Shanghainese told to mind their language for Expo

Many people may not realize that the Chinese speak different dialects/languages, depending on which region of China they happen to come from. The official language, Mandarin, is taught in schools, but in places like Shanghai, people do not use it as much, and when they do, they speak it with a thick accent. So now the Chinese government is requiring that the Shanghainese brush up on their Mandarin before the 2010 Expo to avoid confusing any foreigners attending the Expo.

After all, what will happen to us foreigners if we go to China only to find that the people there are not speaking the Chinese we’ve spent months and hundreds of dollars learning in our foreign-language classes? By golly, those Chinese had better learn to speak their language!

post edited October 14, 2005 at 1:14 pm