Hong Kong Connection鏗鏘集—Cantonese (2014-03-23)
Teaching Chinese
language in Putonghua is still a
controversial issue. Some people concerns this kind of teaching method may
affect the use of Cantonese, and even cause another main problem—Putonghua may replace
Cantonese, which can be a language no one uses in the future. In the video, it
shows that some people, who share the same worries mentioned above, are strongly
opposed to the scheme since it threatens the place of Cantonese. As a carriage
of culture, Cantonese is invaluable since disappearance of culture may follow
with that of the language. But does this teaching scheme really pose a threat
to this treasurable language? Does the government advocate this scheme solely
for the sake of students? Or does this scheme reflect that Putonghua is
superior to Cantonese?
In a BBC news article, it mentions a controversy in
an article posted by Hong Kong Education Bureau. It tells that Cantonese is not
an official language but a dialect and is only used in domestic communication. Through
this article, it is understandable that maybe the government has already took its
stance. We, who regard Cantonese as our first language, may in one day deny our
social identity and culture and have a feeling of inferiority if the government
advocates that Putonghua is a ‘high-class’ language that we should learn it, instead of Cantonese, from the start. In my opinion, every
language should be respected, whatever kinds of languages they are, including
official ones and dialects, because they are all a carriage of culture and
history.
If the scheme is imposed for students’ sake, I
think its target should not be kindergarten students but it can be secondary
school students. Despite their ability to learn more languages, kindergarten
students are too young to learn Putonghua when they do not even understand
Cantonese thoroughly. Since school time is still quite long, their use of
Putonghua may be more than that of Cantonese, which diminish their ability of
using Cantonese.
Do you have any ideas about the video or the
scheme?
Thanks for Sabrina's sharing. I do not think that using Putonghua as a language to teach Chinese will pose a threat to the status of Cantonese. Using Putonghua is better for us to write "written Chinese" when we are writing.
ReplyDeleteBut I also think that Cantonese should not be abandoned because it is our cultural value that we need to preserve. I think the most suitable method is to remain unchanged, that is, to teach Putonghua in the Putonghua lesson and use Cantonese in the Chinese lesson.
By Darren
I think Cantonese should still be the teaching medium for students, since Cantonese is our mother tongue, it is for the sake of respecting our local language. That does not mean Putonghua is not important, I strongly recommend learning putonghua, just not to allow to take over the role of Cantonese in Hong Kong By minnie
ReplyDelete