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It's difficult to get a sense of Chinese zeitgeist without actually going to China. There's a certain je ne sais quoi to the ethnic unity that can be establishe

It's difficult to get a sense of Chinese zeitgeist without actually going to China. There's a certain je ne sais quoi to the ethnic unity that can be established through the unique commonality of a language, and the Chinese government is undertaking this linguistic jujitsu in order to preserve that.

tokenadult 16y ago
I have to admire your use of a French loan phrase in your English-language reply about Chinese language policy. What's really astounding about China (as compared, say to Taiwan) is the huge number of people there who are still not conversant in Modern Standard Chinese. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5812838.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5812838... The progress of a common language in China has been remarkably slow, doubtless because the wretched poverty of the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution periods slowed development of telephony and internal travel, which do much to build a common language in any country. (The United States population is made up of not more than about 25 percent persons of English-speaking ancestry, but English has been the common language of the country even in peak periods of immigration, and even when American-born persons, such as both of my maternal grandparents, could receive their entire primary education in a non-English language--German in their case.) But if commonality of a language is the concern, it doesn't really matter whether or not Modern Standard Chinese of the 21st century has lots of English loanwords or only just a few. The issue is whether everyone living in China has much opportunity to communicate with one another freely and to travel readily.
- presidentender 16y ago
  French loan phrase The German and Japanese, were they just seamless?
  - tokenadult 16y ago
    The German was seamless (thanks for pointing it out) and the Japanese I took to be a reference (then used metaphorically) to the actual Japanese practice, and thus not as jarringly noticeable in the sentence. But touché for writing a reply in which both the message and the medium were the message.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]

tokenadult 16y ago

I have to admire your use of a French loan phrase in your English-language reply about Chinese language policy. What's really astounding about China (as compared, say to Taiwan) is the huge number of people there who are still not conversant in Modern Standard Chinese. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5812838.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5812838... The progress of a common language in China has been remarkably slow, doubtless because the wretched poverty of the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution periods slowed development of telephony and internal travel, which do much to build a common language in any country. (The United States population is made up of not more than about 25 percent persons of English-speaking ancestry, but English has been the common language of the country even in peak periods of immigration, and even when American-born persons, such as both of my maternal grandparents, could receive their entire primary education in a non-English language--German in their case.) But if commonality of a language is the concern, it doesn't really matter whether or not Modern Standard Chinese of the 21st century has lots of English loanwords or only just a few. The issue is whether everyone living in China has much opportunity to communicate with one another freely and to travel readily.

presidentender 16y ago
French loan phrase The German and Japanese, were they just seamless?
- tokenadult 16y ago
  The German was seamless (thanks for pointing it out) and the Japanese I took to be a reference (then used metaphorically) to the actual Japanese practice, and thus not as jarringly noticeable in the sentence. But touché for writing a reply in which both the message and the medium were the message.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]