The demand by western foreigners for Mandarin education (to be globally competitive! to ease anxieties about being overtaken by China!) reifies state policies that starve other Sinitic and non-Sinitic mother languages of funding, status, textbooks, and pedagogical innovation.
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^ This Tweet inspired by the time a white alum reached out to ask me about language training in Taiwan & I responded with Too Much Enthusiasm about learning Taiwanese, Hakka, and commonly-spoken indigenous languages & he reasonably said, "Thanks but I only care about Mandarin."
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time to develop a Hakkacentric worldview
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I always hear that 'Mandarin' is the most spoken mother tongue in the world. Is that accurate or are they also erasing other Sinitic languages in the census?
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Most people who are educated now in Mandarin come from families that within the last generation spoke other Sinitic or non-Sinitic languages. Such is the success of Mandarinzation campaigns in China, Taiwan, and Singapore...
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You're absolutely right, only a few courses here and there, very much reflective of the push by both the PRC and ROC to associate Chineseness with Mandarin.
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It's a tough cycle, isn't it? It took improving my character recognition in Mandarin to be able to access more material teaching Taiwanese.
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