I generally find this article lacking in anything beyond personal opinion. However, I think the kernel of the problem is hinted at when he writes about chemical elements (and the article it links to is more suggestive of this): That is, synthesis of new terms must be very difficult in Chinese -- due to the large number of homophones -- which is compounded by the inflexibility of the writing system.<p>If this is true -- I&#x27;m not a Chinese speaker, but I&#x27;m married to one and have had this discussion before! -- then that <i>is</i> a burden on development as it clearly makes communication of new ideas clumsy.