A Pingguo Iphone
link AFP: China bars English words in all publications.
Oddly, I will bet lots of money that in barely a generation, the use of English will become as common as Chinese as the operating business and cultural language of that country. That’s a pretty bold prediction since at the moment, the population of China at an estimated 1.3 billion Chinese speakers, is more populous than any other nation in the world. The reality though, is that the jungle drum-like lure of English is pervasive and persistent. While China may have the edge as far as descriptive and lyrical language, English has the advantage of being the preferred language of most popular entertainment and technology.
The reach of American media and entertainment extends far beyond the defined boundaries of the U.S. Whether people like it or not, entertainment innovations still sprout from American shores. With the proliferation of media devices such as Iphones, IPads and Blackberrys, the influence of American and therefore English speaking culture hits every corner of the globe, including China. The popularity of You Tube, Facebook and Google all create a need for a grasp of English to enable plugging into the modern world.
This recent measure by the Chinese government to stem the tide of “English creep” into popular use is futile. They may as well try to ban nose picking. The French found out as much decades ago when they tried to maintain the ‘purity’ of French culture by insisting on the use of appropriate French words and adjectives for common cultural things. As we know now, this didn’t work since they are not an isolated nation. Even in that bastion of snobby cuisine, a hamburger is called a hamburger, mais avec une accent. I’ve never been to a McDonalds over there, but doubt that anyone orders pomme frites instead of french fries. As it happens, the French have more cause to worry from the creep of Muslim culture into that society than they do American culture. Nevertheless, the influence of American pop culture shows up in their music as well in the form of hip hop music, at the moment, tres au courant.
This same type of cultural hegemony will happen to China as well. Via the social and cultural media conduits mentioned earlier, Chinese kids will be exposed to the novelty and lure of Western entertainment. It’s tough to keep the kids focused on the party line when You Tube videos depict fast cars, fast women and unfettered hedonism. In addition, they will have to master some semblance of English in order to navigate the social networking apps and be conversant with the associated lingo. A Blackberry is not called a ‘hei shiguo’. Let’s face it, who are the kids going to idolize more, Jason Statham in the latest shoot ’em up or their national table tennis champion Ma Lin? Yao Ming and Jet Li may be big name stars, but arguably largely because they are big stars in the West. As the younger generation becomes more accustomed to the cultural ‘offerings’ from the West, English will start to become more pervasive in China. In the meantime, we get to enjoy a few more years of mangled English, or Chinglish as the transition moves forward.
One more compelling reason in support of my prediction is simply the will to learn. Chinese kids have a thirst and a capacity to learn. There is a mentality of curiosity to learn and adapt there because they are an emerging economy. As discussed in previous postings, Chinese students will learn what’s neccessary to ascend to greater things. We would never see the mass learning of Chinese by kids over here. Heck, it’s enough of a challenge for them to learn proper English.