Happy 100th birthday, Zhou Youguang!

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Zhou Youguang is one of the main people behind the development of Hanyu Pinyin.

周有光　今天100岁(组图)
2005年01月14日04:00 人民网-人民日报
周有光　今天100岁(组图)
周有光和陪伴了他十多年的“小电脑”。

　　本报记者　施芳摄

　　本报记者　施芳

　　1月13日，属蛇的周有光整整100岁了。

　　11日下午，我如约叩开北京后拐棒胡同一处朴素的寓所时，先生正安静地坐在 一张老式的、略显斑驳的书桌前，脸上露出如孩童般明净的笑容。

　　“我身体还好，就是耳背，你说话的时候大点声，说慢点。”先生一边说一边戴 上了助听器。

　　我们的谈话就这样开始了，我几乎是趴在他耳朵上说的，然而交流并不困难， 他思路敏捷，每每说出一些颇有见地的话，让我这个年轻人自叹弗如。

　　50岁，从经济学到语言学

　　谈话从先生改行说起。1955年10月，时任复旦大学经济学教授的周有光到北京 参加全国文字会议，为期一个月的会议结束后，组织上通知他到中国文字改革委员 会工作。

　　这真是一件出乎意料的事，他连连说：“我业余搞文字研究，是外行。”委员会 主任吴玉章回答说“这是一项新的工作，大家都是外行。”消息传出，朋友们纷纷相 劝：“经济学多重要啊，语言学可是小儿科。”“哪里需要哪里去”———凭着一份朴素 的热情，在50岁的时候，周有光乐呵呵地扔下经济学，半路出家一头扎进语言学中。

　　从此中国少了一位经济学家，多了一位著作等身的语言学家。在美国国会图书 馆里，如今既藏有经济学家周有光的著作，又有作为语言文字学家周有光的著作。

　　说来难以置信，身为语言文字学家，周有光却没有接受过一天专业教育。他在 读大学时，上海正兴起拉丁化新文字运动。周有光觉得好玩，就写了一篇题为《关 于语法问题》的文章，投给《语文》杂志，没想到不久后就刊登出来了。此后他便孜 孜不倦地致力于汉语拼音化的研究，成为享誉中外的语言学家。

　　83岁，“换笔”用电脑

　　书桌旁，摆放着用花布包裹着的一样东西。先生指着说：“喏，写文章全靠它 了。”小心地打开包裹，里面是一台陈旧的WL—1000C中西文文字处理机。那是1988 年4月，先生83岁时日本夏普公司送来的礼物。从此，先生便用它写文章、写信。

　　高龄“换笔”之后，先生开始关注汉字在计算机中的输入输出问题。在他看来， 汉语拼音输入法，不用编码，就可以输出汉字，值得大力推广。“改进电脑输入方 法，效率可以提高5倍，这是件大事。”

　　98岁，倡导“基础华文”运动

　　周老的重孙周安迪在美国读小学六年级，会说汉语，却几乎不会书写。于是， 在98岁高龄的时候，先生倡导发起了“基础华文”运动。在《提倡“基础华文”缘起》一 文中，先生言辞切切地写道：全世界华侨估计有5000万以上，能否使华文简易一 些，方便他们用较少的时间，得到较多的华夏文化享受？可以设计一种简易的华 文，作为进入华夏文化宝库的第一个台阶。

　　“开阔的世界眼光和深邃的历史眼光”———这是后学者对先生的评价。当世界各 地出现了“汉语热”时，一些人推断21世纪将是汉语的世纪，先生保持了相当的冷 静：“汉语的国际地位，应当作恰如其分的正确估计。汉语的国际性最弱，这是很 多中国人不愿意承认的，但是，不承认并不能改变事实。要想改变事实，只有改变 汉语本身，提高汉语的规范化水平。”

　　临走时，先生拿了与他相濡以沫70年、于2002年先他而去的老伴张允和的遗作 《最后的闺秀》送给我。那天是1月11日，离先生的百岁生日还有两天。

　　周有光，著名语言文字学家。1923年—1927年就读于上海圣约翰大学和光华大 学，解放前曾任上海复旦大学经济研究所教授，从事金融研究。他同时对语言学产 生兴趣，利用业余时间潜心研究汉语拼音，1952年出版了《中国拼音文字研究》。 1955年到北京中国文字改革委员会参加拟定拼音方案，该方案1958年正式公布。出 版《汉字改革概论》、《比较文字学初探》等20多种书籍。

‘Net influences writing in Chinese

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Related sorts of Internet-influenced mixed scripts, abbreviations, and loan words are also popular in Taiwan and China among the young.

“よøぎㅎビλĦㅎコ_¤ 읍ㅎF_しち흐ロっㅉヴ”_≥∇≤☆”

This is one of the commonly used words of teenagers on the Internet. It means: “Hello. You are so cool.”

The language used on the Internet is passing over the danger level for breaking down Hangeul, the Korean alphabet.

Up until recently, it was just writing down the words as they were heard or shortening words, like “ban-ga-wo” (meaning ‘glad to see you’ in Korean) to “bang-ga” or “yeo-ja-chin-gu” (meaning “girlfriend” in Korean) to “yeo-chin.” However, lately, it has gotten to the point where words that the general public cannot understand at all are being used.

The language for these words used by some netizens for communication, mixing special characters, Japanese, Chinese characters and Korean, are called “alien words.”

The meaning of alien words such as “㉯㉯납별뉨ⓔ는ⓔ렇퀘글쓰능高☆로㉯뽀게생각안훼 (I, Byeol-nim, do not think using words this way is that bad)”, can be guessed when looking closely, but some seem like codes, such as “읍ㅎ℉를_ㅁ|てつ효_∩∇∩★ (I believe in you)”.

These alien words are becoming popular among some teenage netizens who want to share secrets of their own. They even make community clubs on the Internet and talk with each other in alien words.

However, these alien words are not in the Korean spelling system, and so netizens using this language sometimes misunderstand each other. Accordingly, a translation program for alien words has appeared. It translates Korean words into alien words.

The problem here is that this language used by teenagers on the Internet is continuing into use in everyday life, becoming a serious threat to breaking down the Korean language.

In fact, teachers are pointing out that many students are writing “추카” instead of “축하” and “겜” instead of “게임” during writing classes. (Words are written by the way they sound or by shortening the original word.)

Accordingly, the Education and Human Resources Development Ministry (MOE) has published a teachers’ guide to refine the Korean language and effectively teach students the manners in language for everyday life to be distributed throughout schools on Monday, January 10.

This teachers guide, titled: “Refining Internet Language, Manners for Language in Everyday Life,” was written by the MOE, the National Academy of the Korean Language, the Information Communication Ethics Committee, the Korean Education and Research Information Service and the Teachers’ Clean Media Movement, and will be used during classes starting this semester.

left to right, not top to bottom

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The Chinese characters in government documents in Taiwan are now to be written from left to right rather than from top to bottom, as was often seen before. The move is not a surprise but was announced months ago.

I find it interesting that the premier is willing to state the truth so directly: The reason the government didn’t change earlier was because of reactionary obstructionism based on the fact that China was already using the left-to-right format. If only the government would be so direct about its decision to adopt Tongyong Pinyin. The let’s-not-use-what-China-uses system is much more of an impediment to internationalization than Chinese documents being written top to bottom.

Premier Yu Shyi-kun said on Monday that the government’s decision to reform the format of official documents is aimed at facilitating globalization, not at de-sinicization. Yu made the remarks while presiding over a ceremony marking the launch of a new style of official documents and government gazettes. From now on, Yu said, text in official documents will run from left to right horizontally instead of the traditional style in which the Chinese characters run from right to left and from top to bottom. He noted that the new format complies with the general world trend and said the move has nothing to do with de-sinicization. Whether official documents should adopt the horizontal style caused heated debate more than three decades ago. At that time, Yu said, the then-Kuomintang administration decided to stick to the traditional vertical right-to-left style mainly because mainland China had adopted the horizontal left-to-right text style. Nowadays, Yu went on, such an argument is no longer justifiable. In the face of ever-growing global competition, he said, the government has to implement various reform programs to upgrade operational efficiency and overall national competitiveness. Starting this year, all government notices have also been integrated and posted on the Internet for local citizens to collect first-hand information about government policies regardless of whether they are at home or abroad

No to pre-school Pinyin?

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哈市教育行政部门幼儿教育相关负责人在接受采访时表示，杜绝幼儿园“小学化”必须禁止幼儿园教授小学课程，年底之前取消学前班，幼儿园不允许教孩子拼音、识字和百以内加减法。幼儿园应主要培养幼儿良好的学习习惯和语言表达能力及想像力。

How do you say…?

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From Xinhua

大柵欄的4個公交站牌的拼音都為“DAZHALAN”，這讓許多路人納悶：不是讀“DASHILAN”嗎？

昨天，家住大柵欄、年逾七旬的張大爺說：“我讀了一輩子‘DASHILAN’，從來沒人說我讀錯，是不是站牌寫錯了？”

北京市公交總公司運營部的李女士表示，站牌的拼音是按正確的中文拼音來標注的。

到底哪個讀音是對的？北京師范大學中文系研究現代漢語的週一民教授認為：大柵欄的讀音屬於地名的特殊讀音，歷史悠久的“DASHILAN”讀法屬於保留古音。雖然目前國家還沒有專門的地名名詞規範，但播音教材中都專門談到應讀為“DASHILAN”。從保留民俗民情的角度來說，他更傾向於讀為“DASHILAN”。

some Xinhua blah-blah-blah on Chinese characters in Korea

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There’s some useful information here scattered among the propaganda and party line. It’s also good to know what the other side is thinking.

韩国： 汉字命运新挑战
( 尽管韩国一直尝试用韩文取代汉文。但由于和中国日益密切的联系以及韩文本身的缺陷，汉字在韩国的影响将越来越大。)

预计最早从明年开始，韩国国内法律文本中很难看懂的汉字标记方式将全部被韩文取汽车生活方式大比拼特别关注银屑病鱼鳞病专治各种血管瘤！ 免费与美女视频聊天代。

据《朝鲜日报》报道，韩国政府于12月21日在政府中央大厦召开由李海瓒总理主持的国务会议，会议决定“有关将法律韩文化的特别措施法案”。该法案的主要内容为，将现行759项法律文本中混用的汉字标记方式全部以韩文取代。

汉字为韩国所长期借用，但随着历史进程的演变，汉字在韩国的命运有所不同。概而言之，汉字先是备受推崇，之后又被弃而不用。伴随着这一过程，汉字在韩国的命运也经历了诸多变迁。

韩国汉字盛行

一下汉城的仁川机场，扑面而来的便是标识牌上的汉字，和到西方国家全是外文截然不同。2003年7月，我们一群中国访问者在汉城并没有太多身在异乡的感觉，同行的小梁乘地铁到汉城著名的南大门购物，竟然一点也没有问路——地铁站都有中文标识。

同属汉文化圈，汉字对韩国的影响今天还依稀可见，且有扩大之势。10月29日至11月12日，14名韩国书法家携带自己的作品来到北京进行展览，虽然以韩国文字写成，但也与中国书法相通，有类似隶书的版本体，有类似行书的宫体正字，也有类似草书的真草体。

书法、绘画、艺术等和文字难以截然分开。目前，韩国60%以上的词汇是汉字的发音或者汉字的意思，好多概念也是从汉语传过去，离开汉字，有些意思真的难以表达。

韩国的表音字由10个元音和14个子音组成。其优点是简单易学。即使外国人，只要掌握了拼写组合方法，也能正确诵读。不过，能够诵读是一回事，能否理解其中的意思却是另外的事。全部使用拼音文字的朝鲜表音字存在严重“盲点”。

仅以韩国的姓氏为例。郑和丁，姜和康，柳和俞，林和任等均同音。另外，单词中也存在不少同音异字。例如，故事、古寺、考查、古辞、告辞、枯死等22个单词同音；诈欺、士气、死期、社旗同音；电机，转机，前期，战记同音；输入、收入同音……报纸上也经常遇到，因使用表音字母令读者对其表达意思感到头疼，需要像猜谜一样猜想。

正因为如此，韩国政府决定，在法律文件中用韩文取代汉字后，如果存在难以正确表达原意或可以被解释为多种意思的术语，便在该词后面打上括号注明汉字。

韩国驻华使馆一位官员在和笔者聊天时说：“汉字在韩国的具体情况要问韩国的教育部门，但我们很重视汉字的教育。”

汉字兴衰和韩国民族主义情绪

就在“汉风”在韩国劲吹之际，韩国为什么取消法律文本中的汉字标记？按照《朝鲜日报》的报道，表面原因是韩国政府考虑到在学校没有学汉字的人群逐渐增加，为了解决上述人群在了解法律的过程中面临的难题而推进了该法案。但实际上，原因没有这么简单。《当代韩国》编辑部的资深编辑郑成宏女士认为，这说明韩国民族主义抬头。她介绍说，金大中总统执政时期，韩国在公务文件、交通标志等领域，恢复使用已经消失多年的汉字和汉字标志，并在中小学推行“1800个常用汉字必修教育”。

但现在由于中韩关系因为历史问题出现了一点摩擦，韩国主张均衡战略的一派抬头。郑成宏认为，民族主义可能是这次从法律文本中取消中文标记的原因之一。

其实，关于是否保留汉字、保留多少汉字的争端一直在进行中。有些机构主张保留汉字，有些机构主张不要汉字，有些主张增加或者减少汉字。

在韩国，既有170多个社会团体联合组成全国汉字教育推广总联合会，又有以韩国表音字学会为中心的表音字专用实践促进会。前者1998年提出“从小学接受汉字教育，摆脱文化危机”的口号，而后者为维护表音字专用法，曾经开展过轰轰烈烈的1000万人大签名活动。双方围绕着是否恢复使用汉字问题的争论不仅是理论之争，甚至扩展升华至民族感情层次。

韩国法律规定，以表音字为专用文字。1948年独立之后，为了弘扬民族精神，政府制定了朝鲜拼音文字专用法，规定公文只能用表音字书写。但是鉴于历史的缘故，暂时允许兼用汉字。从1970年起，韩国小学、中学教科书中的汉字被取消，完全使用朝鲜表音字。在其后的30年当中，小学完全取消了汉字，初中高中仅向学生教授1800个汉字。这一原因造成韩国20～40岁的人几乎完全不懂汉字。他们被称为“表音字的一代”。

带给这代人的后果，是古典文化修养欠缺，与传统脱离，完全脱离了东亚文化圈，深陷孤立与凄楚之中。韩国青年一代连汉字读法都不清楚，书写汉字就更困难了。很多人用汉字写不出自己的名字，父母的名字也写不出，走出学校进入社会之后还要自学汉字。

但是，社会必须面对汉字的存在，因而韩国面向成人的汉字函授机构遍布各地。随着“中国热”的兴起，到中国学汉语更是成了一股热潮。

Using Putonghua

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Mandarin’s status as China’s standard language has been further enhanced as nearly 53 percent of the 1.3 billion Chinese in the country can communicate with others via Mandarin, said a national survey released here Sunday.

That’s just about half, which is a long way from what has been the standard line: that just about everyone in China — barring a few old folk living in isolation on the tops of mountains — can speak Mandarin. I’m glad Beijing is finally allowing a bit more honesty about this, though of course the much more limited claim is still being touted as an advancement (“further enhanced”).

The survey shows there are huge gaps in the number of Mandarin-speaking people if different resident localities, age groups, and educational background are taken into account.

Two thirds of the citizens in China’s cities and towns speak Mandarin, 21 percent higher than that in the rural areas.

The proportion of Mandarin-speakers decreases as the age group rises, with more than two thirds of people aged between 15 and 29 and less than one third of those aged between 60 and 69 can speak the standard language.

The spread of education also helped to break down linguistic barriers, the survey said.

Only ten percent of the Chinese who have never gone to school speak Mandarin, while the proportion rockets to nearly 87 percent as for those with at least two-year college education.

This is strange. One would think that native speakers of Mandarin — even decades ago — would comprise more than 10 percent of the population. Was education really so much better in the north?

Mandarin, known in China as “putonghua” or “common tongue”, has been promoted as the standard pronunciation of Chinese language for more than fifty years.

More of the usual nonsense, stemming from the notion that the written form is the “real” language.

I can’t help but think of Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau getting a puzzled look in response to his request for a “rhoom.”

The survey also shows 86 percent of the population can speak regional Chinese dialects, and nearly 5 percent use the languages of China’s 55 ethnic minority groups to communicate.

Use of dialects is most common in China’s families, while in offices, people tend to communicate in Mandarin more frequently, said Tong Lequan, official with the Institute of Applied Linguistics, when referring to the survey.

Half of the respondents attributed lack of opportunity to speakas the most tricky problem when learning Mandarin, while 43 percent said getting rid of their regional accents is the most difficult.

The standard line of calling everything a “dialect” makes it really hard to tell just what is being talked about here: language, a real dialect, or a regional accent within a dialect.

Note that with Pinyin, there are fewer pronunciation problems because Pinyin, unlike characters, makes the standard pronunciation clear.

Launched in the autumn of 1998, the survey is sponsored by the State Language Commission of China, and was the first national survey on language use since the founding of the New China in 1949,said Yang Guang, director with the language usage administration bureau under China’s Ministry of Education.

The survey covered more than 160,000 households and 470,000 people in China’s 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

Here’s a different version of the same story:

中国语言文字使用调查 能用普通话人口比例53％
http://www.sina.com.cn 2004年12月26日17:20 中国广播网

　　中广网北京12月26日消息（记者李仁主）教育部和国家语言文字工作委员会今天发布的“中国语言文字使用情况调查”结果显示：目前我国能用普通话进行交际的人口比例约为53％，能用汉语方言进行交际的人口比例约为86％，能用少数民族语言进行交际的人口比例约为5％。能用普通话进行交际的人口比例在城乡之间存在一定差距。城镇的普通话比例约为66％，高出乡村21个百分点。这一结果体现了我国50多年推广普通话的巨大成就。

汽车生活方式大比拼 新浪UC诚聘 虚位以待
新兴妈妈回娘家视频 卡通新车 新地图

　　据了解：中国语言文字使用情况调查项目经国务院批准于1998年启动，1999—2000年各地语委相继展开调查，至2001年地方调查基本结束。在“五普”人口普查数据的基础上，中国语言文字使用情况调查办公室对数据进行汇总处理。

　　调查发现，在15-69周岁人群中，年龄越低，能用普通话交际的比例越高；受教育程度越高，能用普通话交际的比例也越高。60-69岁年龄段人群能用普通话交际的比例约为31％，而15-29岁年龄段的比例高达70％。另外，在我国不同性别能用普通话交际的比例比较相近，女性稍低于男性。“普通话与方言并存分用”、“在公务场合使用普通话”是我国目前语言使用的主要格局。普通话作为通用语言场合越正式，使用比例越高。在家庭中最常使用普通话的比例约为18％，而在单位最常使用普通话的比例约为42％。

　　调查还显示：全国95％以上的人平时书写时使用规范字，会汉语拼音的人口比例达到了 68％。“中国语言文字使用情况调查”范围涉及除港澳台外的全国31个省、区、市以及新疆生产建设兵团，调查样本量达16万多户，47万多人。如此大规模的语言调查在我国还是第一次，调查结果将对国家语言文字工作部门和其他相关部门具有重要参考价值。