@Aya Shawn
Yes, but it's not that easy
There are two different dimensions to reading Chinese
1: Reading Chinese characters
Reading ancient Chinese characters is not a barrier for most Chinese people. The Chinese characters used today are not much different from those used 1,800 years ago. Therefore, most Chinese people can easily read Tang Dynasty characters. For earlier Chinese characters, modern Chinese people can also read them normally after simple learning.
We can regard Chinese characters as basic words in English. Each Chinese character has its meaning. Of course, many Chinese characters have multiple meanings.
So, being able to read Chinese characters gives modern Chinese people the basic ability to understand ancient documents.

是的,但沒(méi)那么容易
閱讀中文有兩個(gè)不同的維度
1:閱讀漢字
識(shí)讀古文字對(duì)大多數(shù)中國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)并不是什么障礙,現(xiàn)在使用的漢字和1800年前的漢字差別不大,因此大多數(shù)中國(guó)人都能輕松識(shí)讀唐代文字,而對(duì)于更早的漢字,現(xiàn)代中國(guó)人經(jīng)過(guò)簡(jiǎn)單的學(xué)習(xí),也能正常閱讀。
我們可以將漢字視為英語(yǔ)的基本詞匯,每個(gè)漢字都有其含義,當(dāng)然很多漢字有多重含義。
所以,讀懂漢字,就使現(xiàn)代中國(guó)人具備了理解古代文獻(xiàn)的基本能力。

2: Reading documents
There are actually two different grammatical rules for ancient Chinese documents
A. Classical Chinese
This is an ancient Chinese grammar and rules that was born 3,500 years ago. Because paper had not yet been invented, the text was written on bronze, animal bones and bamboo slips. Writing materials were very expensive and writing was difficult. So the Chinese at that time invented classical Chinese, which is a compression algorithm: using the least Chinese characters to express the most meaning. It is completely different from the spoken language used by people in daily life, and only trained people can master it.
Therefore, classical Chinese was only mastered by scholars, students and officials who systematically studied knowledge for thousands of years. Most civilians could not read and write classical Chinese correctly.
Modern Chinese can only read classical Chinese if they have completed secondary education. Some more ancient and obscure classical Chinese can only be read by experts.

2:閱讀文檔
古漢語(yǔ)文獻(xiàn)實(shí)際上有兩種不同的語(yǔ)法規(guī)則
A. 文言文
這是誕生于3500年前的古老中國(guó)語(yǔ)法和規(guī)則。因?yàn)楫?dāng)時(shí)還沒(méi)有發(fā)明紙,文字都是寫(xiě)在青銅、獸骨和竹簡(jiǎn)上。書(shū)寫(xiě)材料非常昂貴,書(shū)寫(xiě)也非常困難。所以當(dāng)時(shí)的中國(guó)人發(fā)明了文言文,這是一種壓縮算法:用最少的漢字表達(dá)最多的意思。它和人們?nèi)粘I钪惺褂玫目谡Z(yǔ)完全不同,只有經(jīng)過(guò)訓(xùn)練的人才能掌握。
因此,千百年來(lái),文言文只是系統(tǒng)學(xué)習(xí)知識(shí)的文人、學(xué)生和官員所掌握的,大多數(shù)平民百姓并不能正確地讀寫(xiě)文言文。
現(xiàn)代中國(guó)人要讀懂文言文,必須受過(guò)中等教育,一些比較古老、晦澀的文言文,只有專家才能讀懂。

B. Vernacular Chinese
It was born 1,600 years ago, during the Tang Dynasty. As paper became very cheap, people no longer pursued the use of the least words to express the most meaning. People wrote down their daily spoken language directly, forming vernacular Chinese. Vernacular Chinese is consistent with daily spoken language, so as long as Chinese people can read Chinese characters, they can read vernacular Chinese.
For more than a thousand years after the Tang Empire, Chinese people used both vernacular Chinese and classical Chinese. Formal official documents, literary works, poems and books often use classical Chinese. While daily life uses more vernacular Chinese.
So, if a modern Chinese sees a document from the Tang Empire,
can he read it normally? It depends on what kind of grammatical rules the document uses.

B. 白話文
它誕生于1600年前的唐朝,由于紙張變得非常便宜,人們不再追求用最少的文字表達(dá)最多的意思,而是把日??谡Z(yǔ)直接寫(xiě)下來(lái),形成了白話文。白話文和日常口語(yǔ)是一致的,只要中國(guó)人能讀懂漢字,就能讀懂白話文。
唐朝以后的一千多年里,中國(guó)人既使用白話文,又使用文言文。正式的官方文件、文學(xué)作品、詩(shī)歌和書(shū)籍經(jīng)常使用文言文。而日常生活中使用白話文較多。
所以,如果一個(gè)現(xiàn)代中國(guó)人看到一份唐朝文獻(xiàn),
能正常閱讀嗎?這要看文檔用了什么樣的語(yǔ)法規(guī)則。

Let me give you an example:
There is a sentence in Sun Tzu's Art of War

"上兵伐謀",If I write this sentence directly in English, it is "up;Soldier;Attack;Strategy"

You can understand each word,but you don't understand the meaning of this sentence, which is classical Chinese
Translate it into vernacular Chinese:

最頂級(jí)的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)哲學(xué),是通過(guò)智謀、策略來(lái)破壞敵人的計(jì)劃和意圖,使其無(wú)法實(shí)現(xiàn)其戰(zhàn)略目標(biāo)

English translation: "The most brilliant philosophy of war is to destroy the enemy's plan through wisdom and strategy, so that the enemy cannot achieve its strategic goals"
Classical Chinese uses 4 Chinese characters, while vernacular Chinese uses 20-30 Chinese characters. Classical Chinese is like an abbreviation of English, and it cannot be understood by ordinary people without special learning.

舉個(gè)例子:
孫子兵法里有一句話
“上兵伐謀” ,這句話如果直接用英文寫(xiě)出來(lái)就是"up;Soldier;Attack;Strategy"
你看得懂每個(gè)詞,卻不懂這句話的意思,這是文言文
翻譯成白話文:
最高明的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)哲學(xué),是通過(guò)智謀、策略來(lái)破壞敵人的計(jì)劃和意圖,從而使其無(wú)法實(shí)現(xiàn)其戰(zhàn)略目標(biāo)
文言文有4個(gè)字,白話文有20-30個(gè)字,文言文就像英文的縮寫(xiě),一般人不經(jīng)過(guò)專門(mén)的學(xué)習(xí)是無(wú)法理解的。

In 2019, when I visited China, I found such text on a Tang Dynasty stone carving in Henan Province. This is the content written in vernacular Chinese by some Buddhist believers.
It says: I donated and carved this Buddha statue for my parents, wife and son, hoping that they will be healthy and free of disease. I am a believer, Wei Wen, March of the fourth year of Datong (March 539 AD)
As a Singaporean Chinese, I have not undergone systematic learning, I only know basic Chinese characters. But I have no difficulty reading these contents from 1,600 years ago.

2019年我去中國(guó)的時(shí)候,在河南的一塊唐代石刻上發(fā)現(xiàn)了這樣的文字,這是一些佛教信徒用白話書(shū)寫(xiě)的內(nèi)容。
上面寫(xiě)著:我捐獻(xiàn)雕刻此尊佛像,為我的父母、妻子、兒子,祈愿他們身體健康,無(wú)病無(wú)災(zāi)。我是信眾魏文,大統(tǒng)四年三月(公元539年三月)
身為新加坡華人,我沒(méi)有經(jīng)過(guò)系統(tǒng)的古文學(xué)習(xí),只認(rèn)識(shí)基本的漢字,但讀懂這些1600年前的內(nèi)容卻毫無(wú)困難。
PS:實(shí)際是南北朝時(shí)期,說(shuō)唐代利于中國(guó)之外的人理解


But on a stone tablet just 50 meters away, they used exactly the same Chinese characters, and I could read every character. But its grammar was classical Chinese, so it was difficult for me to accurately understand the meaning of the content.

但就在50米外的一塊石碑上,用了完全相同的漢字,我也能讀懂每一個(gè)字,只是它的語(yǔ)法是文言文,所以我很難準(zhǔn)確理解內(nèi)容的意思。

Earlier Chinese characters
In this picture, I show how to write two Chinese characters, "Hourse" and "Fish".
The left is the writing of the Qin Empire (2200 years ago), the middle is the writing of the Han Empire (2000 years ago), and the right is the writing of the Tang Empire (1500 years ago-modern times).
There are differences between ancient Chinese characters and modern Chinese characters, but they are also related. So after a short period of learning, Chinese people can still read more ancient Chinese characters.

早期漢字
在這幅圖中,我展示了如何寫(xiě)兩個(gè)漢字“馬”和“魚(yú)”。
左邊是秦帝國(guó)(2200年前)的文字,中間是漢帝國(guó)(2000年前)的文字,右邊是唐帝國(guó)(1500年前-現(xiàn)代)的文字。
古字和現(xiàn)代字有區(qū)別,但也有聯(lián)系,所以中國(guó)人經(jīng)過(guò)短暫的學(xué)習(xí),還是能認(rèn)識(shí)比較多的古字的。

Conclusion:
1. If the document is from the Tang Dynasty (1500 years ago) and is written in vernacular Chinese
All Chinese people can read it smoothly, including primary school students
2. If the document is from the Tang Dynasty and is written in classical Chinese
All Chinese people can read those Chinese characters, but only people with secondary school education can understand the meaning of the document, and some content can only be understood by experts.
3. If the document is from an earlier era, such as the Qin Dynasty (2200 years ago)
Ordinary Chinese people find it difficult to directly recognize those Chinese characters and need simple training.

結(jié)論:
1. 如果該文獻(xiàn)來(lái)自唐代(1500年前),并且是用白話文寫(xiě)的
所有中國(guó)人都能流暢閱讀,包括小學(xué)生
2. 如果該文獻(xiàn)來(lái)自唐代,并且是用文言文寫(xiě)的
所有中國(guó)人都能讀懂那些漢字,但只有中學(xué)文化程度的人才看得懂文件上的意思,有些內(nèi)容只有專家才能看懂。
3. 如果文獻(xiàn)來(lái)自更早的時(shí)代,例如秦朝(2200年前)
普通中國(guó)人直接識(shí)別這些漢字有一定的難度,需要經(jīng)過(guò)簡(jiǎn)單的訓(xùn)練。

原創(chuàng)翻譯:龍騰網(wǎng) http://mintwatchbillionaireclub.com 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處