Should I learn simplified or traditional Chinese?

Should I learn simplified or traditional Chinese? Name the paper you will sit, then match the characters it prints. If you are at zero, say one line from the sentence bank before you choose a script.

A post that tells most beginners to pick simplified as a default is ranking a script. Reading a character and writing it by hand already sit on should I learn Chinese characters. Say the line, then look at the glyphs on the paper you named.

The search names a script. The paper already printed one

Simplified and traditional, on this page, are how a writing system is printed. The spoken line comes first. Reading a character and writing it by hand already sit on should I learn Chinese characters. Read that split on the page that wrote it.

A spoken line still has its own week. If you are at zero, that week is how to start learning Chinese. The sentence bank already has a line you can say twice. Say that line, then look at the glyphs on the paper you named.

One exam already says which glyphs you get

People look for a default: simplified unless Taiwan. One exam already writes the split in its own FAQ.

The current TOCFL registration FAQ asks whether the test uses 正體 or 簡體. For tests in Taiwan it says: “臺灣考區的TOCFL考試只提供正體字的服務。” Taiwan test sites provide traditional characters only. The same answers say overseas TOCFL offers a choice of 正體 and 簡體.

TOCFL is Taiwan’s test. Hong Kong and Macau are not that sitting. A Hong Kong or Macau exam was not opened for this note.

The current HSK Level 1 outline hosted by CTI is a different file. The PDF this site cites is printed in simplified characters. In the introduction we read, 繁体 and 正體 do not appear. Match the character set to the paper you will sit. That file is the Level 1 outline.

The mainland table already maps the two

China’s Ministry of Education, posting a State Council notice on the 2013 Table of General Standard Chinese Characters, says the table contains 8,105 characters, in three levels. After publication, the notice says general-use writing should follow this table, and the older related lists stop. Those 8,105 characters are a mainland general-use table. Week one is still the spoken line.

A Q&A posted with that notice says: “附表1是《规范字与繁体字、异体字对照表》”. The appendix shows how standard characters line up with traditional and variant forms, for reading older books and for information exchange with Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The same answers say this edition did not restore a single traditional character inside the table.

The characters note already cites a 2021 Q&A that names 3,000 characters as one of four benchmarks. Keep that stick beside this table. They count different things.

Speech still comes first this week

Open the sentence bank when the job in front of you is a line a person can hear. After you can say it, look at how that line is written on the paper you will sit. One paper, one script, for the line you can already say.

What waits until another page

Match the script to the paper you will sit. The 8,105-character list stays on the Ministry notice. Hong Kong and Macau are not the TOCFL sitting. A HelloChinese case sits on the courses shelf when that page exists.

Match the script to the paper you will sit

Say one line, then look at the glyphs on that paper. The HSK Level 1 outline we read is printed in simplified characters. TOCFL in Taiwan prints traditional. Open one line in the sentence bank. Say it. Then look at the glyphs on the paper you named.

Questions that still sit on the table

Sources

• Steering Committee for the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu, TOCFL registration FAQ (read 1 October 2026).
• Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, “国务院公布《通用规范汉字表》” (read 1 October 2026). The character list itself stays on that notice.
• Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, “《通用规范汉字表》答记者问” (read 1 October 2026).
• Chinese Testing International, HSK Level 1 outline PDF (read 1 October 2026).

Name the paper. Say the line. The appendix can wait.

Version 1. Recheck when the TOCFL FAQ changes which glyphs a sitting prints, when the 2013 table notice changes the appendix, when a CTI page names a traditional HSK paper, or every six months.