One-third of Chinese do not speak Putonghua, says Education Ministry
Chris Luo chris.luo@scmp.com
As many as three in 10 of China’s 1.3 billion population are unable to communicate in Putonghua, China’s Education Ministry said during an annual event to promote the official language.
“Thirty per cent of our nation’s population does not speak Putonghua, and out of the 70 per cent of population who possess Putonghua skills, only one in ten can speak Putonghua articulately and fluently,” the Education Ministry revealed in statement published on its official website last week.
That could mean that at least 400 million citizens remain unable to communicate in the language that was made official back in 1955.
“[This shows] the mission to promote Putonghua still faces tremendous difficulties,” the ministry said on the 17th anniversary of its first annual event to promote Putonghua.
Standard Putonghua is based on the traditional dialect used in Beijing, and is modified from a northern Han dialect, one of China’s seven major dialects used by ethnic Han Chinese. Notable traditional examples include Cantonese, Hokkien, and Wu.
Other minority ethnic cultures in China also have their own dialects, which in various degrees differ from Putonghua.
The People’s Republic of China government first established Putonghua as the official language with the aim of easing communication barriers between the country’s diverse cultures and their different dialects. Since that time it has effectively driven the use of Putonghua in classrooms and the civil service, but many citizens still use their local tone in their daily lives.
“Putonghua as an official dialect is playing an increasing role in maintaining society’s coordinated operation and enhancing social welfare,” the ministry’s statement said.
As part of the effort to promote the official language, advertisements urging the public to use Putonghua have been displayed on radio, television, buses and other public venues recently.
But some of the intense local government campaigns to push Putonghua have been viewed as controversial and have incited discontent in societies that suspect Beijing is intent on eliminating their manner of speaking.
In the summer of 2010, thousands of Cantonese-speaking citizens in the southern province of Guangdong took to the streets following reports of a plan to change television content on local channels from Cantonese to Putonghua for part of each day.
In Hong Kong, residents have expressed concern over worries an increasing emphasis on Putonghua education in schools is coming at the expense of Cantonese, the dialect overwhelming used by the population. Some fear local culture and identity could wane over time as a consequence.
For unlimited access to:
Existing subscribers, login here
8:38am
And why SCMP journalist often wrongly calls a language a dialect instead ?!
12:00pm
In reply to: CANTONESE speaker (Sep 23rd 2014, 8:38am)
8:39pm
8:59pm
In reply to: macoverton (Sep 23rd 2014, 4:56pm)
First of all, strictly speaking, Mandarin is actually the dialect of Taiwan referred to as Minnan hua (閩南語). But I understand that in casual speech that a lot of people call Putonghua Mandarin.
Next, people usually learn a language for a purpose. English for science and economic reasons, Cantonese (in linguistics Cantonese is a language and has a written form, 口語) for economic reasons. Guangdonghua with 100 million speakers in addition to Guangdong being the economic engine of China is the most desirable Chinese language to learn. The next in line, we're talking languages spoken by the people with the most economic might, dialects from Zhejiang, Fujian and you guessed it Shanghaihua (Shanghaihua is also a language, not a dialect).
So, aside from preserving our culture, there are a number of other reasons for Hong Kong schools to continue teaching our children using Cantonese.
5:56pm
In reply to: CANTONESE speaker (Sep 23rd 2014, 5:07pm)
Not fluent in Mandarin? No chance as a banker, front line at a hotel, or work at a high end fashion shop much less as a senior executive at a Chinese company. But hey - you can still work at a dai pai dong with fluency in Cantonese!
Limited language fluency means limited future job opportunities and income. Hardly a positive for the future of Hong Kong and its work force.
2:00pm
In reply to: duong859@****** (Sep 23rd 2014, 11:49pm)
4:56pm
If you want to be successful internationally, you need to be conversant in English. If you want to be successful in China, you need to be conversant in Mandarin - yet Hong Kong schools are officially the only schools in China that don't instruct in Mandarin. No wonder the top bi-lingual schools in Hong Kong have massive waiting lists and high fees as all the rich/smart want their kids to be fluent in both English and Mandarin and are fleeing a local school system that teaches neither one.....
5:04pm
In reply to: macoverton (Sep 23rd 2014, 4:56pm)
5:07pm
In reply to: macoverton (Sep 23rd 2014, 4:56pm)
5:00pm
In reply to: macoverton (Sep 23rd 2014, 4:56pm)