It is a very long article. Did not finish reading. Thanks
for posting.
Met a xiamen lady. She admitted her hokkien is limited. They
communicate in Mandarin. She did not sound interested in
hokkien. So sad.
Hallo SJ 姊 (=sister),
Got time then come back and see you to forums and
talk to me and others more about Hokkien lah. So long also no see
you discuss liao. Only you and me, who are the normal people, can
help to preserve the languages in vibrancy, the government will not
be help us.
Xiamen people, nowadays I see them more as Xia-suey
people. As the Hokkien language they easily threw away.
Why?
Because in all the southern provinces, when one
enters school. They are not allowed to speak the Hometown
language in class. If speak, then fine $2 or 50cents.
You know, we Humans are trained up like monkeys
(because we belong to the same Primate group). When the monkey
touch the banana and I hit the monkey, everytime, the monkey will
learn the touching the banana is a "PUNISHMENT". But if the monkey
don't eat anything, the monkey will die right? Therefore I
provide the alternative, I provide “Cheese” and if the monkey is so
hungry and wants to touch it, I let the monkey eat the cheese.
Slowly and slowly, the monkey will start to eat Cheese and begin to
hate Banana.
Similarly, when Humans are taught from young that
speaking Hometown language is wrong (Because speaking Hometown
language lands you in a "punishment" = Fine, similar to if steal
things, rob people, vandalism etc), a Kid/Children will slowly
learn speaking Hometown language is "WRONG", and the government and
schools know if you don't have language to speak, it is not
possible> Therefore the government provide the
alternative, it provide "Mandarin Chinese" and if the people need
to speak, the government let the people speak it. Slowly and
slowly, the people will start to speak Mandarin chinese and begin
to hate Hometown dialect.
This is called the "SHAMING" mentality used
actively in education all around the world.
