Language Questions and Answers

1. In which year was Mandarin written into the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China"?

Answer: In 1982, the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China": "The state promotes Mandarin that is commonly used throughout the country."

2. In what year was the Law on the Common Spoken and Written Chinese Language promulgated and implemented?

Answer: It was promulgated on October 31, 2000 and implemented on January 1, 2001.

3. What does the National Standard Spoken and Written Language Law stipulate that the state promotes and promotes?

Answer: Promote Mandarin and standardize Chinese characters.

4. What is the country’s common spoken and written language?

Answer: Mandarin and standardized Chinese characters.

5. The "Law of the National Standard Spoken and Written Language" stipulates that under what circumstances should the national standard spoken and written language be used as the basic terminology and characters?

Answer: ①Words used in radio, movies, and television;

②Words used in facilities in public places;

③Words used in signboards and advertisements ;

④The name of the enterprise or institution;

⑤The packaging and description of the goods sold within the country.

6. Under what circumstances does the National Standard Spoken and Written Language Law stipulate that traditional Chinese characters and variant characters can be retained or used?

Answer: ①Cultural relics;

②Various characters in surnames;

③Calligraphy, seal cutting and other artistic works;

④Inscriptions and handwritten characters on signboards;

⑤Need to be used in publishing, teaching, and research;

⑥Special circumstances approved by relevant departments of the State Council.

7. What are the basic educational and teaching terms used in schools and other educational institutions?

Answer: It is Mandarin and standard Chinese characters.

8. What is Mandarin?

Answer: Mandarin is the synonym of the modern Han nation with Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation, Northern dialect as the basic dialect, and typical modern vernacular works as the grammatical standard.

9. What are standard Chinese characters?

Answer: Standardized Chinese characters refer to traditional Chinese characters, simplified characters and unsimplified inherited characters that have been organized and simplified and officially announced by the state in the form of a character list.

10. From what year and when will the State Council stipulate the national promotion week of Mandarin?

Answer: Since 1998, the third week of September every year has been the Putonghua Promotion Week.

11. Who is the spokesperson for the National Promotion of Mandarin Publicity Week?

Answer: CCTV host Wang Xiaoya.

12. What is the promotion week this year? What is the theme?

Answer: The theme of the 8th Promotion Week is "Achieving Smooth Communication and Building a Harmonious Society."

13. When did the State Council decide to launch a “Survey on the Use of Chinese Language and Characters”?

Answer: On January 6, 1997, the 134th Prime Minister’s Office Meeting of the State Council decided.

14. What are the spelling and phonetic notation tools used in the national common language?

Answer: Use the "Chinese Pinyin Scheme" as a spelling and phonetic notation tool.

15. What is the policy for promoting Mandarin in the new era?

Answer: "Vigorously promote it, actively popularize it, and gradually improve it."

16. How can Mandarin be popularized?

Answer: After Mandarin became the "campus language", "working language", "propaganda language", "communication language", etc., it was basically popularized.

17. In which positions should Mandarin be the working language?

Answer: Teachers, civil servants, announcers, program hosts, film and television actors.

18. What are the three levels and six levels of the Mandarin proficiency test?

Answer: First grade A, first grade B

Second grade A, second grade B

Three grades A, third grade B

19. What is the goal of the country’s efforts to promote Mandarin?

Answer: Before 2010, Mandarin was initially popularized across the country, and the dialect barrier in communication was basically eliminated. Citizens with secondary education or above had the ability to use Mandarin and consciously used it on necessary occasions. Workers in industries that use Mandarin and are closely related to oral expression must meet corresponding requirements for their Mandarin proficiency. Before the middle of the 21st century, Mandarin was popularized across the country, and there was no dialect barrier in communication. After unremitting efforts in the next 40 to 50 years, our people The language quality will be greatly improved, and the social application of Putonghua will be more suitable for the needs of socialist economic, political, and cultural construction, forming a good language environment suitable for the level of moderately developed countries.

20. How to learn Mandarin?

Answer: ① Learn some pronunciation knowledge;

② Study carefully and imitate deliberately;

③ Work hard to remember the correct pronunciation of some commonly used words;

④Be a thoughtful person anytime and anywhere;

⑤Train repeatedly and practice boldly.

21. What areas are the focus of language standardization?

Answer: The focus of promoting Mandarin lies in schools and relevant social departments. When Mandarin becomes the language of school teaching, the working language of government agencies, the language of propaganda, and the language of social communication, it means that Mandarin has been basically popularized.

The focus of the country’s promotion of standardizing Chinese characters is: characters used in school education and teaching, characters used in government official affairs, characters used in press, publishing, broadcasting, film and television and other media, signs in public places, slogans, advertisements, etc. Use words.

22. Does promoting Mandarin require the artificial elimination of dialects?

Answer: The promotion of Mandarin is not to artificially eliminate dialects. It is mainly to eliminate dialect barriers and facilitate social communication. Promoting Mandarin requires citizens who can speak dialects and also speak Mandarin. Moreover, citizens are not required to speak Mandarin in all occasions, but only in some formal occasions, such as schools, government agencies, service places, etc. In terms of language development, Mandarin and dialects are also in the process of continuous enrichment and integration. Dialects are gradually moving closer to Mandarin in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary, and Mandarin is constantly absorbing vocabulary from dialects to enrich itself. While promoting Mandarin, dialects will also exist in certain fields and specific regions for a long time.

23. What are the phenomena of irregular word usage in society at present? What are the hazards?

Answer: The current phenomenon of irregular word usage in society has the following four manifestations: writing typos, using irregular simplified characters, using eliminated variant characters, and monitoring the use of traditional Chinese characters. The existence of these phenomena has caused great losses and obstacles to economic development, scientific and technological progress, popularization of education, and cultural prosperity. Especially after entering the information age, computer recognition of Chinese characters requires that Chinese characters must be standardized.

24. Mandarin proficiency level requirements for personnel who use Mandarin as their working language.

Answer: Announcers and program hosts of national and provincial radio and television stations should reach Class A. Announcers and program hosts of other radio and television stations should not be lower than Class B. General teachers should not be lower. In terms of Grade II B, Chinese language teachers and teaching Chinese as a foreign language teachers should not be inferior to Grade II A, Mandarin teachers and pronunciation teachers should not be inferior to Grade I B, and national civil servants should not be inferior to Grade III A. The Putonghua proficiency of personnel serving the public is not lower than Level 3A; the Putonghua level of broadcasters in the public service industry is not lower than Level 2A.

25. What is the current basic task of popularizing Mandarin and standardizing Chinese characters in schools?

Answer: First, continue to adhere to the legal status of Mandarin, implement the work policy of “vigorously promote, actively popularize, and gradually improve”, increase administrative efforts, and strive to achieve 3-5 in the early 21st century. Within this year, Mandarin will basically become the teaching language in all types of schools at all levels and the campus language in urban schools, and teachers and students will basically reach the prescribed Mandarin level.

Second, continue to adhere to the legal status of standardizing Chinese characters and the direction of simplifying Chinese characters, and continuously improve the standardization level of words used in education and teaching. It must comply with the standards and requirements promulgated by the state. Software products with irregular wording cannot enter the teaching field. Students must be trained to write standard words.

Third, continue to adhere to the legal status of the "Chinese Pinyin Plan". Primary schools should strengthen and improve the teaching of Chinese Pinyin, expand the scope of use of Chinese Pinyin, and enable students to master Chinese Pinyin proficiently from an early age.

Fourth, strive to play the role of the main channel of Chinese teaching and improve students’ awareness and application ability of language standards. The compulsory education stage must complete the task of students speaking Mandarin well and using standardized words well. The non-compulsory education stage must continue to consolidate and improve. Schools at all levels and types must focus on improving the language and writing quality of teachers and students.

26. What are the main norms and standards for Chinese characters?

Answer: The "First Batch Variant Character Collection List" released in 1955.

The "Chinese Character Simplification Plan" announced by the State Council in January 1956.

The "Chinese Pinyin Alphabet Spelling Method" revised by the Chinese Character Reform Committee in September 1976.

In July 1977, the Chinese Character Reform Commission and the National Bureau of Standards and Measures jointly issued the "Unified Word List for the Names of Some Measurement Units".

The "Unified Radical List of Chinese Characters" released by the Chinese Character Reform Commission and the National Publishing Bureau in 1983.

The "General List of Simplified Chinese Characters" issued by the State Language Commission in October 1986.

In March 1987, the State Language Commission, the China Geographical Names Committee, the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Transport, the State Oceanic Administration, and the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping jointly issued the "Several Provisions on the Use of Words in Place Names".

The "List of Commonly Used Modern Chinese Characters" released in January 1988.

The "Modern Chinese Common Character List" released by the State Language Commission and the Press and Publication Administration in March 1988.

In July 1988, the National Education Commission and the State Language Commission issued the "Basic Rules for Chinese Pinyin Orthography".

The "Usage of Punctuation Marks" was revised and released by the State Language Commission and the State Press and Publication Administration in March 1990.

In addition, there are nearly 20 national standards issued by the State Administration of Technical Supervision.

27. What does it mean to standardize Chinese characters as official characters?

Answer: The use of standardized Chinese characters as official characters means that all official documents, seals, signs, signs, official business cards, etc. of the country should use standardized Chinese characters in accordance with the law.

28. What industries do the "public service industries" referred to in the "National Standard Spoken and Written Language Law" mainly refer to?

Answer: Mainly refers to: commerce, post and telecommunications, culture, railways, transportation, civil aviation, tourism, banking, insurance, hospitals and other industries. Employees in the public service industry should use standardized Chinese characters as service words at work and advocate the use of Mandarin as service terms. Leading cadres at all levels should take the lead in implementation.

29. Within what scope should the public service industry have to use standardized Chinese characters?

Answer: Official documents, official seals, name tags, bills, reports, signs, signs, instructions, electronic screens, advertisements, promotional materials, and signs of public facilities and facilities in the public service industry Brands and names of enterprises and institutions must use standardized Chinese characters. If it is necessary to add Chinese Pinyin, it should be written below the standard Chinese characters. The spelling of Hanyu Pinyin must comply with the provisions of the "Basic Rules of Chinese Pinyin Orthography".

30. What are the public facilities mentioned in the "National Standard Spoken and Written Language Law"?

Answer: Public facilities include: place name signs such as mountains, rivers, and rivers, administrative division name signs, residential area names and road names, street names, station names, building name signs, and scenic spots and historic sites. , commemorative places, tourist destination signs and names of enterprises and institutions.

31. Should the state abolish or eliminate traditional Chinese characters and variant characters when promoting standardized Chinese characters?

Answer: The standardization of Chinese characters is a gradual process. The state's push to standardize Chinese characters does not mean to abolish or eliminate traditional Chinese characters and variant characters, nor does it require that traditional Chinese characters and variant characters cannot be used in all situations, but to limit the use of traditional Chinese characters and variant characters within a certain range. This is my country's consistent policy for the use of traditional and simplified characters.

32. What are the current laws in my country that regulate the use of language and characters?

Answer: In the "Trademark Law", "Advertising Law", "Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law", "Minor Crime Prevention Law", "Minor Protection Law" and other laws, trademark advertising is prohibited. , product names, store notices, radio, film and television, publications, computer network terminology content issues have been made more detailed and specific provisions.

33. What are the main legal basis for promoting Mandarin and standardizing Chinese characters?

Answer: Article 19 of the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China" stipulates: The state promotes Mandarin that is commonly used throughout the country.

Article 37, paragraph 3, of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy" stipulates: Schools that mainly recruit minority students should use textbooks in minority languages ??if conditions permit. Classes are also taught in minority languages; Chinese courses are set up in upper grades of primary schools or middle schools to promote Mandarin, which is commonly used across the country.

Article 49 of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy" stipulates: The autonomous organs of ethnic autonomous areas educate and encourage cadres of all ethnic groups to learn each other's spoken and written languages. Han cadres must learn the spoken and written languages ??of local ethnic minorities. While cadres of ethnic minority groups learn and use the spoken and written languages ??of their own ethnic groups, they must also learn Mandarin and Chinese that are commonly used throughout the country.

Article 12 of the "Education Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates: Chinese language and writing are the basic teaching language and writing in schools and other educational institutions. Schools and other educational institutions with mainly ethnic minority students may use the spoken and written languages ??commonly used by their own ethnic group or local ethnic groups for teaching.

Article 6 of the "Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates: Schools should promote the use of Mandarin, which is commonly used throughout the country. Schools that mainly recruit students from ethnic minorities can teach in the languages ??commonly used by ethnic minorities.

Article 24 of the "Implementing Rules of the Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates: Schools that implement compulsory education should promote the use of Mandarin, which is commonly used throughout the country, in education, teaching and various activities. Putonghua should be used in education, teaching and various activities in normal schools.

Article 15 of the "Kindergarten Management Regulations" stipulates: Kindergartens should use Mandarin, which is commonly used throughout the country. Kindergarten enrolling mainly ethnic minorities can use the language commonly used by the ethnic minority.

Article 6 of the "Regulations on the Elimination of Illiteracy" stipulates: Teaching to eliminate illiteracy should use Mandarin, which is commonly used throughout the country. In minority areas, the spoken and written language of the ethnic minority can be used for teaching, or the spoken and written language commonly used by all local ethnic groups can be used for teaching.

Article 8 of the "Enterprise Name Registration and Management System" stipulates that enterprise names should use Chinese characters, and enterprise names in ethnic autonomous areas can also use ethnic characters commonly used in ethnic autonomous areas.

Article 3 of the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Resident Identity Cards" stipulates: The registration items for resident identity cards include name, gender, ethnicity, date of birth, and address. Registration items for resident ID cards should be filled in in characters commonly used across the country. The self-government organs of ethnic autonomous areas may decide to use their own ethnic scripts at the same time or select a common ethnic script that is commonly used in the local area based on the actual conditions of the region.

Article 36 of the "Radio and Television Administration Regulations of the People's Republic of China" stipulates: Radio stations and television stations should use standardized language. Radio and television stations should promote Mandarin, which is commonly used throughout the country.

34. How to carry out language management?

Answer: The "National Standard Spoken and Written Language Law" stipulates the management and supervision of spoken and written languages ??as follows: The principle of division of management authority is the overall management of the language work department of the State Council, combined with industry management and regional management. management system. Language and writing work involves all aspects of social life, and it is not enough to rely solely on the national language and writing department to manage it. The relevant departments must perform their respective duties, combine departments, and work together to manage. The State Council and local people's governments, the national language and writing authorities, local language and writing authorities, and other relevant departments of the State Council and other relevant departments of local governments are the law enforcement departments of the National Common Spoken and Written Language Law and are responsible for and supervising the implementation of the law.

35. What are the provisions of the National Standard Spoken and Written Language Law on the use of words and phrases in radio, film and television?

Answer: Radio and television stations should become role models for the whole society in promoting and using the country’s common spoken and written language. Radio, film and television should use Mandarin that conforms to Mandarin pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammatical standards.

Pronunciation errors should be avoided. The pronunciation of Mandarin words with different pronunciations should be based on the "Pronunciation Table of Different Pronunciations of Mandarin Words" promulgated in 1985. Dialects and foreign languages ??cannot be mixed in Mandarin broadcasts. Actors who play leaders in movies and TV series usually speak Mandarin. If certain dialects are used due to plot needs, they should not be used too much. The number of movies and TV series using dialects should be controlled. Foreign words in radio, film and television should also be read according to the Mandarin transliteration, and foreign names of people and places should also be read according to the Mandarin transliteration.

Standardized Chinese characters must be used for the printed names of factories, stations, production units, column names, film titles, subtitles, cast and crew, advertisements, etc. on film and television screens, and simplified traditional Chinese characters cannot be used. Eliminated variant characters and irregular simplified characters. Typos should be eliminated. The simplified characters are based on the "General List of Simplified Characters" republished in 1986. If it is necessary to add Chinese Pinyin, it should be written below the standard Chinese characters. When using Chinese Pinyin, the spelling must be correct and the words must be segmented and connected. The spelling of Hanyu Pinyin must comply with the provisions of the "Basic Rules of Chinese Pinyin Orthography".

36. What are the country’s main regulations on the use of advertising language?

Answer: The "Interim Provisions on the Management of Advertising Language and Writing" issued by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on January 15, 1998 stipulates that the language and writing used in advertisements should be clear and accurate, and the wording should be standardized. , standards, should meet the requirements of the construction of socialist spiritual civilization, and should not contain harmful cultural content; Mandarin and standardized Chinese characters should be used, and Chinese pinyin must not be used alone in advertisements; if advertisements need to use Chinese pinyin, it should be correct, standardized, and consistent with standardized Chinese characters Use at the same time; the usage of numbers, punctuation marks and measurement units in advertisements should comply with national newspapers and relevant regulations; the use of idioms in advertisements must comply with relevant national regulations and must not cause misleading or have a negative impact on society; registrations appearing in advertisements The stereotyped characters of trademarks, the original characters in cultural relics and monuments, and the characters used in corporate names recognized by relevant national departments should be consistent with the original characters and must not cause misleading; cursive characters, artistic characters, variant characters, and ancient characters used in advertisements for creativity and other reasons The characters should be easy to identify and should not be misleading.

37. What problems does my country’s language legislation mainly solve?

Answer: Mainly solve three major problems:

First, use legal forms to determine the status of Mandarin and standardized Chinese characters as our country's national common spoken and written language. Our country is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-lingual country, with 56 ethnic groups, nearly 100 languages, and more than 30 current scripts. Handling the language issue well is of great significance to safeguarding national unity and promoting ethnic unity. Our country's current spoken and written languages ??all have equal status, but the scope of common use is different. They are divided into two levels: the national common spoken and written language and the spoken and written language commonly used in ethnic autonomous areas and areas where ethnic minorities live together. The "National Standard Spoken and Written Language Law" stipulates that Mandarin and standardized Chinese characters are the national standard spoken and written language and are used throughout the country, including ethnic autonomous areas and areas inhabited by ethnic minorities. In ethnic autonomous areas and areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, the national common spoken and written language and the locally common spoken and written ethnic minority languages ??may be used simultaneously.

Second, use legal form to determine citizens’ rights in the country’s common spoken and written language, as well as the obligations of some industry practitioners in using the country’s common spoken and written language.

Third, manage the social application of language.

38. What language policies are reflected in the "National Common Spoken and Written Language Law"?

Answer: It mainly reflects the following language policies:

(1) National common language policy: Mandarin and standardized Chinese characters are the national common spoken and written language. The state promotes Mandarin and standardizes Chinese characters. .

(2) Ethnic language policy: The spoken and written languages ??of all ethnic groups exist equally and any form of language discrimination is prohibited; all ethnic groups have the freedom to learn, use and develop their own spoken and written languages; the state encourages All ethnic groups learn languages ??from each other. The state's promotion of Mandarin and standardization of Chinese characters is not intended to restrict the use and development of ethnic minority languages. In ethnic autonomous areas and areas where ethnic minorities live in concentrated communities, the national common language and the local ethnic minority languages ??can be used at the same time. The use of ethnic minority languages ??is in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution, the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law and other laws.

(3) Policies on dialects: Dialects exist objectively and have their own use value.

The state's promotion of Mandarin, which is commonly used across the country, does not mean the elimination of dialects. Dialects will exist in certain fields or specific regions for a long time. The promotion of Mandarin requires people in dialect areas to speak their own dialect and then learn Mandarin, which is commonly used in the country, so that they can be used in public communication situations.

(4) Policy on traditional Chinese characters: Traditional Chinese characters have their own areas of use and value. The promotion of standardized Chinese characters does not require that traditional Chinese characters and variant characters cannot be used in all occasions, but that traditional Chinese characters must be , The use of variant characters is limited to a certain range.

39. What aspects of the social application of spoken and written language does the "National Common Spoken and Written Language Law" manage?

Answer: It mainly refers to the language and words used in government actions and mass media and public occasions, that is, for state agencies, schools, press and publishing, radio, film and television, and public affairs. Service industries and public facilities, information technology products, signboards, advertisements, names of enterprises and institutions, and packaging and descriptions of goods sold within the country are managed.

40. After the promulgation of the "National Standard Spoken and Written Language Law", will it be a crime to speak or write irregularly?

Answer: No. The "National Common Language and Character Law" does not interfere with the personal use of language and characters, but only regulates the use of words and characters for official business, education and teaching, publicity, public services, public facilities, information technology products, signboards, advertisements, enterprises and institutions. The names, terms and words used in packaging and descriptions of goods sold within the country are managed. Among them, there are certain requirements for the Mandarin proficiency of some employees.