Vanishing languages saved for posterity

Download

Education authorities are compiling a database of dialects from different regions and ethnic groups across the country, to preserve those languages before they disappear, a senior government official said.

Given China's rapid economic and social development, standard Mandarin, or Putonghua, has become increasingly popular across the country. It is even replacing some local dialects, particularly in urban and developed areas, said Zhang Haoming, director of the language information management department under the Ministry of Education.

By 2011, 70 percent of people in China could speak and read standard Mandarin, compared with 51 percent in 2000, according to the government.

Zhang said the popularity of Putonghua is inevitable because it has become an important tool for daily communication and economic exchanges between people of different regions. "For individuals, they may feel their personal development restricted if they don't speak Putonghua," he said.

Zhang said that at the same time, some dialects that had existed in certain regions for a long time and carry historical and cultural significance are disappearing.

"That's why we launched the national project to record the dialects and, ultimately, to complete a database on China's dialects," Zhang said.

Important parts of the database are language resources and a comprehensive vocal collection, which was initiated in 2008. So far, pilot projects have been carried out in Jiangsu and Liaoning provinces, Shanghai and Beijing, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, according to the ministry.

A recent example of the project that has attracted a lot of media attention was in Dalian, in Liaoning province, where the government this month chose nine residents as representatives of the Dalian dialect. After training, they will record the pronunciation of 1,000 commonly used characters, 1,200 words and some sentences in the Dalian dialect.

"This is the first step in protecting the dialects. We plan to finish recording the dialects across the country in five to 10 years, and we will start with some city and provincial level governments, " Zhang said.

As for developing more uses for the records besides academic materials, Zhang said there is no overall plan yet. "It is hard to give a clear timetable for the whole project because the situation varies from region to region.

"For example, local dialects are still popular in regions like Sichuan, Chongqing and Shaanxi, so there is no rush to preserve the dialects.

"However, in some regions, where the local language is dying out, protection is delayed again and again because of insufficient funds," he said.

China has about 130 different local languages and numerous accents and dialects. There are no official statistics on the number of languages that are disappearing, but Zhang gave some examples.

One example is the She language, which used to be spoken by 50,000 people of the She ethnic group. However, since the people have scattered in Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces, the language has been gradually replaced by other dialects that are more widely used, such as Cantonese.

However, Zhang said promoting Putonghua is still the priority.

Questions:

1. What are education authorities compiling?

2. What is the purpose?

3. How many dialects are in China?

Answers:

1. A database of dialects from different regions and ethnic groups across the country.

2. To preserve those languages before they disappear.

3. About 130 different local languages and numerous accents and dialects.

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.