Mandarin Mashup July 5, 2012
- iTunes Wades into Chinese-Language Controversy - Wall Street Journal
- EPA
- Two women walk past the Apple Store in Hong Kong, China on June 27, 2012.
When Apple launched its iTunes online store for Hong Kong last week, making it easier for locals to buy and download music and videos, some of its efforts got lost in translation.
On accessing the iTunes store for the first time, some Hong Kong users were irritated to find that the store was listing a number of song titles by the city's popstars in Mandarin pinyin, a system that transcribes Chinese characters into phonetic Latin script, instead of displaying titles transliterated for the Cantonese language, which is spoken by the majority of the population.
For example, the popular Cantonese pop song titled "Autumn Wind, Autumn Rain" would be written and pronounced as qiu feng qiu yu using Mandarin pinyin. Though there is no broadly accepted official system for rendering Cantonese using the Roman alphabet, a transliteration for Cantonese speakers would be closer to cou feng cou yu.
"Those are CANTO pop [songs]," wrote one Hong Kong-based user on Twitter. "Use cantonese [sic] phonetics."
A former British colony, Hong Kong returned to mainland Chinese rule in 1997, but has stayed proudly loyal to its own native dialect and customs. Many locals resent the intrusion of Mandarin—which China's government has promoted for decades as the official language across the border—and fear that Cantonese, spoken by 96% of the population, is gradually being shunted aside.
Until June 27, when Apple launched the iTunes stores in Hong Kong and 11 other Asian markets, the iTunes store had previously been available only in three Asian-Pacific countries: Australia, Japan and New Zealand. The iTunes store—which does offer Hong Kong users a number of songs in traditional Chinese characters, though many are displayed only with Mandarin pinyin—is currently the world's biggest popular music vendor, selling over 16 billion songs last year. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, as well as in Taiwan and in many overseas Chinese communities, while simplified characters are used on the mainland.
Anger over Apple's offering is just the latest linguistic squall to have hit Hong Kong this year. Last weekend, the city's newly sworn in leader gave his inaugural speech entirely in Mandarin, prompting critics to suggest that he was "kowtowing" to Beijing. Earlier this spring, locals also launched protests against retailers such as Giordano's and agnes b for spurning traditional Chinese characters in favor of simplified ones.
Some responding to Hong Kong's iTunes store launch mixed praise with criticism. "I thought iTunes wouldn't have many good Cantonese songs, but they even have [Cantopop singer] Paula Tsui," wrote one Hong Kong user on Twitter. "Still, they're all in Mandarin pinyin. Unless you actually listened to them, you wouldn't know what songs they were."
For the first time this year, Hong Kong's census revealed that Mandarin has overtaken English as the city's most common second language. Still, the language remains decidedly a minority tongue: While nearly half of city residents say they can speak Mandarin, it's the customary language of choice for only 1.4% of people.
Calls and emails to Apple weren't immediately returned Thursday.
– Te-Ping Chen. Follow her on Twitter @tepingchen
New York, N.Y. -- I met the most amazing mother-daughter duo the other week. Americans, they were speaking at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York (TECO-NY). They were explaining to an appreciative crowd of mostly Americans and Chinese how they had spent four months recently on the Isle of Formosa, sketching and painting the faces of 888 Taiwanese -- an auspicious number in Chinese culture. What amazed me was that the mom, a Fulbright scholar, did not speak Chinese. Her 11-year old daughter did -- and interpreted for the trip.
Brenda and Oona were invited to a Rukai celebration and were encouraged to wear traditional costumes. Photo courtesy of Brenda and Oona Zlamany.
Meet Brenda and Oona Zlamany. Brenda was raised by first generation European immigrants who wanted her to assimilate in our melting pot, so they refused to speak their ancestral languages -- just English. Regretting and resenting this her whole life, Brenda put her only daughter at a very early age into school in Chinatown where she would have total emersion into another culture and language -- Chinese. Coincidentally, I explored placing my own son into the exact same Mandarin-speaking school in the 1990s.
Brenda uses the camera lucida, a drawing device that dates back to the renaissance enabling the artist to plot the points of a person's features. Photo courtesy of Brenda and Oona Zlamany.
Brenda explained that their project, entitled "888," is a project that has several different stories. The first story is a personal art story:For the past fifteen years I have been painting portraits of my artist friends. Many of us paint ourselves and each other. In some ways you could say that we are professional posers. Our gaze is external. Very look at me.
In 2007, I took a trip to Tibet with my daughter. On this trip, I took thousands of photos of monks and nomads with the intent of making oil paintings when I returned. When I painted the portraits of Tibetans, I noticed that their gaze was more internal. This interested me. I wanted to explore the idea more deeply by working from direct observation.I wanted to learn how to use the camera lucida, a drawing device that dates back to the renaissance and enables you to plot the points of a person's features and to get a likeness more quickly. I looked for a population that like the Tibetans was somewhat removed from the mainstream culture and I came upon Taiwan's Aboriginal people.
Oona made friends everywhere she went. This Rukai woman enjoyed dressing Oona up and dancing with her in her shop. Photo courtesy of Brenda and Oona Zlamany.
The second story Brenda related was a parenting story:I believe that it is important for children to learn languages, so I enrolled my daughter in a bilingual immersion school in mandarin called Shuang Wen Academy on the lower Eastside, when she was three. I wanted to reinforce her language skills and I like to work on projects with her, so I looked for a mandarin speaking country for my project. So I wrote a proposal for a Fulbright to Taiwan.
Brenda Zlamany giving a talk at the opening of '888: Portraits in Taiwan' at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei. Photo courtesy of Brenda and Oona Zlamany.
Brenda's third story involved the Taiwanese native or aboriginal people:There are many different tribes. We visited sixteen. They have distinct customs, languages, social order, traditions, music, dance, arts, crafts and even food. But what they have in common is a remarkable generosity, warmth and curiosity. We stayed for several days to a week in each village and were invited to participate in all aspects of daily life: harvest festivals, religious ceremonies, sporting events, craft workshops and various aspects of socializing and relaxing. Many families invited us into their homes and cooked delicious foods for us. Some even held special painting events where they invited family members to be painted. They helped with our itinerary by making introductions in other villages. We have learned so much from them and are grateful for their trust in us and the project.
Brenda paints a portrait of a young Tao man in Lanyu. Photo courtesy of Brenda and Oona Zlamany.
Eventually Brenda opened up the art project to include all people living and working in Taiwan. The fourth story is thus a Taiwanese story:Taiwan was the perfect country for this project. It has beautiful landscape and excellent infrastructure. The people are very kind, generous and honest. We always felt safe there - in fact coming back to New York was a shock, as we had to relearn being on the defense. The Taiwanese people encouraged us, even when Oona and I thought that we would never reach the goal of 888. And MOCA Taipei and various organizations in Taiwan such as AIT, MOFA GIO and RTI all got behind the work and helped shape it into an exhibition that opened at MOCA Taipei only 4 months after the project was completed! I could never have done this project without the support of the Taiwanese people.
Oona Zlamany 'signing in' at the dedication of a road from Sandiman to Wutia.
Photo courtesy of Brenda and Oona Zlamany.
The fifth story and maybe the most important story is about the positive effects of art:Through the painting, intense bonds were formed. As I traveled from place to place, people were introduced to people from other cultures by flipping through the sketchbook pages. And as the exhibition travels from place to place, people will learn about the rich cultural heritage of Taiwan and about Taiwan's indigenous population. In this high speed, digital age, I discovered that there is a longing for the slow and immediate communication that takes place when painting a portrait from direct observation.
888 is the first chapter in my ongoing project: The Itinerant Portraitist. In this project I will continue to travel to areas of the globe to explore the positive effects of portraiture.
Oona's job was to find interesting subjects for paintings. Photo courtesy of Brenda and Oona Zlamany.Brenda Zlamany is my kind of mother. In fact, she is the type of thought leader and global citizen needed to make this world a better place. Embracing the arts, global and local culture, and good parenting, Brenda personifies the best of humanity. Her daughter Oona is the kind of kid humanity needs so that we don't self-destruct. Wise and worldly beyond her years, she cares deeply about her family, her friends - and her neighbors. It is unsurprising that Fulbright recognized this family for the gem that it is. I look forward to the next chapters of this Itinerant Portraitist and her daughter. Not many families contribute so greatly to humanity.
Brenda and Oona stop to admire the view while traveling from their home base in Hualien to an Amis harvest festival in Dagangkou on Highway 11. Photo courtesy of Brenda and Oona Zlamany.
Short MOCA Taipei interview with Brenda Zlamany entitled Project 888 on YouTube.See Other Video: 888: Portraits in Taiwan (56-min. video on Vimeo)
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- 仕女圖 薛濤 顧青蛟 勤芳齋 2000年作 Shanghai pupils taught to speak like a local - China Daily
DGVAS has added a photo to the pool:
薛濤是[唐代]名妓和女詩人，字洪度，約生于唐大歷五年（公元770年），祖籍長安，出生于成都。其父薛鄖宦居成都時去世，薛濤由母親撫養。當其及笄之年已辯慧知詩，兼撤擅書法，描眉涂粉，才貌超群，真如元稹所稱："錦江滑膩峨眉秀，幻出文君與薛濤"。她與母親生活無靠，十分艱難，故她只得早早加入樂籍，成為官妓。[唐代]各地官府及軍鎮均設有樂官，官妓居于其中。她們專為官府服務，獻藝侑觴，甚至私侍寢席。當時成都的最高地方長官劍南西川節度使韋皋特別賞識薛濤，常命她來侍酒唱和，接應賓客，可能還成為私人秘書。韋皋準備奏請朝廷任命薛濤為"校書郎"，雖未批準，但人們從此戲稱她為"女校書"了。從韋皋、高崇文、段文昌到李德裕，西川節度使共歷十一屆，他們均與薛濤有詩酒往來，關係極為特殊。她晚年居于成都碧雞訪，宅邊遍種菖蒲，建有吟詩樓，大約七十三歲去世（一說卒時七十五歲，當有誤）。段文昌為她撰寫了墓志，可惜未流傳下來。
薛濤的家居，是在成都的萬裏橋邊，門庭遍種枇杷與菖蒲。當時尚在京城長安的大名鼎鼎的詩人元稹，早就在京仰慕薛濤的聲名。在唐憲宗元和年間，他為監察禦史，奉使到西蜀來，就特別約請薛濤相見。初見面時，元稹意態驕橫，矜持筆硯，意在考察薛濤才華，是否人如其名。殊知薛濤從容不迫，立即走筆書作筆、墨、紙、硯《四友讚》，文曰："磨捫虱先生之腹，濡藏鋒都尉之頭，引書媒而默默，入文廟以休休"。元稹立即感到薛濤書法文義，俱極佳妙。而且才思敏捷，非同凡響。于是大為驚服，讚譽備至。他們之間，因此也就相處甚得，一年過往，始終是彼此敬佩！所以後來相別時，薛濤特作《牡丹》一詩贈送元稹，以寄情懷。
歷代的詩人墨客，名流雅士，對薛濤以崇敬的心情，留下了不少的詩詞讚咏，聯語挽歌；並進一步在薛濤墳附近，修建了紀念薛濤的亭臺樓館，把它臆定為"薛濤故居"，形成今天"望江樓公園"，供廣大旅遊者旅覽憑吊，紀念我國文壇上這位傑出的女詩人。-----新華網 四川
The first Shanghai dialect textbook will enter classrooms in the autumn to revitalize the city's regional language .
The city's younger generation is reluctant to speak the dialect, prompting fears the language is being forgotten.
"At present it's hard to find a pupil that speaks standard Shanghai dialect in many downtown schools. Many pupils speak the dialect broken," the textbook's author Qian Nairong said. "Schools need a textbook to use as guidance to teach children how to correctly pronounce and speak."
Qian is a Shanghai dialect expert and the director of the Research Center of Linguistics at Shanghai University.
The book, titled Pupils Learn to Speak Shanghai Dialect, includes 20 lessons that present the Shanghai dialect in the form of local folk tales, children's rhymes, riddles and cartoon illustrations.
"I have compiled many Shanghai dialect books for adults, but this is my first time compiling a book for students," Qian said.
The linguist has studied the Shanghai dialect for nearly 50 years and has edited more than 500 books on the language, including the first Shanghai dialect dictionary and a bilingual book for foreigners who want to learn the tongue.
"Under the age of 11 is the prime time for children to learn language," Qian told China Daily. He said the book aimed to make learning enjoyable.
"The more fun they find in learning, the more willingness they have in practicing what they have learnt," he said.
In 1992, the country began to promote Putonghua, or Mandarin, in a nationwide campaign that strongly encouraged Putonghua in classrooms.
"Putonghua is rigidly required in classrooms. Though there are no hard rules in after-class activities, many schools also require teachers and students to speak Putonghua," said Xiao, a primary school teacher who wished only to be identified by her family name.
"Now schools are competing with each other. Speaking the local dialect will affect the school's overall performance in comprehensive assessment," she said.
Qian said children are taught Shanghai dialect by their parents before they start formal education.
"They begin to forget the dialect as they enter kindergarten and school due to a lack of a proper language environment," Qian said.
A report released by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences earlier this year stated only 60 percent of Shanghai students can fully understand their local dialect.
"I'm always trying to talk to my son in the Shanghai dialect at home. But he sticks to speaking Putonghua and said it's the rule of his kindergarten," Xu Yunlan, the mother of a 6-year-old boy, said. She said her entire family was born in Shanghai.
"Though he can catch what I say, I still worry that he will lose the dialect gradually. Language is a key part of the city's culture, I don't want my son to feel estranged in his home city," Xu said.
The effect the Shanghai dialect textbook will have on students is difficult to predict, because it will only have one slot among the pupils' already intense study schedules.
Qian said the textbook is likely to be used in extracurricular classes or hobby groups, which are less frequently held than daily courses.
The Shanghai Education Commission declined to give a definite answer when asked if it will promote the use of the textbook in schools.
In recent years, many Shanghai natives have called for protection of the dialect over concerns the language is dying out.
Earlier this year, Shanghai Airlines started broadcasting the city information in Shanghai dialect in selected routes and is planning to cover all flights landing in the city by the end of this year.
The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau also announced the city's weather forecasts will be broadcast in Shanghai dialect to further protect the "dying" local language.
Last month, a long-running TV program News Workshop started a Shanghai dialect version. It is also the first TV news program in China to be broadcast in Shanghai dialect.
Contact the writer at wanghongyi@chinadaily.com.cn
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