Recently, many new words become popular in the field of network. Many of those words do not follow the grammar rule and not so standardized. But they are favored by the younger generations because they are fresh and new and popular. When you study in China, which word will you choose to describe they passing year 2010, “给力” or “浮云”?
At the same time if the appearance of the network words, many people start to worry that they may decrease the cultural meaning of the Chinese language. And some of them begin to ask whether we should be more standardized the Chinese language usage or not. If you are studying Chinese in Mandarin learning courses, you may know the answer of Gao Haiyang, the Deputy Director of the Sociolinguistics laboratory of Nanjing University, that there is no deed to worry about that.
According to him, the development of the language is promoted by the young generation. The standardization is always fall behind because the society is moving forward. Besides, the creativeness of language will become weaker if the spoken language is standardized in a limited degree. This point is important for those who like to study Chinese because it will be more difficult if more standards are put into the Chinese language.
However, there is also another phenomenon that there are many network new words appear in the standard publications even in the compositions written by the pupils. Foreigners who learn Chinese in China may wonder whether they should be standardized. To answer this question, Mr. Gao said that this is different situations. The standard publication should obey some certain rules to standardize the application o fChinese language but spoken language should be used in a casual way.
When some foreign learners study Mandarin in Yunnan, they may hear some people communicate with each other in Yunnan dialect. It seems strange and informal to announce with dialect. And in some areas that dialect is popularly used, the communication with Mandarin is also seems strange.
We should know that the purpose of promoting Mandarin is not to exterminate the dialects. Both of them should be used in a harmonious environment. Many westerners who learn Chinese language in China may know that there are many people can speak several languages in Europe. We should learn from them. In some ethnic areas, it is necessary to train people to master two or more languages.
Mr. Gao thinks that the relationship between the Mandarin and dialects is just like the road. The Mandarin is the expressway at present while dialects are the bridges of the ancient times. Teachers in Chinese language school will tell you that it is informal for the mainstream media to use the popular words in the network, but when used in the daily conversations, it will bring much pleasure.
The orderly, diverse and harmonious language life includes four pairs of concepts, namely the Mandarin and dialects, Chinese language and languages of ethnic groups, Chinese language and foreign languages as well as Chinese language teaching and international Chinese language communication. Those who learn Mandarin should know that the four pairs of concepts are uniformed and should be ruled by a unified national strategy.
The students who have great interest in Chinese language may wonder how to measure the harmonious language life. Mr. Gao said that the overall plan and professional persons are needed. Therefore, we should train many professional teachers to teach Mandarin language. These teachers should know clearly about the accurate boundary of the spoken language and written language. Of course, they should know about some relevant laws and regulations. Some problems in communication may be caused by the wrong tone or something else. Therefore, the teachers should take this responsibility to correct and evaluate.
Chinese language has a very strong vitality. Many ancient languages in the world have disappeared but Chinese language remains and continues to develop. This is the result of changing our applying rules and promoting new words. Here are some examples for learners who go to school to study Mandarin to know clearly about the flexibility of Chinese language. When the weather is cold, we say “很冷”, when we are happy, we can say “很开心”. When the character “很” used so frequently, some other words like “爆冷”, “巨开心” and “超难过” are created.
It is understandable that many people worry about the harm of the popular network words. But it is them that make the Chinese language become lively and dynamic.