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Language activism - Tibet | ||
Tags: Tibetan | Language Politics | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| starst Triglot Senior Member China Joined 5519 days ago 113 posts - 133 votes  Speaks: Mandarin*, Japanese, EnglishC2 Studies: FrenchC1, German, Norwegian | Message 9 of 21 29 October 2010 at 6:23am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I found the before-mentioned articles lacking detailed information, such as what the change is exactly, in which schools it took place, etc.
Though I haven't lived in mainland China for several years, I recall having watched TV series in Shanghai and Sichuan dialect, some opera-like performances in Zhejiang, Henan, Shanxi, and Anhui dialect. Such DVDs are not difficult to find in bookstores in Beijing (where I lived). For what I've heard about changing the Cantonese channel to Mandarin, it was only about changing part of the programs in 1 of the 9 Cantonese channels. I don't think the government is doing well with culture diversity protection, but I do think it's mainly neglect rather than intentional elimination. Currently, Chinese local governors hardly pay attention to things that don't create direct economic benefits. Anyway, it's always easier to criticize others. "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brohter's eye，but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye." 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| starst Triglot Senior Member China Joined 5519 days ago 113 posts - 133 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, Japanese, EnglishC2 Studies: FrenchC1, German, Norwegian | Message 10 of 21 29 October 2010 at 6:33am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I don't understand which history facts here you are referring to. Massive migration of non-military population to Xizang or Xinjiang? Are you talking about some political movements some 40 years before? Can you provide some links? Edited by starst on 29 October 2010 at 6:35am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6587 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 11 of 21 30 October 2010 at 2:37am | IP Logged | ||||||||
You're studying French and the text isn't that complex, so I won't translate, if that's alright (otherwise just ask). I'm glad and surprised to hear about the TV performances in the Shanghai and Sichuan dialects. Were these channels with these dialects as their major language or isolated shows? As for DVDs, in my local bookshop with a large selection of DVDs, I went to look for Cantonese movies. I live in Foshan, just outside of Canton, smack middle of the Cantonese speaking area and the local language is definitely Cantonese here. After asking for help from the staff, there was still not a single Canto DVD to be found. I've been there a few times and all in all found three DVDs claiming to have double sound tracks in Cantonese and Mandarin, but of these three, two had actually only Mandarin, the Cantonese audio having been stripped but the box not changed. Hong Kong movies are very popular and prolific, but they invariably have their Cantonese audio removed and are only supplied with a Mandarin dub. Needless to say, Hollywood movies are always supplied with both English and Mandarin audio. Regarding the protests, you can look up some info on the Wikipedia site.
All in all, I've seen some stuff regarding the promotion of Mandarin here that makes me uncomfortable. Like big placards in schools with big characters saying "I'm a Chinese child; I love speaking Mandarin". Some places have signs saying "please speak Mandarin". 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| vientito Senior Member Canada Joined 6343 days ago 212 posts - 281 votes | Message 12 of 21 30 October 2010 at 4:54am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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When I was travelling in Sichuan, I met three Tibetan monks on a bus. At a certain point, some locals were talking and laughing in their own version of a Tibetan dialect. I proceeded to ask the three monks what the others were laughing about. They shook their heads and told me that it was almost a foreign language to them as well. They told me point blank that there are perhaps more than 200 different Tibetan dialects and none of them are readily recognizable from one group to another. It reminds me a similar situation in Southern China. There are some dominant dialects but otherwise it is a very diverse group of related languages but hardly intercommunicable.
So, what activism are your referring to? Is that the one consented by the CIA-funded Dalai Lama? Without a common language in China as a backdrop, the dream of uniting all the minorities (hence controlling them) is not achievable. This is what aspires China to act the way she does things. I see nothing sinister about that. All big nation state do that. Some have been more brutal than others. Some achieve the same results by resorting to massive genocide. We don't need to name names here. It is always the others' dirty laundry that we would like to expose, never our own. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5339 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 13 of 21 30 October 2010 at 8:48am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Having friends who think Lukashenko is a democrat, Fujimoro was uncorrupted, Pinochet was neccesary and Castro is a hero, I thought I was beyond being able to be surprised.
Support for Chinese language politics in Tibet on this particular forum did the trick. The next thing will presumably be to see North Korea's human rights' record be warmly defended on the web site of Amnesty International. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5350 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 14 of 21 30 October 2010 at 8:01pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
The problem with politics is that it is background independent, to borrow a term from physics. There being no substantive set of morals we can all agree upon, how do we compare the merits of different political systems? As for my humble opinion, Chileans were much better off as a result of Pinochet than Venezuelans are today because of Chavez, which is where Allende was heading. Of course though, reaching universal agreement on the validity of these statements is impossible. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5339 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 15 of 21 30 October 2010 at 11:49pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Since I do not want to take this discussion in the wrong direction, I will not argue with your opinion. It happens to be different from mine, but you are still entitled to yours. I would however like to point out that when I was young we had a substantial amount of Chilean refugees in Norway. And they were not fleeing from Allende... So there might be a couple of Chileans that disagree with you. Mind you, I am no fan of Chavez either. Anyhow, my comments were more aimed at the "you'll hear a lot before your ears fall of"-factor (to use a Norwegian expression) of hearing support for supressing languages, on a forum for people who are interested in languages. Otherwise I totally agree with you, Juan, on the impossibility of reaching universal agreement on political systems. Like most of you here on the forum, I have however grown up in a society where there are some things that are regarded as absolute truths. Hitler was bad, Stalin was bad, Osama bin Laden is bad. But there are of course people who disagree even with this. That is what we have free speech for - for all of us who live in countries where we can actually exert that right. As this year's Nobel Peace prize shows, that is not a right everyone has... Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 30 October 2010 at 11:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ilcommunication Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6697 days ago 115 posts - 162 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 16 of 21 31 October 2010 at 12:52am | IP Logged | ||||||||
None of that has anything to do with the issue. "Chinese language politics in Tibet" has made Tibetan language a significant focus in education (see my last post). The "Free Tibet" crowd is flatly wrong on the point of language.
Your argument is full of "False Positives", of course. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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