Re: Half of all Chinese people can't speak Mandarin!

Tak To wrote:
> Tak To wrote:
> > See the original Chinese version in, for example,
> > http://www.chinanews.com.hk/cgi-bin/shownews.pl?filename=1226003.cns&date=20041226&type=
> >
> > It says that 53% can use Putonghua "for social interaction"
> > (<jiao1 ji4> 交際). Presumably more people know PTH, but not
> > as fluently. Also, 86% use a Sinitic (Han) language for
> > social interaction.
>
> Correction: It should be: 86% _can_ use a Sinitic language
> for social interaction. My bad.

Still not good.

See: http://gb.chinabroadcast.cn/3601/2004/12/29/342@xxxxxxxxxx

That is, the 86% is people that can converse in a Han-Chinese dialect
other than standard Mandarin (Putonghua). My emphasis is on "other
than". In other words, the "standard Mandarin" or "Putonghua" is NOT
considered a dialect. Notice this:

(a) Dialect-able speakers = 86%
(b) Minority-language-able speakers = 5%

That adds up to about 92% (Not 91%. See original figures from China's
Ministry of Education website, which has figures to two decimal
places.) So, the question is: what's the missing 8% ?

According to this last article, that 8% corresponds to people that
CANNOT speak dialects nor minority languages. That is, 8% of the
population are "Standard-Mandarin-only" speakers. (Of course, here we
will have to assume that all mute people, foreign-language-only people,
non-speaking-age infants were all excluded from the study. Which makes
sense.) As for your percentage of Sinitic language users, it's 86% + 8%
= 94%.

The study was carried out in 5 years. Surveys were carried out in 3 of
those 5 years, using local surveyors going to sampled households. Local
surveyors were trained and guidelines were given. So, the question "can
you communicate in Putonghua" is filtered twice: (a) by the surveyed
person, (b) by the surveyor. Chances of error/misunderstanding are
pretty slim. It was a gigantic project and was done seriously.

Give them some credit. Better look for sources of "errors",
"surprises", "ridiculous" in yourselves.

Also, as the Ministry of Education puts it, it's a "great achievement"
to have now 53% Putonghua speakers. Given modern China's tumultuous
history, one can but only agree.

-- Ekki

.