The Language Revolution in China

By Bernard Yegiora

“Nǐ huì shuō yīngyǔ ma?” I asked the Taxi driver and he replied “Bù huì!”. I guess you are trying to figure out what I was saying to the Taxi driver. Well, I asked him if he could speak English and he gave me a negative answer. He then asked me if I could speak Chinese, I answered “a little” in Chinese. Then he asked me where I was from “Nǐ shì nǎlǐ rén?” and I answered “Bābùyǎ xīn jǐnèiyǎ”.

Most of the taxi drivers that I chat with think that PNG is in Africa, I presume it is because of the jǐnèiyǎ part of the name, sounds like the word Guinea which is associated with the names of several African countries. When they immediately smile and say “Fēizhōu”, I try my best to correct their mistakes, I reply each and every time “Bùshì fēizhōu” and make it my business to tell them that PNG is just north of Australia and is situated in the Pacific Ocean.

This repeated experience caused me to question myself whether or not in 20 years time will a person in the same profession be able to communicate effectively with both Chinese and English considering the way China is developing?

But what is development? From my understanding to be developed is to become like an European, to wear what they wear, to speak like the way they speak, to posses what they possess materially and so on. This dialectical understanding of development emerged from the era of colonialism when our traditional way of life was challenged by the Western way of living. Eventually, our traditional way of living faded away and was replaced by the Western way of living.

Today we have a democratic system of government which emerged from Greece to replace our small isolated village system controlled by Chiefs and bigmen. Also the banking and money system have clashed with out traditional trade and barter system. The Gulf people no longer need to travel via the south east trade winds to trade with the Central people.

So where is China heading? At the moment the pace at which the country is developing is quite remarkable. It is common knowledge that every one around the world is talking about China every where, every day, and in every way. No doubt, China’s evolution as a nation occurred as a result of a fusion of both Western and Eastern ideas.

In PNG, the recent death of a Chinese business man in Goroka and the attack on another in Wabag are both sad cases reported by the newspapers, these events will no doubt cause people in the lower levels to higher levels of society in both towns to talk about China and the Chinese people. In addition, at the state to state level, the help that China is giving to PNG in terms of loans and investments are the much talked about issues covered solidly in the media.

However, going back to my original question, I think the Chinese society has the potential to under go a change of this magnitude. One important change in particular that this rapid pace of development is causing is the increase in the number of the middle class people in the Chinese society. As more Chinese people become wealthier more money is spent on finding the best possible schools for their children. Apart from finding the best schools parents have now enrolled their children in language schools, or employ private tutors to teach their children English.

Learning English according to the Euro-centric dialectical paradigm is an integral part of being developed. In PNG, we know for sure that the ability to communicate in English makes one more educated, if one can not speak and write in English then society labels that person as an illiterate and tend to look down on that person looking past the capabilities they have as a human being.

There is at the moment from my observation a language learning revolution happening in China. China’s new generation with their desire to be successful in order to look after their parents and their own family have pushed themselves, or are pushed by their parents to learning not only English but other foreign languages like French, German, Spanish, and Russian.

As revealed by Yale law Professor Amy Chua in her book ‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’ the pressure that Chinese parents especially mothers put on their Children to work hard and be the best sets China on an interesting path. She basically differentiated the way Westerners raise their children from the Chinese, she said Westerners have raised they children up to accept mediocrity but for Chinese parents if their child did not achieve the perfect exam result they assume that he or she did not work hard enough. Their solution to substandard performance according to her is always to excoriate, punish and shame the child. As a Chinese Amy Chua basing on her own personal experience with her parents, and as a mother to two daughters, she has given her account which has sparked much public outcry in America this year.

Can we say from her work that all Chinese parents behave in the same way? I would like to say yes but then again I do not know for sure because I lack the knowledge. It is the same as saying all police men in PNG are guilty of human rights abuse, I know that this is not true because not all police men are into beating powerless citizens senselessly.

From what I have seen through my association with a language school, learning English is a serious business. The children attend normal pre school, primary or high school from the morning to about three o’clock in the afternoon. From three to about seven in the evening they attend one or two hours of English class every week. Every week in China means from Sunday to Sunday. In addition, they are also teaching French and German. Thus, apart from normal school work the children have English and other languages to study as well.

Even during the winter and summer holidays there are English camps where students are engaged in different extracurricular activities from taking manners class, to learning about Western in comparison to Chinese history of great explorers, watching Western movies from Hollywood, learning new Western games, Western style food cooking classes, to doing arts and crafts.

The children are also encouraged to participate in other extracurricular activities like learning how to play basket ball, learning Taekwondo, learning how to play musical instruments, learning how to dance, learning gymnastics, learning about computers, and the list goes on.

For those at the universities there are numerous posters all over the notice boards in foreign student’s hall of residence looking for; people of native English speaking countries like America, England, Australia or New Zealand to help with English; some Chinese students enrolled in the degree program Teaching Chinese as a Second Language even offer to teach Chinese for free in return for free lessons in English; there are those who like to make friends with foreigners of any nationality so long as you can speak English in the hope of practicing their English; and there are advertisements about English and culture clubs where the exchange of knowledge in a particular language is the main objective.

Thus, in the next 20 years what will China become if this current generation continues to learn all these commonly used foreign languages? More importantly if most of the Chinese can speak and read English like educated people in PNG what kind of society will they be? Hope I can be around to witness the changes that will happen.