Chinese languages

Hi! I just wrote to ask everyopne if it is possible to invent new Chinese Characters for our own personal use?
I've been asking this question since I read an article from the internet that "Chinese characters are being invented everyday." If this is so, Can I make some chracters myself?



Thanks a lot.





Richard

Richard wrote:
>
> Hi! I just wrote to ask everyopne if it is possible to invent
> new Chinese Characters for our own personal use?

For personal use, yes. Just don't expect anyone else to automatically
accept it and use it.

In the subject line, you asked a slightly different question, "Can we invent
our own Chinese characters for personal names?" Yes, you can do that
too, but don't except to be able to make them legal--some countries in Asia
have been discouraging or cracking down on making up new characters for
names because it creates unnecessary characters, e.g., every computer
system has to be updated for what is just an individual's vanity character.


> I've been asking this question since I read an article from
> the internet that "Chinese characters are being invented
> everyday." If this is so, Can I make some chracters myself?

Yes, go ahead. You don't have to get permission from anyone. It's
like making up a new English word. But like made-up new English words,
it doesn't automatically get included in dictionaries.


Thomas Chan
tc31@cornell.edu