More and more Chinese nowadays are able to communicate using Chinese
Mandarin, says a survey that indicates that 53 per cent of the population can
communicate with the standard spoken language also known as putonghua.
Conducted by the State Working Committee of Chinese Language, a nationwide
survey on the standard spoken language was released yesterday in Beijing after
six years of hard work.
Over 470,000 people in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on
the Chinese mainland responded to the survey, which is "the first of its kind in
the history," said Tong Lequan, survey chief.
The coexistence and different uses of putonghua and dialects are a unique
proclivity of the current Chinese language, said Tong.
As a standard spoken language, putonghua is widely used as the communication
medium during public activities while people use the dialect native to their
areas when communicating within their family or with other native speakers.
Only 18 per cent of those surveyed speak putonghua while talking tofamily
members, while 42 per cent speak it at school, work or play.
Sixty-six per cent of the urban residents speak putonghua, a 21 per cent
higher rate than rural residents.
The survey also showed that the young have better putonghua fluency, with
just 31 per cent of those aged 60 to 69 able to speak it, while the figure has
more than doubled among those younger than 29.
Among many Chinese, speaking putonghua is perceived as a sign of good
breeding. The survey showed only 10 per cent of the illiterate can speak the
standard spoken language while those with 87 per cent with college degrees are
fluent.
Tong said with the change of generations and the spread of the education, the
standard spoken language will gain more ground.
Hu Hongguang, a middle school teacher who speaks putonghua in class in
Central China's Hubei Province said there are three criteria to judge the
popularization of the language: how it is used in schools and whether it is used
as a working language and as the mainstream tongue on social occasions.
The main difficulties about speaking putonghua, included "no situation in
which it is used" and "hard to change accents."
Many parts of China are now seeing a situation of what linguists call
diglossia, where there is one public spoken language and one local dialect that
is used among friends and family.
"I never speak putonghua at home though I speak it all day in the office,"
said Yin Yu, 25. "It is so strange when you speak putonghua while everybody else
is speaking a dialect."
Moreover, Yin said her dialect gives her a feeling of home, however, she said
the use of dialects will not decrease the influence and popularity of putonghua.
"It is complementary to Mandarin," she said.
Use of dialects may even be strengthening in some areas, said Wang Chengxi,
27.
As a boy growing up in the northern part of the country, Wang spoke wonderful
putonghua but he began to learn Cantonese when he started to work in Shenzhen in
South China's Guangdong Province in 2001.
He said the prevalence of the local dialect has excluded outsiders from
social networks. "I am learning Cantonese because I want to better integrate
into local society," he said.
