long. Chinese characters have endured three millennia of history with little change - something that no other written language can claim. And it is the non-dependence on pronunciation that allows it to truly bridge linguistic gaps in the way that the Roman alphabet cannot.
Postscript:
After writing the above, I found this interesting article on the Web:
http://www.allempires.com/article/in...hinese_letters
The author appears to assert that cultural pull factors and the emergence of China may serve to re-vitalise the need for literacy in Chinese characters in Japan, Korea and even Vietnam.
Literary Chinese - Bridging the East Asian countries?
Hong - Thank you for being so direct! I am going to assume that you do not share my idealistic visions.
I can only think of two 漢字 dictionaries that could possibly cost so much:
1. 漢語大字典
2. 大漢和字典
Since you said it is from China, I presume you are referring to the first one. To the best of my knowledge, the next most expensive 漢字 dictionary is the 辭源 (published by 商務印書館), and even that only costs RM360 at the local Kuala Lumpur bookstore (if you buy the more compact single-volume version it is even cheaper, around RM150).
I can only think of two 漢字 dictionaries that could possibly cost so much:
1. 漢語大字典
2. 大漢和字典
Since you said it is from China, I presume you are referring to the first one. To the best of my knowledge, the next most expensive 漢字 dictionary is the 辭源 (published by 商務印書館), and even that only costs RM360 at the local Kuala Lumpur bookstore (if you buy the more compact single-volume version it is even cheaper, around RM150).
Re: Literary Chinese - Bridging the East Asian countries?
To the best of my knowledge, the next most expensive 漢字 dictionary is the 辭源 (published by 商務印書館), and even that only costs RM360 at the local Kuala Lumpur bookstore (if you buy the more compact single-volume version it is even cheaper.