whoâs gonna tell âChineseâ langblr that itâs called Mandarin and the idea that Mandarin is the one and only Chinese is contributing to genocide and language loss across Asia/the Asian diaspora
speaking as (1) a non-han chinese person (2) having members of my family being Personally Affected by æ±ć / han sinicization + native dialect/language loss/forced cultural assimilation, and (3) Literally Majoring In This Stuff âŠ.it would prob have been more productive to boost posts by/for speakers + learners of overlooked chinese language families or yâknow, boost actual information on movements looking to preserve æčèš/regional dialects + combat han sinicization rather than making this post and half-heartedly throwing it in the langblr tags
moreover, most langblr posts are targeted towards acquiring characters + teaching very basic grammatical structures, both of which are shared by most chinese languages, whether or not itâs the most common colloquial usage in ur lang/dialect of choice: whether youâre speaking mandarin, cantonese, or hakka, the kinds of posts at the level of chinese langblr (and by that, letâs be real, mandarin + like a handful of HK cantonese posts) are often applicable to more than one lang family⊠and if youâre gonna split hairs, âmandarinâ in itself is only the name for a collection of northern/central cn language groups (ćäșŹèŻ and, say, éè„żèŻ are both âmandarinâ), without even getting into the Yikesâą territory of how all the cn terms to mean âstandard mandarinâ are also in themselves problematic (ćœèŻïŒæźéèŻïŒæ±èŻâŠ)
but all of that aside, without vomiting an entire thesis on this post: it just seems a little ridiculous that youâre placing part of the blame of æ±ć and language loss esp in asia on like, langblr ignorance, and not, yâknow, (1) the aggressive policies of the PRC over the past decade that have pushed mandarin-only education in predominantly southern provinces of china as well as taxing (and often shutting down entirely) publications, broadcasts, and tv channels in non-standard mandarin languages (2) the complex political/cultural relationships both in chinaâs own provinces (esp. north-south re: beijing, hell, just look at how mainlanders treat ppl from æ°ç) as well as with china and the rest of asia as a whole that has led to standardization of beijing mandarin as the prestige dialect as well as the resurgence of (han!) chinese ethnonationalism w/recent politicsâŠÂ just look at xi jinpingâs âäžćæ°æäŒć€§ć€ć Žâ lmfao. (3) this is all not even mentioning the Complex race relations re: overseas chinese + sino diaspora in south asiaÂ
tl;dr should langblr tag their posts better? probably. but if youâre going to throw around words like genocide, i wouldnât do it so lightly. where deliberate cultural and linguistic erasure â not simple âlanguage lossâ â is occurring most is in mainland china itself, for historical and political reasons well beyond the reach of a hobbyist tumblr language learnerâs control. this isnât a language problem so much as it is a race problem â not a problem of âmandarin,â but of the idea of âæ±èŻâ itself
anyway, for followers who arenât in the loop: some info on forced han sinicization (1) (2) (3), chinese language families (1), recent han ethnonationalism (1 2 opinion articles). this is also a good book that one of my profs contributed to, while iâm tossing out worthwhile research sources. for reading thatâs even less cheery and yet very relevant @ the present moment, look into the current state of æ°ç xinjiang + tibet, not to mention the recent hk extradition laws + hk umbrella movements. bonus: chinese ethnic minorities, plus a list
