Thought this was an interesting little article that continues the issue and question of language in China. Mandarin is the official language in china but 30% of the population cannot speak it. It has been a source of problems in China for many years as the government has been trying to push mandarin as hard as possible on it's citizens. This conflicts heavily with the diversity of what we call the Chinese language. Chinese is (in my opinion) overly complicated, with main language groups, and then dialects within those groups. As spoken languages, communication is incredibly hard without having a common single language. Most Chinese people will know multiple forms of the language, I for example have knowledge of mandarin, cantonese and toisan which is a dialect of cantonese. While I feel like it is overly complicated, that's how the regions of China developed and they should be able to keep that part of their identity. Should they fully homogenize the language (and this is where many who are against mandarin argue for) it takes away part of the distinct identity of the people in the different areas of China. While i think it would be useful for a population that large to be able to communicate easily, the way China approaches the issue is rather hard to accept. instead of slowly weaning the language in, they more or less force it,as well the government has been trying to suppress other culture and languages, which considering the long history of the nation is hard and wrong.
TL:DR, language is a strong source of tension in China, and how the government approaches it can be much better.
To me, it feels that the language situation in China is a tad similar to the No Child Left Behind Act in our country. Both are (or were) aiming to make improvements in their country's educational system, but the government programs failed cause both nations' leaders haven't made a good enough investment in education. It's most likely due to creating impossible standards for the schools, but in China's case, the pressure of speaking and understanding Mandarin will crush the distinct identities of certain groups. I think Chinese people should be able to communicate with each other through Cantonese, Hokkien, and Mandarin, but not if it means the government stealing each group's cultural identity.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of my friend that speaks Spanish fluently, but told me he can somewhat speak broken Portugese to a Brazilian mechanic we have.
ReplyDeleteDifferent dialects for different parts of the country makes sense to me. My grandparents are from Shanghai, so they spoke Shanghai-nese.
Because my grandparents didn't make a point to teach my mother.
I was not taught the language, or any Chinese at all. I feel like I missed out on a big part of my culture and I'm usually shrugged off when I mention my ethnic heritage, but have no key cultural tie ins like knowing the language.