Why Simplified Chinese?
 

I noticed on the US/Canada version of the site, there is one promotion section that is only avaliable in Chinese text. Here is an example: http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_...IMULTI-23MAR11

My question is why is it in Simplified Chinese instead of Traditional Chinese? HK uses Traditional characters, not the simplified ones, right?

You go where the sugardaday goes - it's no secret majority of CX's pax is shifting demographic to the mainland Chinese side, so it's not a surprise that they cater to mainland Chinese.

Heck even Taiwan does that everytime when a mainland business group comes to Taiwan, they would write things in simplified Chinese and even take down the Taiwan flag (or Republic of China flag) in fear of offending the mainland Chinese people.

People who have money have power, and we are seeing that...

It is supposed to be an English page.:confused:

The reason for my question is because this is the North American version websites. If I saw that for the Mainland version, I wouldn't ask the question in the first place. Don't know why they are using simplified for a section of the North American versions.

The US site is supposed to be English only (I guess not many Chinese IT staff working at CX US), but they've specially made a single page to accommodate Chinese (more specifically Mainland) pax. See http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_US/homepage, there's a link to the Simplified Chinese page

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/home...ing_165x80.jpg

Maybe it's cos they think English speakers will pay more. My Girlfriend pointed out the Chinatrust hotel we stayed in in Taiwan (the one with DCC http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...k-79.html#1180) - some heavily discounted rates were only available on the Chinese version of the hotel website and not the English (which I normally use) - it's good to be bilingual

i figiured this out a few years earlier. some places has language #1 and english having different prices. Rakuten (japan) is one - thanks for the kanji and some katakana i usualy book japanese hotels through them.

Given that most of the destinations on the page are Chinese cities, that makes sense.

Agreed.

To be frank, a Chinese can read and understand both simplified and traditional Chinese most of the time.

I'd say the reason is presumably there are more Mainland PAX who cannot read English (proportionally) that Taiwanese and HKG PAX?

Probably true, and that maybe the target customers were Mainlanders anyways.

Actually, only HK & Taiwan use the traditional characters. Singapore adopted the simplified characters way back in the 70's and went through a few 'changes' as I remembered them to be. Anywhere outside of HK/Taiwan, only the simplified characters are used and taught. And with HK being part of China now, the simplified characters will be the norm nowadays.

Why so serious?

As soon as the price is the same, I see no problem at all.

As a fact, only Chinese-decent from Hong Kong knows both.

Mainlander and Singaporean mostly don't know TC. Taiwanese don't know SC.

Trust me - when a Mainlander does not know how to fill out a Custom Form, then you know how well English they have (real experience from Air Canada).

How is that a fact? Since only traditional Chinese is taught in HK and most signs and publications are in TC. Like Mainlanders and Taiwanese, HK people would have to learn the other character on their own.

The difference between SC and TC is not that great, as many SC are simplified using same rules. One can also guess the odd ones using context of the sentence.

How do you extrapolate one instance of one mainlander who didn't know how to fill out Custom Form to make conclusion a whole population? What about the other Mainlanders on the flight who knew how to fill out the form? Sometimes new travelers who are native English speakers have trouble filling out Custom Form too.

Malaysia adopted Mainland simplified characters too. In Japan, they also simplified Kanji characters using very different rules.

Traditional users reading simplified is much easier than the other way around... although I still much prefer traditional for a variety of reasons.

Cbc, abc, bbc
 

What about CBCs (or ABC, BBCs) like myself who have little or limited knowledge of Chinese characters?

It is not uncommon for certain Asian travel agents in Canada/US to offer certain promotions that you won't find on the English version of their websites.

I was recently informed by some colleagues who can read Chinese characters that a certain travel agency is offering 12 day land-only packages in China for only CAD 199/pp!

Google translate and Pleco is what I use!! :p

In North America, TC is still "lingua franca". Many daily newspapers compete in TC while only one (China Press) uses SC--with most ads being TC. The multi-lingual advertising industry has yet to go dual on Chinese characters.

Let's just say that I know enough Mainlanders and Taiwanese to come to that conclusion.

The Custom Form is issued by CBSA (in English and French).

That doesn't make it a fact, I know plenty of Mainlanders (in mainland and in North America) who can read TC just fine. I don't know any Mainlander who can't read the subtitles in HK movies, or KTV lyrics (often ripped off from Taiwan).

Try those from the inland (and please exclude anyone who are in somewhere outside Mainland).

Taiwanese and Hong Kongers might not be able to write SC, but reading SC (especially when knowing what to expect in the first place) should not be difficult for most.