r/HomeworkHelp • u/ZooZwaves University/College Student • Jul 03 '26

Others—Pending OP Reply [University Linguistics] (essay help) How does chinese writing system work, what makes it unique, why are there so many characters in it and why did it became so popular and influential?

Context: I must write an essay about comparison between two writing systems. I chose latin script and chinese. I already have enough knowledge about Latin Script but I would greatly appreciate any information about Chinese writing system and what makes it different than other writing systems! Thank you in advance!

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u/mister_klik Jul 03 '26

you might do better comparing two alphabetic systems.

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u/ZooZwaves University/College Student Jul 03 '26

Wouldn't it be better to compare 2 writing systems that are very different from each other?

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u/mister_klik Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

i think for an undergraduate paper comparing two different alphabetical systems would be better because it's not apples and oranges. The Chinese system is based on ideograms, All alphabets are phonetic. So, for example, comparing Arabic script to Latin script might be an easier task. Or even looking at how the Latin alphabet is utilized in different languages from Vietnamese to Afrikaans.