Using 'E-mail' Concerns Chinese Purification & National Dignity?

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 02, 2003

Using 'E-mail' Concerns Chinese Purification & National Dignity?

Boosted by the recent ban on using the word of "E-mail" in France, some people who cherish a special love for the Chinese language called on the Chinese to "resist the spread of 'pidgin English' in official activities, publications, mass media and other occasions.

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The French Ministry of Culture and Communications recently put a ban on using the word "E-mail" in all government departments, documents, publications and Internet. This act has greatly boosted the morale of those who cherish a special love for the Chinese language. When writing articles they "pay heartfelt tribute to the aforesaid ministry", telling the Chinese people that "the national language is the symbol of the state sovereignty, national dignity and culture". They thereby called on the Chinese to "resist the spread of ��pidgin English'-the cultural embodiment of leased territory-in official activities, publications, mass media and on other occasions.

It is really necessary to advocate keeping the purification of the Chinese language and characters in order to carry forward and develop our national culture. To this end, the State has enacted related laws. However, it is rather hypersensitive and fussy to exclaim that the Chinese characters are impure and the national dignity has been lost simply because of the use of a word "E-mail" or the appearance of several English words or expressions in Chinese publications and in other means of communications.

As a matter of fact, language is but a tool of expression and means of communication in most cases. Sometimes, the popularity of a language in a country reflects the strength of the nation, but the use of a language has its specific and customary convention. To promote or safeguard it in a compulsory way often leads it astray. Take France for instance, since the English grammar is less rigorous than the French, which gives full room to freely coin "much simpler compound words or phrases", the French people like to clutter up a number of "pidgin English" in speech and working papers. The French government gave the order in 1994 that those who were using the "mixed English-French language" in advertisement should be sent into prison. However, the order failed to control the deluge of the aforementioned language at all. The ban on the use of "E-mail" this time seems to provide a basis for the forced purification of the Chinese language. Beyond the expectation of the French government, part of French businessmen considered this move rather "ridiculous", holding that the word "E-mail" has already become universally acknowledged and is no longer the one used exclusively by Americans. Such a difference between the French public and government in attitude toward the ban casts a shadow on the effect of the compulsory prohibition or promotion of a language.

According to statistics, about one-fourth of the world's population can speak fairly good English. Moreover, English has always been the phraseology in international trade and business transactions. This trend is even sped up due to the rise of the Internet, as the fact shows that nowadays 80 percent of the Internet information is provided in English. Though the author is not for such remarks as "the command degree of English indicates the overall national strength" and considers it rather deprecatory yet under the present circumstances when China is rushing onto the world arena the mastering of some foreign languages (English in particular) is beyond doubt of great importance. This does not by all means mean that the Chinese language is no longer pure if the Chinese people learn English and use such a word as "E-mail", let alone to say leading to the loss of national dignity. Moreover, to grasp a good foreign language one of the knacks lies in fighting shy of making no mistakes and speaking boldly. To conclude, the practice of mixing several English words in Chinese or speaking "pidgin English" forms the "flooding cultural embodiment of leased territory" is actually putting an overwhelming label on these people.

By PD Online Staff Zhu Lizhen

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