I don’t know if it makes you smarter, but I’d gamble you’re more knowledgeable.
None of this matters though because the people who would read a dumbed down version of a book would have probably used a different shortcut if this weren’t possible.
People have been complaining about laziness in language and “dumbing down” language since language has existed. It’s nothing new and it’s not happening at a different rate than before. It is not, and has never been, a real thing. It’s natural and unstoppable language change. It’s why you can’t understand Old English and why Hindi, German, Spanish, and Russian are different languages from English.
Considering China’s literacy rate grew from 20 percent in 1956 to 65 percent in 1982 (and now 97% in 2020 which is insane for such a highly rural country – 43% of the population, to give an idea) due to them focusing on Simplified Chinese, you’re just wrong in stating it “didn’t do anything”. In fact, Mao got the idea from seeing Japan’s success in improving literacy by simplifying Kanji into Shinjitai, so you’re wrong twice…
Of course, it went hand-and-hand with the government’s education reforms, it doesn’t deserve all the credit. But it helped a LOT.
I love how someone who knows what they’re talking about gets downvoted here. Don’t you know you’re just wrong and should keep your facts to yourself?! 🤦♂️
Linguists aren’t behavioral psychologists or K-12 educators. Being challenged by unfamiliar language is an incredibly important experience in developing reading comprehension. It’s not that a bigger vocabulary makes you smarter, it’s that the process of understanding more complex language helps you both understand and formulate more complex ideas.
If you can’t understand something, you don’t get challenged, you just skip it. You need to be getting 98%-99% of the text to gain something from reading it
Yeah, it’s reading books that makes people dumb
reading dumbed down versions of books that would actually expand your linguistic horizon otherwise will
Only if you understand most of it
You have no appreciation for people learning languages and how hard it is
Having on-hand knowledge of a lot of dated, obscure, or specialized language does not, in fact, make you smarter
Sincerily, someone who knows a lot of obscure, dated, and specialized language ((i am a linguist))
I don’t know if it makes you smarter, but I’d gamble you’re more knowledgeable.
None of this matters though because the people who would read a dumbed down version of a book would have probably used a different shortcut if this weren’t possible.
i’m more worried about people dumbing down non-dated, modern language, out of pure laziness
People have been complaining about laziness in language and “dumbing down” language since language has existed. It’s nothing new and it’s not happening at a different rate than before. It is not, and has never been, a real thing. It’s natural and unstoppable language change. It’s why you can’t understand Old English and why Hindi, German, Spanish, and Russian are different languages from English.
Simplified Chinese didn’t do anything. Taiwan has a higher literacy rate than mainland China while using traditional characters
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate
Considering China’s literacy rate grew from 20 percent in 1956 to 65 percent in 1982 (and now 97% in 2020 which is insane for such a highly rural country – 43% of the population, to give an idea) due to them focusing on Simplified Chinese, you’re just wrong in stating it “didn’t do anything”. In fact, Mao got the idea from seeing Japan’s success in improving literacy by simplifying Kanji into Shinjitai, so you’re wrong twice…
Of course, it went hand-and-hand with the government’s education reforms, it doesn’t deserve all the credit. But it helped a LOT.
You didn’t prove it had any effect. I actually learned the simplified characters and they are more confusing
fā 發 and fà 髮 now share the character 发 despite different meanings and pronunciations
Same for 亁 gān and 幹 gàn sharing the character 干
Considering mainland Chinese have no issue reading traditional characters, I don’t see how it helps
i see your point, didn’t think about the accessibility aspect
I love how someone who knows what they’re talking about gets downvoted here. Don’t you know you’re just wrong and should keep your facts to yourself?! 🤦♂️
Linguists aren’t behavioral psychologists or K-12 educators. Being challenged by unfamiliar language is an incredibly important experience in developing reading comprehension. It’s not that a bigger vocabulary makes you smarter, it’s that the process of understanding more complex language helps you both understand and formulate more complex ideas.
If you can’t understand something, you don’t get challenged, you just skip it. You need to be getting 98%-99% of the text to gain something from reading it