Re: hanzi vs kanji

[Jungshik Shin <jshin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 3 Jan 2003, Maiorana, Jason wrote:

> >Can we please maintain the distinctions between
> >1. language,
> >2. script, and
> >3. typeface 'category' or other typeface differences.
>
> Thats really the question: Is the difference between
> Hanzi and Kanji more one of typeface or of script.

> I would argue that it is a real script difference,

   I strongly disagree with you on this point.
Most people on the Unicode list would agree with
me. If they're different scripts, CJK Unification
should be overthrown right away.


> but it is typically implemented as a typeface
> difference. A character in these scripts do have
> a precise set of radicals, stroke order, and
> proportion.

   This is only the case if you regard anything
other than what Japanese MoES(Min. of Education and Science) standardized
as 'non-Japanese'.  My grandfather, father and I(Koreans) could write
a single Chinese character with different stroke counts and sometimes
even differently looking radicals, but all of us know what we mean.


> (Stylization is something applied
> afterwards, deviating from the script norm.)

   Who has the final say in the script norm?
I don't want Korean MoE(Min. of Education)
to tell me to change the way I write
some Chinese characters. My grandfather would
get enraged if  some ignorant beuraucrats
in Seoul wanted him to change the way
he writes.



> It is certainly possible for some to overcome this
> difference, and read their own language despite
> its being in another script, but that does not
> prove that they are identical scripts.

   Neither does it prove that they're different
scripts.


> The difference between fraktur and arial however,
> is purely one of typeface, and seems relatively
> trivial.

   If it's trivial, the diff. across CJK glyph
variants is far far far  more trivial.

   Jungshik Shin

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