Dozens of Languages in China ‘Endangered’ (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Dozens of Languages in China ‘Endangered’
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-3-1/20187.html

Translated by Aaron Ho
Central News Agency
Mar 01, 2004

TAIPEI - Social science experts in China fear that several dozen local
languages are endangered and have appealed to the government, saying,
“Similar to species vanishing, endangered languages need to be
protected.”

Ironically, just two days after the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization declared Feb. 21 to be "World’s
Mother Tongue Day,” the news that many languages in China are on the
verge of extinction was announced.

According to Beijing Entertainment, UNESCO reported that Chinese people
spoke 82 different languages in the year 2000; however, the academy
said that Mainland China has approximately 120 indigenous languages.

Ethnology and anthropology researcher Xu Shixuan of the Social Science
Institute, author of “Research of Endangered Languages,” said that
among the 120 languages, half are in decline with several dozens
seriously endangered.

“There are only a dozen old people who can speak Heshe language,” Xu
said, “and at most 50 people who can barely understand Heshe. Another
language, Man, can only be understood by about 100 people with only 50
who can speak it. The Tataer tribe with a population of 5,064 has less
than 1,000 people who can speak their native tongue. Only about 100
people can speak the Xiandao language used by Achang tribe. As for the
Jinuo tribe, the 30,000 natives have already given up teaching their
native language.”

Xu pointed out two major reasons for the steady decline of local native
languages, with the language of the cultural majority taking precedence
over local languages contributing the most. Also, most endangered
languages are not continually updated and lack corresponding words for
modern society. They are only used for oral conversation and songs and
can be easily forgotten.

Researchers of the endangered languages in China need to report to
authorities about the situation, Xu said. The Social Science Institute
fund only needs five people to support it, but because of a lack of
funding, records are piled up in the institute. For the past 10 years,
it has been his dream to build a national language museum; however, he
has yet to receive a reply.

Translated from Chinese by Aaron Ho
Aaron.ho at cnh.com


Copyright 2004 - The Epoch Times