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Beijing Forum 2007: Language Identity
and Language Change in Collision and
Dialog between Civilizations
PKU NEWS 2007--10--11
http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?s=192083349
Interviewer: Xiong Yanqing, reporter of China Reading Weekly
Interviewees:
Li Yuming, Director of Language Administration, Ministry of Education, P.R.C
Duan Qing: Professor, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University
Modern Section: Current Language Policy and Language Education of China
China Reading Weekly: In what way has the written and spoken Chinese changed in
the context of economic globalization and cultural diversification? Compared with
other countries, what features China‘s planning and protection of language and what
special challenges does it have to face?
Li Yuming: China has made great achievements in the field of language ever since
the new China was established more than 50 years ago, which has laid a solid
foundation for and contributed a great deal to the development of education, culture,
science and technology, etc. However, with the development of the society, there are
quite a few problems related to language cropping up to be solved. Firstly, the
relationship between Putonghua (common speech based on Beijing pronunciation)
and dialects. To make sure that their children could speak good Putonghua, many
parents never use dialects with them, thus the issue of inheriting the dialects
becomes a problem of great concern nowadays. Secondly, some languages of the
minority groups are on the verge of distinction. Although the endangered existence
of the minority languages frequently happened in the history, it attracts more
attention today when languages are looked as resources. This endangered
existence might result from many different reasons, but what is important for us to do
now is to learn of the actual situation of the minority languages being used and
studied, and to cooperate with people of minority groups to find an effective way to
the solution. Thirdly, the contradiction between the mother tongue and foreign
languages. Fourthly, English is the dominant foreign language taught here. We lack
a strategic plan for the study and application of foreign languages except English.
Fifthly, the language life in the virtual space of internet. We should take effective
measures to make sure that China and domestic groups should not fall victims to
information marginalization. Currently, internet resources in Chinese have witnessed
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