400 Million Chinese Cannot Speak Mandarin 562
dryriver writes with this excerpt from a thought-provoking report at the BBC: "China's Education Ministry says that about 400 million people — or 30% of the population — cannot speak the country's national language. Of the 70% of the population who can speak Mandarin, many do not do it well enough, a ministry spokeswoman told Xinhua news agency on Thursday. The admission from officials came as the government launched another push for linguistic unity in China. China is home to thousands of dialects and several minority languages. These include Cantonese and Hokkien, which enjoy strong regional support. Mandarin — formally called Putonghua in China, meaning 'common tongue' — is one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world. The Education Ministry spokeswoman said the push would be focusing on the countryside and areas with ethnic minorities."
Re:Why don't they just learn English? (Score:4, Funny)
Because even God does not trust those bastards in the dark.
Re:Why don't they just learn English? (Score:4, Funny)
Get a Japanese toilet. Luxury models are almost self-aware at this point.
Re:Why don't they just learn English? (Score:0, Funny)
Sum ting wong.
Yu fuk up.
Dang yang kee.
Re:It's not just China.. (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, but they have us beat again... only about 300 million Americans can't speak Mandarin.