The 'Chinese' Theory: For and Against

[Jorge_Stolfi]

Learning to read and write Chinese is simplified by strict stroke order that means every time you write a character, you write it the same way and memorize it along with muscle memory. I can’t think it would make sense to invent your own personal script unless you might be trying to obscure the fact that it’s Chinese.

But learning enough characters to qualify as "literate" (thousands) takes many years of hard study.  Matteo Ricci and other Jesuits managed to do that in a relatively shorter time, because they viewed it as essential to their mission of converting the Emperor.  But someone who ended up in East or Southeast Asia for other purposes (like a certain Venetian merchant who lived for years in Burma, buying gemstones for the European market) probably did not even try.   Did Marco Polo or his uncles do it?  I doubt it...

Without learning the meanings of the characters, copying them (or buying a printed copy of the book) would be pointless.

All the best, --stolfi