Push to preserve language landscape
AI being used to revive local dialects and integrate them back into daily life
Recently, when Wang Lining, a linguistics professor at Beijing Language and Culture University, opened the popular artificial intelligence model Doubao, she was met with a surprise that felt more personal than technical. As a native of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region now working in the capital, she found she could speak to the app in her local Cantonese dialect.
For Wang, the experience was less about the software's processing power and more about an emotional reconnection to the warmth of her native tongue.
"Living in Beijing, few people can talk with me using the hometown language," she said.
The technological milestone is part of a key national objective to ensure Chinese languages and culture are preserved and utilized in the 21st century.
At the end of last year, the Ministry of Education, together with six other ministries, jointly issued a notice focused on deepening the inheritance and development of the Chinese language and its rich cultural connotations. Language culture refers to the living history and social identity embedded in a region's unique way of speaking. It is the intangible voice of a community, encompassing everything from folk songs to the specific etiquette of a local village.
China's linguistic landscape is one of the most complex on Earth, acting as a massive "cultural topography" that includes seven to 10 major dialect groups and over 130 distinct languages, including those of the nation's 56 ethnic groups. For decades, the rapid pace of urbanization and the necessary promotion of Mandarin in schools meant that many of these local "mother tongues" were at risk of falling silent.
The notice aims to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese language culture, continuously enhance the language cultural literacy of the public, especially young people, and provide strong support for building a leading country in education, culture, and talent development, according to officials from the department of language and writing information management at the Ministry of Education.
"I see this notice as the culmination of more than a decade of exploration, a sign that a national strategy for education and culture is finally moving from vision to execution, with clear guidelines for what comes next," said Wang.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, China has issued a number of documents about the inheritance and development of Chinese language culture. The new document points out detailed plans for the future on the basis of the earlier pilots.
"The notice makes it clear that language culture is not only about education, but also related to the overall picture of economic and social development," said Wang. "It plays a role not only in school education, but also in the urban and rural production and livelihood, cultural tourism and cultural relics conservation. It can unleash great potential in socioeconomic development."
Wang emphasized the importance of cross-ministerial cooperation in this area.
"In the past, I feel many enterprises, universities and professionals have all contributed to the inheritance and protection of language culture, but people seemed to do their own work without forming a cohesive force," said Wang. "With the participation of more ministries, we may systematically comb the good experience scattered in different places, stringing them together like beads, thereby ushering in a new era of systematic advancement."
The notice outlines seven elements in accelerating the cause, namely intensifying scientific research and interpretation, promoting universal education, protecting and developing language resources, strengthening digital empowerment, cultivating talented people, expanding dissemination, and deepening exchanges and mutual learning. For each area, it specifies concrete actions to be taken.
Rao Gaoqi, a researcher at the School of Linguistics and Language Resources at BLCU, highlighted the role of digital empowerment in language studies.
"Digital technology is extremely helpful for the development of language and culture. Conversely, the growth of language culture also serves as a driving force behind the advancement of digital technology," Rao said.
The significance of this endeavor extends far beyond academic curiosity as a matter of public safety and economic development. One of the most tangible benefits is the creation of "barrier-free emergency language services".
During natural disasters, such as earthquakes and floods, the National Language Service Corps and the Ministry of Emergency Management work together to ensure that rescue workers can communicate with elderly residents who may only speak a local dialect. This "digital empowerment" has even expanded internationally. During the 2023 Turkiye earthquake, domestically developed large language models were deployed to support instant translation between Chinese, English and local languages.
"Language and script are fundamental. We learn to write and speak not for their own sake, but to work, to love and to live our lives well. Language itself is a basic resource. The digitization of language is likewise a foundational endeavor that serves to empower everything else," Rao said.
Speaking about protecting and developing language resources, which is also highlighted in the new notice, Wang said they are actively promoting the transition from "saving and recording" language resources to "bringing them back to life and utilizing them".
She has been involved in the Project for the Protection of Language Resources of China for over a decade. This national initiative aims to systematically preserve Chinese dialects and ethnic groups' languages through fieldwork, multimedia recording, and other methods.
Teams of linguists were dispatched to nearly 1,800 locations across the country to scientifically document local dialects, essentially creating a digital archive of China's vocal heritage. Today, the materials gathered have been transformed into cultural products that are woven into the fabric of people's daily lives.
The notice encourages qualified local authorities and institutions to make appropriate use of historical buildings and other spaces to establish venues for the preservation and promotion of language-related cultural heritage.
Last year, a dialect museum was opened in Wuyi county, Zhejiang province. It was built in a restored historical residence, where visitors can see traditional farming tools and other daily necessities. When people touch them, they can hear the local dialects related to the articles, which are language materials collected by the Zhejiang team of the project, helping local people trace the traditional lifestyle.
"Local dialects are making their way into songs, TV series and a range of cultural creative products. Our ambition doesn't stop at academic works or museum displays. We want to create offerings that are part of everyday life — practical, engaging and fun — so that people willingly take part in keeping language culture alive and helping it grow," said Wang.
Xing Biqian, a researcher at the China National Academy of Educational Sciences, also highlighted the use of language culture in daily life.
"Language is the carrier of civilization and the root of culture, and practice is precisely the key to activating this root and enabling civilization to take hold," Xing said. "When we lift the language culture from the pages of textbooks and make it part of everyday life, it begins to take root in hearts and minds. Through lived experience, it shapes not only how we learn and communicate, but also who we become: how we think, what we value, and what we find beautiful. That is where its true power lies."
wangru1@chinadaily.com.cn
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