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Any native English speaker is surely impressed by the English craze that has swept the country.
Every bookshop is well stocked with English learning books. English is a very popular major among university applicants. All kinds of English speaking contests are organized across the country. Various tests are staged on campuses or at work units that are employing new members of staff. English corners can be found in many parks.
Enthusiasts often mob native speakers to get a chance to hone their skills.
But in sharp contrast, the Chinese language is given the cold shoulder in its native land.
Not only is college enrolment on Chinese-language courses dropping but Chinese-language courses offered to students pursuing other majors are often shunned.
On the one hand, batches of successful English learners are being turned out, with fluency amazing native speakers. But on the other, college students' Chinese writing has deteriorated to an awful level.
A number of factors are behind the stagnation in Chinese-language learning. Employment pressure is the most pressing factor. In the face of a tight labour market and relatively few posts available, students have to choose courses that will help them secure a job. A lack of accomplishment in Chinese language and philosophy is largely ignored by prospective employers.
When I took up a teaching job upon my return to China from overseas a few years ago, I heard my colleagues complain that the majority of college students were simply unable to write. I simply did not believe them.
A couple of years have passed and now I have to admit that what my colleagues said was right.
I have read various writings in Chinese, mostly my students' academic papers and notes. I was taken aback by the stereotyped styles, lack of proficiency, stiff and clumsy way of saying things and even silly grammatical errors. Over a long time, I grew to hate such poor writing, which came in an avalanche.
In some cases, the students merely use general-purpose templates for writing to express almost identical ideas that are nothing but threadbare refrains. The writing templates therefore suit their ends.
But in many cases, students do have their own ideas but poor writing skills fail them as they try to express themselves.
If you push them to express their original ideas in their own languages, only some can manage to make themselves understood.
Fewer students can come up with persuasive articles. Still fewer can be said to be creative writers with unique styles and the ability to get their ideas across cleverly. But this group makes up only a very tiny portion of today's college students.
These individual cases cannot cover up the reality - the vast majority are very poor writers in Chinese.
I do not agree with the argument one hears from some professors that marginalization of literature is a normal phenomenon in the big picture of market-orientated economy and that, therefore, it is no longer necessary to make Chinese-language courses an indispensable part of the university curriculum.
True, students have so many things to learn at college. All disciplines are important in their own way. International politics, astrophysics, philosophy, English, history... the list goes on. It is impossible for students to learn everything. So some courses must be sacrificed, but which?
Can we make room for all of these courses at the expense of Chinese language, taking into account the fact that we speak Chinese, write in Chinese and read Chinese every day, every week, every month, every year and throughout our lives?
I am not raving about the "great significance of promoting traditional Chinese culture" or "trumpeting the spirit of humanity." Let's shelve these "grand undertakings that are of vital importance to the noble course of humankind," in the words of some pundits.
What I am driving at is the day-to-day urgency of promoting Chinese-language learning. Our college students' writing ability has reached an extremely low level that is preventing them from coping with routine work.
(China Daily November 11, 2005)
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