中国如何成功地将多种语言统一为一种国家语言

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Sosow Nima
The dialects of China may be unlike those found anywhere else in the world. Theoretically, we all use Chinese, but that only refers to the written form. In spoken language, we have an uncountable number of dialects.

中国的方言可能在世界范围内都是独一无二的。理论上，我们都使用汉语，但这仅指书面形式。在口语交流中，方言的数量多得难以计数。

The official statement says there are 10 major categories, while Wikipedia claims there are 266.

官方说法称，中国有10大类方言，而维基百科则认为有266种。

But in reality, I estimate there are tens of thousands.

但实际上，我估计至少有成千上万种。

Northern dialects are relatively unified, so their numbers aren't too high, but the South is a completely different story...

北方方言相对统一，因此种类不算太多，但南方的情况则完全不同……

Take the hometown of Zhao Yuanren, the father of modern Chinese linguistics, as an example. His hometown, Danyang City, is a small city that has 18 different dialects, and it's difficult for speakers of these dialects to communicate with each other.

以现代汉语言学之父赵元任的故乡为例。他的家乡丹阳市是一个小城市，却拥有18种不同的方言，而这些方言的使用者彼此之间沟通十分困难。

This city is recognized as the place with the most complex dialect in China.

这个城市被公认为中国方言最复杂的地方。

(Mr. Zhao Yuanren)
Zhao Yuanren himself was proficient in seven foreign languages (it's said that he reached or approached native level in all of them) and 33 dialects.

赵元任本人精通七种外语（据说他在所有这些语言上都达到了或接近母语水平），并掌握了33种方言。

I suspect this had something to do with his childhood in a city that had 18 different "languages."

我怀疑这与他童年时生活在一个拥有18种不同“语言”的城市有关。

The situation in my hometown is somewhat similar.

我家乡的情况也有些类似。

Although it’s located along the Yangtze River, where transportation is relatively convenient, there are still many dialects. You might only need to travel 20 kilometers outside the county seat before communication becomes challenging.

尽管我的家乡位于长江沿岸，交通相对便利，但仍然存在许多方言。有时候，你一旦离开县城20公里，交流就会变得困难。

And in another county seat 50 kilometers away, I can’t understand their dialect at all.

而在另一个距离县城50公里的地方，我完全听不懂他们的方言。

In that county's dialect, pronouns like "you," "I," "he," and "she," which are usually the most common words, have nearly identical pronunciations. The locals can effortlessly distinguish the subtle differences, but for outsiders, it's a completely different story...

在那个县的方言中，像“你”、“我”、“他”和“她”这些最常见的代词，发音几乎相同。本地人可以轻松区分细微差别，但对于外地人来说，这完全是另一回事……

I once watched a Hollywood war movie, Windtalkers, which tells the story of how the U.S. military used the dialects of Native American tribes as codes during World War II. I jokingly said at the time, "China doesn't need anything that complicated, just find some people from Danyang, the level of secrecy will be so high that not only will the enemy be unable to decipher it, but even our own troops will have no idea what is being said!"

我曾经看过一部好莱坞战争电影《风语者》，讲述了二战期间美国军队如何利用美洲原住民的方言作为密码。我当时开玩笑说：“中国根本不需要这么复杂的方案，只要找几个人从丹阳来，这种保密级别之高，不仅敌人听不懂，连自己部队的人都可能毫无头绪！”

In reality, during the Chinese Civil War, when the Ninth Corps of the Nationalist Army, led by Commander Liao Yaoxiang, was besieged, in order to save time, they dispensed with encryption and had their radios communicate directly in Cantonese. However, what Liao didn't expect was that his opponents, the Northeast Field Army, had long since trained a group of radio operators from Guangdong to intercept these communications.

事实上，在中国内战期间，国民党军队第九兵团在廖耀湘司令的指挥下被围困。为了节省时间，他们干脆放弃了加密，直接用粤语在电台通讯。然而，廖耀湘没有想到的是，对手东北野战军早已训练了一批来自广东的电台监听员来截获这些信息。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

In ancient times, there was a form of official spoken Chinese similar to today's Mandarin. All scholars, officials, and merchants who traveled around had to master it, or they wouldn’t be able to communicate. But for the vast majority of people, they probably never traveled more than 20 kilometers away from home in their entire lives, so they spent their whole lives speaking only their local dialect.

在古代，曾经存在一种类似于今天普通话的官方通用语言。所有的学者、官员和四处经商的商人都必须掌握，否则就无法沟通。但对于绝大多数人来说，他们可能一生都没有离开过家乡20公里，因此他们一辈子只会说当地的方言。

So, you see, Chinese is very interesting. In the written form, it has maintained an extremely strong stability across both space and time. Generally, Chinese middle school students can read Tang Dynasty novels from 1,500 years ago with relative ease, and it’s not difficult for educated Chinese people to read classics from 2,000 years ago. Personally, I read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and Journey to the West many times after the age of nine. In fact, all three novels are older than Shakespeare's works.

所以你看，汉语非常有趣。在书面形式上，它在时间和空间上都保持了极强的稳定性。一般来说，中国的中学生可以轻松阅读1500年前唐朝的小说，而受过良好教育的中国人读懂2000年前的古籍也不算困难。我个人在九岁之后多次阅读了《三国演义》、《水浒传》和《西游记》。事实上，这三部小说的历史都比莎士比亚的作品还要久远。

On the other hand, the difficulty of dialects is simply exponential. My wife is from the North, and I’m from the South. Even though I find Northern dialects very easy to understand, I still have a lot of trouble when I listen to my in-laws speak. And if I speak my hometown dialect, I can guarantee my wife wouldn’t understand a single word. In fact, the dialect I speak is technically included in the official Chinese system and shouldn’t even be considered a "dialect!"

另一方面，方言的复杂性却是指数级的。我的妻子来自北方，而我是南方人。尽管我觉得北方方言很容易理解，但当我听岳父母说话时，仍然感到很吃力。而如果我说自己的家乡方言，我可以保证我的妻子一个字也听不懂。事实上，我所讲的方言在官方认定的汉语体系中，甚至不应该被称为“方言”！

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was an urgent need to unify spoken language, and great efforts were made toward this goal, but the results were not very effective.

新中国成立后，国家迫切需要统一口语，并为此付出了巨大努力，但效果并不理想。

For example, when I was in university, we had a classmate from a county that wasn’t particularly remote, but it took him almost six months to comfortably understand the teacher's Mandarin. Every day after class, he needed to borrow other students' notes to study (thank goodness for the incredible stability of Chinese written language!).

举个例子，我在大学时，有一位同学来自一个并不偏远的县城，但他花了将近六个月的时间，才勉强能听懂老师的普通话。每天课后，他都需要借其他同学的笔记来学习（多亏了汉语书面语言惊人的稳定性！）。

He is now the deputy chief designer of a major engineering project :)

现在，他已经成为一个大型工程项目的副总设计师了 :)

Nowadays, Mandarin no longer needs to be actively promoted. Almost everyone can understand it, and most can more or less speak it, except for some elderly people, due to urbanization and the prence of radio and television.

如今，普通话已经不再需要刻意推广了。由于城市化进程和广播电视的普及，几乎所有人都能听懂普通话，大多数人也能勉强说出来，只有一些年长者例外。

Here’s an example that will make it crystal clear.

这里有一个非常直观的例子。

A friend of mine who teaches in a minority region as a volunteer said that in recent years, they no longer need to put a lot of effort into teaching Mandarin to the minority children—they pick it up on their own.

我有一位朋友在少数民族地区做志愿教师，他说近年来，已经不需要花太多精力教当地孩子普通话了——他们自己就能学会。

Why?

为什么？
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

He said it’s because of Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok). The children, from a young age, have been holding smartphones and, while watching Chinese TikTok, have unconsciously mastered Mandarin.

他说，这都是因为“抖音”（中国版TikTok）。这些孩子从小就拿着智能手机，一边看抖音，一边无意识地掌握了普通话。

Aya Shawn
Unification of written language: completed 2200 years ago

书面语言的统一：2200年前就已完成

When the Qin Empire was established, the Chinese character variants of various countries were abolished and unified into a single writing method, and the Han Empire inherited this practice. For the next 2000 years, Chinese characters have been unified.

秦朝建立后，各国原有的汉字变体被废除，统一成一种书写体系，汉朝继承了这一做法。在接下来的2000年里，汉字始终保持统一。

Even some dynasties established by foreign ethnic groups, such as the Northern Wei, Liao, Yuan, and Qing dynasties, inherited and continued to use Chinese characters. Because compared with the characters brought by other ethnic groups, the superiority of Chinese characters is too obvious.

即使是一些由外来民族建立的朝代，如北魏、辽、元、清等，也都继承并继续使用汉字。因为与其他民族带来的文字相比，汉字的优越性实在太明显了。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Unification of spoken language: very difficult, in fact, it was gradually completed in the 1990s

口语的统一：非常困难，实际上是在1990年代才逐步完成的

It is very difficult for a huge empire to unify spoken language. No large empire in the world has really accomplished this, and China is no exception.

要让一个庞大的帝国实现口语的统一是极其困难的。世界上没有哪个大帝国真正做到过这一点，中国也不例外。

In ancient China, official spoken language has never really spread to every place, which is limited by the ability of voice to spread. In the era without tape recorders, radio, and television, this is an impossible task. Through the spread between people, the spoken language will always be deformed and cannot be truly unified.

在古代，中国的官方口语从未真正传播到每个地方，这是因为语音传播的能力有限。在没有录音机、广播和电视的时代，这是一项不可能完成的任务。口语通过人与人之间的传播，总会发生变化，因此无法真正统一。

After radio and television gradually entered the family, China really completed the unification of spoken language. With the help of communication means that no longer cause the deformation of spoken language, and the real realization of compulsory education.

直到广播和电视逐渐进入家庭，中国才真正完成了口语的统一。借助这些不会导致语言变形的传播工具，以及义务教育的全面实施，普通话的普及才成为现实。

Chinese people born after 1980 have basically received education in Mandarin, and they tend to speak two types of spoken language: 1. Local dialect 2. Mandarin

1980年以后出生的中国人基本上都是接受普通话教育的，他们通常会说两种语言：1. 当地方言 2. 普通话。

Qing BOY
1. Although the dialects in various parts of China are very different, the writing system that supports the main language has always been unified, that is, Chinese characters.

尽管中国各地的方言差异巨大，但支撑主要语言的书写体系始终是统一的，那就是汉字。

2. Free compulsory education system.

2. 免费的义务教育体系。

3. Bilingual education is implemented in minority areas, with Chinese as the main language.

3. 在少数民族地区实施双语教育，以汉语为主。

4. Economic development has brought about a large number of population flows due to traffic development. Accepting the main language means more job opportunities and dating opportunities.

4. 经济发展带来了大量人口流动，交通的发展进一步推动了这一进程。掌握主要语言意味着更多的就业机会和社交机会。

Melvin Tai
This is the wisdom of the rulers ever since Qin Dynasty.

这是自秦朝以来统治者的智慧。

Qin has unified 3 main systems: language, measurement, and monetary.

秦朝统一了三个主要体系：语言、度量衡和货币。

For language, there is an official language that is used in all official matters, but local people are allowed to use their own local language. However, all the written language for standard items is all the same.

在语言方面，国家规定了官方语言用于所有正式事务，但允许地方居民使用自己的方言。然而，所有标准事务的书面语言始终保持一致。

So, a scholar may speak his own local language, but if he wants to write books, he will use the official writing system. If he wants to enter civil service, he has to take the test in official language.

因此，一个学者可能会说自己的方言，但如果他想写书，就必须使用官方书面语言。如果他想进入仕途，就必须用官方语言参加考试。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

This system has preserved the local dialects for over 2500 years, and yet unified the entire Chinese population.

这一体系既保留了地方方言长达2500多年，同时也实现了整个中华民族的统一。

Alex Valbel
They did not. There is no how.

他们并没有做到。这根本不可能。

There are still dozens of languages in China and one lingua franca, called Standard Chinese, taught in all schools across the country.

中国依然存在几十种语言，但有一种通用语——普通话，它在全国所有学校中教授。

Standard Chinese is a sort of Mandarin but not all people who speak Mandarin speak the same Mandarin as the standard.

普通话是一种官话方言，但并非所有讲官话的人都说标准普通话。

To the point where there are people who speak different kinds of Mandarin and still need to switch to Standard Chinese to understand each other.

甚至有些讲不同官话方言的人，仍然需要切换到标准普通话才能相互理解。

It is exactly the same in the West where people can speak English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, etc. in their respective areas/countries but English is taught everywhere and in most cases used as the common language between people who don’t have the same mother tongue.

这与西方的情况完全相同。不同地区或国家的人可能讲英语、西班牙语、法语、德语、意大利语等，但英语几乎在所有地方都被教授，并在大多数情况下作为不同母语者之间的通用语言。

Qurocity
China successfully united multiple languages under Mandarin through a series of strategic steps:

中国通过一系列战略措施成功地将多种语言统一在普通话之下：

1. Historical Role of Mandarin: Mandarin, particularly the Beijing dialect, served as a common language for administration in imperial China.

普通话的历史作用：在中国封建时代，普通话（尤其是北京方言）作为行政语言，被广泛用于官场交流。

2. Political Decisions: The Republic of China sexted Beijing Mandarin as the national language in 1913, standardizing it for nationwide use.

2. 政治决策：1913年，“中华民国”政府选择北京官话作为国家通用语言，并开始在全国范围内推行标准化。

3. Educational Reforms: Mandarin became the medium of instruction in schools, ensuring younger generations learned it.

3. 教育改革：普通话成为学校的主要教学语言，确保年轻一代能够学习和掌握它。

4. Media and Communication: National media and government policies reinforced Mandarin as the standard language.

4. 媒体与传播：国家级媒体和政府政策不断加强普通话的标准化地位。

5. Cultural Integration: Mandarin was promoted as a symbol of national unity while allowing local dialects in informal settings.

5. 文化融合：普通话被推广为国家统一的象征，同时在非正式场合允许方言的存在。

6. Economic and Social Mobility: Proficiency in Mandarin became essential for success, encouraging widespread adoption.

6. 经济与社会流动性：掌握普通话成为成功的重要条件，这进一步促进了它的广泛使用。

Through these efforts, Mandarin emerged as the unifying language across China's diverse linguistic landscape.

通过这些努力，普通话成为了中国多元语言环境中的统一语言。

中国如何成功地将多种语言统一为一种国家语言 - 普通话？