Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Mad About Language



                In August 2008, Beijing, China was getting ready for the most festive and the most awaited event of the year, the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Preparations had been set and most of the Chinese people were trying to do their best to contribute to this event. This event would attract millions of people around the world and probably a great chance for the Chinese people to show their culture to the world.

          But there was one problem. The Chinese official expected many foreigners, either participants or spectators, would come to visit their country for the said event. This would mean that the language that would often be used in the event would be the universal language – English, the language that Chinese people find difficult to understand and communicate with.

                 This language barrier became the main hindrance of the Chinese in helping their country to show-off to the world their rich culture.  The reason behind this language barrier is the idealism of Chinese people called Sino centrism. Sino centrism is the nationalistic view of the Chinese that they only give importance to their culture and disregards other nations’ culture. It is in this view that the Chinese believe that they are superior compared to other nationality. Because of this, the Chinese doesn’t give importance to other languages and only focus on their own.  

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