Pretty simple question I guess. I searched for existing topics...

I'm living in Hong Kong now and get free 1 on 1 Mandarin instruction. Big question: should I be studying a simplified character textbook or traditional? (after RTK).

I guess there are many factors involved, but was curious if others have faced this same decision.

not really experience in this but someone told me traditional is the way to go. Because that will enable you to read/understand Chinese characters(real ones which are traditional). RTK includes a lot of the simplified kanji/some traditional( i think). So it's best to do, traditional.

Hope someone else can answer your question better than I. I'm learning japanese now, so I'm not quite familiar with Chinese just yet

Pick the one you you're likely to use more. If you're living in Hong Kong, I think traditional characters would be the obvious choice.

Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau> Traditional.
Mainland> Simplified.

I'd personally learn traditional first and then pick up simplified later, there isn't a lot of them. And anyway, simplified characters are far too ugly and illogical for my liking.

Why are you learning Mandarin in Hong Kong?

Many of the business opportunities, as well as most of the tourist spots, are in the mainland, so learning the simplified characters is worthwhile. I decided to learn both. It's annoying, but the simplified characters are a reality, at least for now. There's some noise that the mainland is going to shift back to the traditional characters, but that will take a while.