If it weren’t for the translation work I’ve done over the past few years, I probably wouldn’t be so familiar with traditional Chinese characters. But my familiarity is relative. For example, it is still difficult to pick out the simplified characters from a text written in traditional Chinese characters.
As for writing, it is even more impossible to write the slightly more complex strokes of the word, let alone the traditional Chinese characters.
Whether it’s reading old books, watching Hong Kong and Taiwanese dramas, or interacting at work, I wonder how many young mainlanders still consider knowing traditional Chinese characters a basic skill or, more importantly, a pleasure of self-fulfillment.
Of course, it is not just a question of language. When I was in college (about 15 years ago), we still had friends from Taiwan who were curious about our world and eager to interact. I learned the word “rubber stamp” from them and received a 100 NTD note as a souvenir. But the few Taiwanese students we met in Abisko last Christmas just threw snowballs at us from a distance.
I once wrote that the Mandarin version of a Beyond’s popular song is You Know My Confusion, and that when the two worlds go their separate ways and are cut off from each other, we no longer know each other’s confusion.
This is probably why Midnight Paper has to have a traditional Chinese version.