For someone such as myself working on traditional characters exclusively at the moment, do you think it would be wise to take up Remembering Simplified Hanzi after completing Remebering Traditional Hanzi? I'm aware many of the characters are systematically simplified by radical and that only something like 500 actually bear little to no resemblance to the traditional counterpart. To that extent, it seems like a bit of a waste of money buying both volumes for such a small amount of characters, but how else should I expect to be able to both read and write the two sets?

Any advice from people who have made the transition (in whichever way) would be much appreciated. Learning to comprehend both doesn't seem too difficult, but actually remembering each character's writing seems like much more work.

I don't think it's necessary. Sure, learn simplified, but it isn't worth going through the other book IMO. I just add the simplified character in Anki next to the traditional one, in a different font.

If you can write traditional, you can write simplified. The rules are the same. Going the other way is what's difficult.

Actually there are some testimonials on the Chinese-Forums, that learning traditional after simplified is pretty easy too.
Also after learning traditional hanzi, you can not automatically write simplified.

HerrPetersen Wrote:Also after learning traditional hanzi, you can not automatically write simplified.

Exactly, so how do you learn to write them? I can imagine reading is fairly easy, using texts you're already familiar with, context and so on. But if Heisig's method works well for remembering how to write them, and buying the simplified books is probably a waste of time in terms of return on investment for 500 characters, should one simply commit them to memory by rote?

I kind of wish they'd bring out some kind of a bridging book, containing the simplified radicals and the completely different characters...

Going from one to the other has really presented no problems for me. I started with RTK, then when I found out I'd be learning Chinese for my job, not Japanese, I did RTH simplified.

Whenever I run into a traditional Hanzi that doesn't immediately click, which is about 25%, I just pop it into my SRS flashcard next to it's simplified and mark it new.

I did RTK and started learning Chinese (with simplified charachters) before RSH was out. So I basically did some of the work Heisig did for the RSH book. After learning maybe 200 hanzi that were not in RTK things were going pretty smooth.
However there were (and still are) some problems. There are quiet a number of small differences as in
1.) 净(simplified) vs 浄(RTK/Traditional)
2.) or not recognizing already know kanji in new hanzi 实 vs 実 (RTK "reality") vs 實 (traditional)
3.) other small issues.

I think that once you know one system it is ok to just rote memorize the other system. Doing the whole Heisig stuff again, might even be counter-effective. (mixing up stories etc.)
It is probably best to learn one system to a pretty good level (say 2000 or so hanzi). Then learning corresponding words/setences etc. and then using an anki-deck/model that asks one set and wants to know the other.

HerrPetersen Wrote:Also after learning traditional hanzi, you can not automatically write simplified.

Uhh.. you can after just an hour or two of looking up the primitive simplifications and new stroke orders, or watching a native mainland Chinese write it. Seriously just an hour or two. I would compare my statement to "after RTK, you have no problem writing katakana." Okay, technically not true, but the added effort is so little you're confusing beginners more by mentioning it at all.

The difference between that and going simplified -> traditional is night and day. There you're actually adding new information that must be learnt.

I did half of RtK then switched to the Simplified Hanzi book... personally I think why not just go through RtSH? You can pick it up for $22 on Half, use it, and re-sell it for probably 75% of what you paid. You probably spend more than the difference on lunch. You can wing it with knowledge of the traditional characters to an extent, but it pays to have a systematic knowledge of the simplified. Just mark all the easy ones as "know" and after a couple of reviews they won't be showing up for months.

I disagree with you, marfried. The hanzi that are irregular for one set are also irregular for the other. Learning the primitives/radicals for the traditional is not (much) harder than the simplified.
While the transition traditional --> simplified is probably a little easier than the other way round, but not much. I would quantify it 60/40.

I find that one of the biggest problem with Simp -> Trad are the hanzi that are merged into one in simplified. E.g. 里 or 发->[頭]髮, 發[出]. It's a bit like learning the difference between plain and plane when knowing [plein]. Like, is it written plaintiff or planetiff, airplain or airplane, planescape or plainscape?