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Posts: 136

Governor

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Q: Should children be taught in Putonghua/Mandarin or their dialect/language?

I was at my local neighbourhood Xinjiang restaurant the other day, and the staff had their kids running around in the back. I noticed that the girls were speaking to the parents in Mandarin, and the parents replying in, what I can only assume is Uygher. They clearly understood fine but didn't respond in the same language.

 

Do you think it's better for children to learn Mandarin, or to stick to, say, Uygher. Should everyone have an individual choice? Or both?

9 years 20 weeks ago in  General  - China

 
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Posts: 3868

Emperor

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I think both! Whether people agree or not the government want a main unified language so that people from all parts of China can communicate with each other. I agree with this. 

 

But....the people's from disparate parts of China should also be encouraged to keep their distinct cultures & languages/dialects alive. I live in Guangdong & see how much the people here keep Cantonese as their first language in daily life. 

 

So use Mandarin as the main language in schools but also teach the local languages, which is what most people speak at home. 

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9 years 20 weeks ago
 
Posts: 9631

Emperor

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Agree with Hotwater. Both. The issue in China is the government is so desperate to make the boat float that whatever can be done to assimilate people is done. Forcing everyone to speak the same language is one of those tools in use. 

In fact. Today there are 400 million people in who don't speak Mandarin. 

 

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-23/say-that-in-mandarin-please

 

The fact that media such as radio, tv and print in Guangdong are being force to replace Cantonese with Mandarin just goes to show that the respect for this large minority is not to be found. Uyghurs probably have it a lot more difficult. 

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9 years 20 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1439

Shifu

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There's dialect and dialect.

Don't put Cantonese, which has its own specific structures, grammar, vocabulary and expressions, on the same level as Sichuanese, which has its own specific ways of calling penises, vaginas, and cursing bad drivers.

Granted Sichuanese has scientifically proven to be hilarious, but in terms of cultural impact, it can fade without humanity losing much in the process.

I'd be more worried about the dumbing down of mandarin that has occurred as a result of poor education, coupled with slogan-style learning/way of expression resulting in people being sometimes absolutely unable to form sentences with logical structures (as opposed to just piling stuff together).

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9 years 20 weeks ago
 
Posts: 470

Governor

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I believe China needs one common language and their quite apparent drive towards using Mandarin is quite clear and as per my opinion absolutelly correct.
What did the US did as one of the first thing after its creation? Voted on the unified commong language.
What is one of the biggest problems of EU - too many official languages which create 'new Babel' and effectively block free movement of people and to certain extent also goods (two of three main principles on which EU is based).
(I do not want to say that this is the only EU problem though Smile ).
Using the local dialect or another language should be anyones personal choice and as per my opinion all mainstream education, communication and media should be performed in Mandarin. Leaving local dialects and languages then to the culture sphere where it may belong.
But I think this is currently happening as predominant majority of young Chinese speaks very good Mandarin (even those in Hong Kong Smile ) and as per my opinion China is on the right way with its Mandarin application.

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9 years 20 weeks ago
 
Posts: 57

Governor

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Honestly, I don't think it's our place to say. Having said that, I'll concede themail principlet that, the fewer the dialects and languages, the more united the people.

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9 years 20 weeks ago
 
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