<p>I have an old Hakka textbook, published in Singapore in the 1950s. It is written in transcription (for the learner) and in Chinese, using Traditional characters, including some Hakka-specific characters -- borrowed most probably from Cantonese -- like 冇, 唔.</p>

<p>Below are a couple of pages. Today, though, it is rarely written, and when it is, the writer will use whatever character set he or she uses for Mandarin.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/71ddN.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/71ddN.jpg" alt="Cover page"></a></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/A7qzp.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/A7qzp.jpg" alt="Pages 2-3"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-15T08:16:19.327Z
2016-03-15T08:16:19.327Z
dda
<p>Hakka is a spoken language, as you have pointed out. Traditional and simplified Chinese are variants on a writing system. You can write Hakka in both traditional and simplified Chinese. Before simplified Chinese even existed (i.e. before the 1950s), Hakka would be written in traditional Chinese (the only writing system for Chinese). Nowadays, Mainland and Singaporean Hakkas would tend to write in simplified Chinese, whereas Taiwanese and Hong Kong Hakkas would probably write in traditional Chinese—these just depend on the practices of the respective regions. Hakka can also be written in various romanization schemes, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pha%CC%8Dk-fa-s%E1%B9%B3" rel="nofollow">Pha̍k-fa-sṳ</a>. The Hakka Wikipedia uses both Chinese characters and PFS (sometimes mixed with other similar romanization schemes). There is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_Bible:_Today&#39;s_Taiwan_Hakka_Version" rel="nofollow">Bible</a> published in both traditional Chinese characters and PFS.</p>

<p>AFAIK, the only official attempt to "standardize" Hakka writing is by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education with its suggested characters (<a href="http://ws.moe.edu.tw/001/Upload/6/RelFile/6507/7824/hakka-words.pdf" rel="nofollow">part 1</a>, <a href="http://ws.moe.edu.tw/001/Upload/6/RelFile/6507/7823/hakka_words-2nd_all.pdf" rel="nofollow">part 2</a>). The MOE also has a <a href="http://depart.moe.edu.tw/ED2400/News_Content.aspx?n=5EB26D97D6A29617&amp;sms=8C59E176B3E3F56E&amp;s=30783F04D0989E57" rel="nofollow">romanization scheme</a> for six different Taiwanese dialects. <a href="http://hakka.dict.edu.tw/hakkadict/index.htm" rel="nofollow">This dictionary</a> more or less follows the MOE-suggested characters and uses the MOE romanization scheme.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-28T23:58:35.733Z
2016-04-28T23:58:35.733Z
justinrleung
<p>I am not aware of any Hakka writing. Theoretically, you could express Hakka expressions using Chinese characters used for Mandarin PLUS Hakka-unique Chinese characters, either old characters not used in modern Mandarin or created specially for Hakka. This methodology has already been adopted in Hong Kong for Cantonese and in Taiwan for Minnan Yu. Missionaries who came to Hakka speaking areas about a hundred years ago might have invented romanised Hakka for the purpose of producing a Hakka Bible. I don't know if they did. </p>

<p>Whether simplified or traditional is a matter of the appearance/shape of the characters. Simplified characters have less number of writing strokes than their traditional counterpart. In any case, only a very small portion of the full set of Chinese characters are in the simplified form.
Thank you.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-14T01:05:34.863Z
2016-02-14T01:05:34.863Z
johnseah
<p>There will not be an official writing system for hakka if there is no country using it as their official language. Although recently Taiwan has acknowledged Hakka as one of their national languages, the standard is still a long way to go. Taiwan cannot go out and dictate the whole hakka diaspora on how they want to write Hakka in each region on the planet. The only way to solve this is to set up a World Hakka language Commission, which should be responsible for compiling and approving a united writing system for all the variety of Hakka on the planet. IMHO.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-02-07T07:32:39.380Z
2020-03-22T12:25:13.360Z
2020-03-22T12:25:13.360Z
anaximus
<p>Hakka is a dialect of Chinese and therefore should be considered when speaking however what about <strong>writing</strong>?  From a translation perspective is there a specific way to write Hakka or is this the same as Simplified or Traditional Chinese?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-11T13:45:05.033Z
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_Chinese#Writing_systems
Colin McLarty
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-15T14:41:26.847Z
any chance of scanning the book legally if the copyright has lapsed and it is out of print. Would like to study it. As for writing Hakka characters, most of the time, I use mandarin characters and get help from Cantonese characters. There are some words like ngai which I think is specific to Hakka.
Peter Ho
<translation><hakka>
Is written Hakka the same as simplified Chinese?
# Is written Hakka the same as simplified Chinese?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-02-11)

Hakka is a dialect of Chinese and therefore should be considered when speaking however what about **writing**? From a translation perspective is there a specific way to write Hakka or is this the same as Simplified or Traditional Chinese?

**Tags:** translation, hakka

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_Chinese#Writing_systems  
> **username_2**: any chance of scanning the book legally if the copyright has lapsed and it is out of print. Would like to study it. As for writing Hakka characters, most of the time, I use mandarin characters and get help from Cantonese characters. There are some words like ngai which I think is specific to Hakka.  

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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2016-03-15. Score: 6

I have an old Hakka textbook, published in Singapore in the 1950s. It is written in transcription (for the learner) and in Chinese, using Traditional characters, including some Hakka-specific characters -- borrowed most probably from Cantonese -- like 冇, 唔.

Below are a couple of pages. Today, though, it is rarely written, and when it is, the writer will use whatever character set he or she uses for Mandarin.

[![Cover page](https://i.sstatic.net/71ddN.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/71ddN.jpg)

[![Pages 2-3](https://i.sstatic.net/A7qzp.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/A7qzp.jpg)


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-04-28. Score: 2

Hakka is a spoken language, as you have pointed out. Traditional and simplified Chinese are variants on a writing system. You can write Hakka in both traditional and simplified Chinese. Before simplified Chinese even existed (i.e. before the 1950s), Hakka would be written in traditional Chinese (the only writing system for Chinese). Nowadays, Mainland and Singaporean Hakkas would tend to write in simplified Chinese, whereas Taiwanese and Hong Kong Hakkas would probably write in traditional Chinese—these just depend on the practices of the respective regions. Hakka can also be written in various romanization schemes, including [Pha̍k-fa-sṳ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pha%CC%8Dk-fa-s%E1%B9%B3). The Hakka Wikipedia uses both Chinese characters and PFS (sometimes mixed with other similar romanization schemes). There is a [Bible](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_Bible:_Today's_Taiwan_Hakka_Version) published in both traditional Chinese characters and PFS.

AFAIK, the only official attempt to "standardize" Hakka writing is by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education with its suggested characters ([part 1](http://ws.moe.edu.tw/001/Upload/6/RelFile/6507/7824/hakka-words.pdf), [part 2](http://ws.moe.edu.tw/001/Upload/6/RelFile/6507/7823/hakka_words-2nd_all.pdf)). The MOE also has a [romanization scheme](http://depart.moe.edu.tw/ED2400/News_Content.aspx?n=5EB26D97D6A29617&sms=8C59E176B3E3F56E&s=30783F04D0989E57) for six different Taiwanese dialects. [This dictionary](http://hakka.dict.edu.tw/hakkadict/index.htm) more or less follows the MOE-suggested characters and uses the MOE romanization scheme.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2016-02-14. Score: 1

I am not aware of any Hakka writing. Theoretically, you could express Hakka expressions using Chinese characters used for Mandarin PLUS Hakka-unique Chinese characters, either old characters not used in modern Mandarin or created specially for Hakka. This methodology has already been adopted in Hong Kong for Cantonese and in Taiwan for Minnan Yu. Missionaries who came to Hakka speaking areas about a hundred years ago might have invented romanised Hakka for the purpose of producing a Hakka Bible. I don't know if they did.

Whether simplified or traditional is a matter of the appearance/shape of the characters. Simplified characters have less number of writing strokes than their traditional counterpart. In any case, only a very small portion of the full set of Chinese characters are in the simplified form.
Thank you.


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### Answer by username_6 on 2018-02-07. Score: 0

There will not be an official writing system for hakka if there is no country using it as their official language. Although recently Taiwan has acknowledged Hakka as one of their national languages, the standard is still a long way to go. Taiwan cannot go out and dictate the whole hakka diaspora on how they want to write Hakka in each region on the planet. The only way to solve this is to set up a World Hakka language Commission, which should be responsible for compiling and approving a united writing system for all the variety of Hakka on the planet. IMHO.


---

