Chinese scientists have developed a computer program to test how well people speak Mandarin Chinese.
The technology will help improve oral testing of Chinese and promote Mandarin Chinese both at home and abroad, said Fu Yong, former deputy director of the State Language Work Committee.
The technology was jointly developed by the Acoustics Institute and the Software Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Lab experiments show that more than 98 percent of the results given by the computer evaluation system were as same as the results given by linguists, said Ju Qi, deputy director of the Acoustics Institute.
The system will be introduced to Mandarin Chinese examinations in Hong Kong’s middle schools and universities.
source: China resorts to computer to test Mandarin Chinese, People’s Daily, via Xinhua, May 23, 2007
Hah, they should test Beijingers first.
LOL! It would be interesting to know just how much leeway is put into this. At any rate, I think it’s highly likely that the figure of 98 percent is a considerable exaggeration.