John Leland wrote:
> In a message dated 7/15/04 3:52:01 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
> j_mach_wust@Y... writes:
>
> << complicated writing systems, e.g. for
>  tengwar, for Hangul,  >>
>
> Hangul complicated?  When King Sejong introduced it, his proclamation
> said a clever person could learn it in a few days, and even a fool
> could learn it in a month. It took me a month, but even so I think it
> is beautifully simple and clear, especially compared to the
> neighboring Chinese and Japanese systems.

You're right, I should have said _sophisticated_ rather than
complicated, because neither tengwar nor hangul are complicated. But
they have an interrelation between shape and sound features, and
hangul has a special arrangement of the signs.

For what I know, Chinese isn't complicated either, but only hard (very
hard) to learn. It might be different with Japanese, where many signs
can be pronounced in different ways, for what I know. Or with Chinese
or Japanese calligraphy.

g_0ry@_ˆs:
j. 'mach' wust