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Opinion>Readers Voice | |
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How can China help the US As some are aware, the world is experiencing a language problem which is getting worse every day as the world continues to become smaller. Some Europeans have already become extinct and others are in increased danger of extinction, which can only fuel aggressive nationalism and prejudice on the part of linguistic minorities. Many in Quebec refuse to speak English unless they must, and many even want to separate from the rest of Canada because they can't understand the language their neighbours to the East and West. The United States is currently experiencing more and more political strain as the Hispanic community continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. The EU and the UN are currently spending massive amounts of money just on translation, and in those organizations especially the language issue is becoming politically a hotter potato by the day. Meanwhile China is certainly not helping to reduce tensions when Chinese journalists during the FIFA Would Cup in Seoul started complaining that the Koreans hadn't mastered English well enough, or when Chinese businessmen keep trying to do business with South America in English instead of Spanish. That can but fuel language tensions still further. And don't think that this is only a foreign problem. I remember when I was in Urumqi, in Xinjiang, when I asked a local Uigur at the market how much a product cost, in Chinese, she responded angrily in fluent Chinese : "Why are you speaking Chinese? Can't you speak Uigur?" So how can China help? For one thing, China can stop imposing the English language on the rest of the world, and secondly, can Engage the international community in an open dialogue to either choose or create an easier language to promote international understanding. Among the advantages would be the following: International institutions could finally start saving money on interpreters and translators by simply having one official language for international communication. Minority language groups would no longer need to fear for the death of their languages, or having to submit to another foreign culture. Due to the ease of learning of the new universal language, students could then spend more time on the development of their mother tongues while still being able to express themselves like a native speaker in the chosen international language. This would help to eliminate language, ethnic and racial tensions in many countries (not to say that language is the only cause of ethnicism and racism, but it's certainly a contributor). Some information on the topic of language planning is available in Chinese: http://www.chinareport.com.cn/
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