I’m sure this question is posted a lot on this forum, but I can’t find the post for whatever reason, so I am going to ask anyway. I am currently doing the simplified course, but I am very curious about learning traditional characters as well, as I’ve heard that they enable a much richer understanding of the history of the languages, and I am drawn to them for whatever reason. I am not that far into the simplified course, and I was wondering if it is worth switching, i.e., my exact question is, if I learn traditional characters, will I be able to read simplified still? My goals with the language are not very well-defined, but I am very drawn to daoist texts, and I think it would be very cool to read traditional characters, though I know that from a practical standpoint, simplified characters are more useful when engaging with most Chinese culture. I’m not sure which course to do, but I would like to decide soon before I get too far along in the simplified course and have to make up a lot of progress. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions please let me know, thanks!
With a little effort yes. As someone who’s only ever learnt simplified, the fact my popup dictionary shows me both when I mouse over any word means I just see traditional pretty regularly and even with literally zero minutes spent actively learning it, I can recognise the traditional version of quite a few characters.
It’s also worth knowing that the amount of characters that were simplified is relatively small. For instance with the 2012 HSK 1-6, out of the 2,500 characters, only 800 have simplified variants. So no matter what the majority of characters are shared.
The general advice on the internet is pick one based on the content you want to consume. Then when you’re at a high level, learning the other one is fairly simple once you’re already good. If you want to consume mostly content from or visit Taiwan then go traditional, if you want to consume content from/visit mainland China go simplified.
There is more content and teaching material out there for Simplified in my experience so I’d default for that just because it makes finding content easier, but if traditional excites you more do that it’s totally valid and doable.
There is absolutely no “right” version either. Chinese characters were constantly changing throughout history, sometimes drastically, so it’s not like traditional characters are some magical “pure” thing that are better in an objective sense. Quite a few of the simplifications were actually reverting to older more “original” forms of the characters. Just pick one, then sleep soundly knowing that learning the other once you’re at a high level isn’t a problem.
If you’re more interested in traditional, go for it! If you plan on using Chinese in mainland China, you can always add another resource where you’re exposing yourself to simplified characters. If you’re really serious about learning the language, just one tool like Hanzi Hero probably isn’t enough anyway. I personally am doing HH in traditional, and Du Chinese in simplified.