China's language challenge

Chinese graduates, Reuters
Keterangan gambar, Mandarin is used in Chinese schools and universities.

China's Ministry of Education has said that more than 400 million Chinese are unable to speak the national language - Mandarin.

The admission from officials came as the government started another push to unite China in terms of language.

Reporter

Martin Patience

Report

<link type="page"><caption> Listen to the report</caption><url href="http://http-ws.bbc.co.uk.edgesuite.net/mp3/learningenglish/2013/09/witn_130906_mandarin_report_130906_witn_mandarin_report_au_bb.mp3" platform="highweb"/></link>

It's one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. But a third of China's population are unable to speak Mandarin. And according to officials, many of those who speak the language do so badly.

China is home to thousands of dialects and several minority languages. In the southern province of Guangdong, Cantonese is widely spoken. For decades, the ruling Communist party has promoted Mandarin in an attempt to unite the most populous nation on earth.

But government efforts have been hampered by the sheer size of the country and a lack of investment in education, particularly in rural areas. And despite the benefits of having a billion plus people speaking the same tongue the government's policies have long been contentious - particularly among the country's ethnic minorities.

Lewatkan Paling banyak dibaca dan terus membaca
Paling banyak dibaca

Akhir dari Paling banyak dibaca

In 2010 they were protests in Tibet over the use of Mandarin in schools.

Vocabulary

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widely spoken: dipakai untuk berkomunikasi secara luas

dialects: dialek, bahasa daerah

minority languages: bahasa-bahasa yang dipakai oleh kelompok minoritas

populous nation: negara dengan penduduk yang sangat banyak

hampered: terhambat

the sheer size: ukuran saja; kata sheer dipakai untuk menekankan pentingnya kata benda yang mengikuti

a billion plus: lebih dari satu miliar

tongue: bahasa

contentious: menyebabkan perselisihan