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China has a higher literacy rate than countries of similar economic development that use alphabets such as Brazil. In both Taiwan and Japan, literacy is very n

by xiaoma 18y ago

China has a higher literacy rate than countries of similar economic development that use alphabets such as Brazil. In both Taiwan and Japan, literacy is very nearly 100%. The US doesn't fare as well. Blaming China's "low levels of speaking proficiency in the national language" on characters doesn't make much sense either. Dozens of languages are spoken in China and Mandarin has only really been a standard for about a hundred years. You might as well be condemning the EU for having so many people who don't speak English well.

tokenadult 18y ago
Three of my four grandparents were born (in the United States) in non-English-speaking homes. The huge degree of immigration that the United States has long experienced makes it quite remarkable that the United States today has such unity in using a national language (named after another country, no less) that we are all using here to communicate with one another. I possess the reading textbooks used by two of my grandparents' families (who spoke two different languages in that generation). Alphabetic writing was enormously helpful in making English the main generally understood language in the diverse population of the United States, and lack of it may be one thing that is holding back the always diligent people of China from even greater prosperity and unity in their spoken language. I'd appreciate a source citation for the statement that China has a higher literacy rate than Brazil, as I'm quite sure that statement is based on a fallacy of equivocation: a different definition of "literacy" in the two countries.
- gravitycop 18y ago
  named after another country, no less Actually, both the language and kingdom were named after the Germanic tribe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#History The names 'England' (or 'Aenglaland') and English are derived from the name of this tribe. Descendants of that Germanic tribe, until recently, composed the majority of Americans. http://www.vdare.com/pb/time_to_rethink.htm http://www.vdare.com/pb/time_to_rethink.htm After the turmoil of the Revolutionary War, there was a Great Lull remarkably similar to the one earlier this century. For nearly fifty years, there was practically no immigration at all. The U.S. grew rapidly through natural increase. But the make-up of the white population remained about what it had been in the 1790 Census: largely (60 per cent) English, heavily (80 per cent) British, and overwhelmingly (98 per cent) Protestant. This was the nation Alexis de Tocqueville described in Democracy in America (1835)
- xiaoma 18y ago
  China has far, far more 2nd language speakers than the US does. Outside of Dongbei, it's a good bet that most over 50 speak Mandarin as a second language if at all. A lack of capitalism held China back, not its writing system. A fair comparison would be India, also a large country that's very divided linguistically. Three decades ago, the average Indian was significantly wealthier than the average Chinese. Both countries put a strong focus on education and both have been trying hard to modernize. Now, China is far wealthier and has far higher literacy. Also, consider Taiwan and Hong Kong. Both went from being destitute to having higher per capita GDPs than Australia or many European states within the past generation or two. The idea that characters "hold" people back is ridiculous. Elementary school children here in Taiwan can read their native language as well if not better than their peers back in the states. It would take quite a bit of evidence to make a strong case against characters. Even MacArthur's misled experiment in Japan failed. Simplifications were forced through and kanji were reduced, but people never stopped using them. In fact, the Japanese have been using more kanji in general publication each decade since the end of the occupation. As for the statistics, here they are: CIA World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ China- literacy 90.9%, PPP GDP/person $6,100 Brazil- literacy 88.6% PPP GDP/person $10,300 India- literacy 61% PPP GDP/person $2,900 Unicef gives similar rates.

by xiaoma 18y ago

tokenadult 18y ago

Three of my four grandparents were born (in the United States) in non-English-speaking homes. The huge degree of immigration that the United States has long experienced makes it quite remarkable that the United States today has such unity in using a national language (named after another country, no less) that we are all using here to communicate with one another. I possess the reading textbooks used by two of my grandparents' families (who spoke two different languages in that generation). Alphabetic writing was enormously helpful in making English the main generally understood language in the diverse population of the United States, and lack of it may be one thing that is holding back the always diligent people of China from even greater prosperity and unity in their spoken language. I'd appreciate a source citation for the statement that China has a higher literacy rate than Brazil, as I'm quite sure that statement is based on a fallacy of equivocation: a different definition of "literacy" in the two countries.

gravitycop 18y ago
named after another country, no less Actually, both the language and kingdom were named after the Germanic tribe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#History The names 'England' (or 'Aenglaland') and English are derived from the name of this tribe. Descendants of that Germanic tribe, until recently, composed the majority of Americans. http://www.vdare.com/pb/time_to_rethink.htm http://www.vdare.com/pb/time_to_rethink.htm After the turmoil of the Revolutionary War, there was a Great Lull remarkably similar to the one earlier this century. For nearly fifty years, there was practically no immigration at all. The U.S. grew rapidly through natural increase. But the make-up of the white population remained about what it had been in the 1790 Census: largely (60 per cent) English, heavily (80 per cent) British, and overwhelmingly (98 per cent) Protestant. This was the nation Alexis de Tocqueville described in Democracy in America (1835)
xiaoma 18y ago
China has far, far more 2nd language speakers than the US does. Outside of Dongbei, it's a good bet that most over 50 speak Mandarin as a second language if at all. A lack of capitalism held China back, not its writing system. A fair comparison would be India, also a large country that's very divided linguistically. Three decades ago, the average Indian was significantly wealthier than the average Chinese. Both countries put a strong focus on education and both have been trying hard to modernize. Now, China is far wealthier and has far higher literacy. Also, consider Taiwan and Hong Kong. Both went from being destitute to having higher per capita GDPs than Australia or many European states within the past generation or two. The idea that characters "hold" people back is ridiculous. Elementary school children here in Taiwan can read their native language as well if not better than their peers back in the states. It would take quite a bit of evidence to make a strong case against characters. Even MacArthur's misled experiment in Japan failed. Simplifications were forced through and kanji were reduced, but people never stopped using them. In fact, the Japanese have been using more kanji in general publication each decade since the end of the occupation. As for the statistics, here they are: CIA World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ China- literacy 90.9%, PPP GDP/person $6,100 Brazil- literacy 88.6% PPP GDP/person $10,300 India- literacy 61% PPP GDP/person $2,900 Unicef gives similar rates.