HS
When I was searching the meaningful road signs for week 4 ‘s activity, I noticed a very interesting phenomenon in my hometown. The landmark “二七” are exhibited in Pinyin（Erqi ) and English (Twoseven ) respectively on one road sign. Besides, almost all road signs are shown in bilingual (Chinese and English) whereas Pinyin is hard to find.
Why Pinyin is absent? Is it necessary to show Pinyin on Chinese road signs? My answer is Yes!
According to National Bureau of Statistics in China, up to 2017, illiterate people in China accounts for 5.28% of the total population and my hometown has more than 9 million permanent population living in the provincial capital . In a word, it’s estimated that 500,000 people in that city could not read. Whereas there are only about 5000 foreigners living there. What’s more, illiterate Chinese people are normally senior citizens who were influenced by the national turmoil before 1950s. That is, they are also likely to be unaccustomed to technologies, such as portable devices, online maps ,and GPS navigation. Most of them rely on memory or road signs when traveling around.
This reminds me of my grandma who only attended school for one year. She could barely recognize and write her name and simple Chinese letters like numbers. But fortunately, she knows how to use Pinyin when she needs to take down notes. This never bothered her since she used to live in a small village. After my grandpa passed away, she moved to Zhengzhou to live with my family. Only at that time, I realized how illiteracy in Chinese restricted my grandma in her life. She seldom strolls or takes buses to downtown alone. Once I encouraged her to visit the senior citizens‘ activity center which is about 30 minutes bus trip away from my home, she hesitated and told me, “ Do you have time to go with me？I might get lost.” I told her, “There are road signs to guide you, grandma. It’s not a big deal.” She replied: “But I can’t read. You need to show me how to be there for the first time.” I went there with her that afternoon and I noticed that if I were my grandma, it’s impossible for me to arrive there safe and sound. There is not much apprehensible indicators or signs for her and what she could do is asking others when she gets lost.
As stated by Lee (2016), elder citizens who are educationally underprivileged often felt that they can not participate in consumer culture and globalization process as freely as before, one of the reasons is “English is everywhere”. English on road signs may not only make illiterate elder citizens inconvenient but also make them being restricted and isolated.
References:
Lee, J. S. (2016). “Everywhere you go, you see English!”: Elderly women’s perspectives on globalization and English. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, (August), 1–32.
Illiterate Population Aged 15 and Over (n.d.). In New Statistical Yearbooks Published by China Statistics Press Retrieved from http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2017/indexeh.htm
You make very interesting and relevant connections to the Korean grandmothers we read about in Jamie Shinhee Lee’s article. I hope other members of the class who may have had similar experiences in China—perhaps even similar experiences helping elderly relatives who might also have had interruptions to their education through no fault of their own—will comment as well! These are stories that we all need to hear.
I found this post very interesting in terms of how the context you have described (I’m curious to know about the specific location of your hometown) contrasts a bit with Shanghai and the linguistic landscape there. While I lived in Shanghai, one thing that was extremely useful for me was the Pinyin on the road signs. In Shanghai (at least most part of it) I noticed signs were in Chinese characters and pinyin (with signs in the city center having English translation as well).
I would say, on a personal level, Pinyin has been extremely useful to be able to learn a bit of oral Chinese, it has helped me a lot on the phone to be able to type simple messages to people I know who do not speak English. Pinyin has also worked as a great transition to learn the few Chinese characters I know.
Hector
Hi Hector, as I grew up in Shanghai, I know well that this city could not represent any other cities in China. It’s so different. Back to the question that if it is necessary to have Pinyin on the road signs, my answer would be Yes. In most Chinese cities where there are few foreigners, Pinyin should be placed at a higher priority. Not only do illiterate elders benefit from it, but so do pre-school children. I remember when I was little, my parents helped me recognized the characters on road signs with the help of Pinyin. And I really enjoy such learning experience without any pressure or struggle. When designing the public signs, the authorities should think more about local people’s needs.
Cixiu
When you understand all the road signs, you don’t even pay attention to them. I didn’t realize how much I had actually cared about the language on signs until I came to Québec. When I first saw French signs in the city, I felt excited that I had arrived in an unfamiliar world (it might sound weird to some people, but I love the feeling). However, I think I enjoyed it because it was my choice to come here. If I were living in my home country and signs were replaced to English, I would be upset. My home country (Japan) is keen to accelerate globalization, and there is English everywhere, just like you said. It is a sad truth that the government doesn’t care about how globalization (aka English-everywhere policy) affects people’s lives and identities. I hope technologies will advance even more and be able to help illiterate elderly people in China!
-Yuri
Thank you for the post. And it made me recall what the road signs are like in my hometown, Beijing. To my surprise, if my memory is correct, a lot of road signs are actually shown in Chinese and Pinyin. Some signs have English as well. And it’s interesting to note that in Beijing Subway, Pinyin is used for some stations and English for other stations. For example, there is a station called三元桥; its Pinyin is Sanyuanqiao; its English is Bridge Sanyuan. It’s shown in Chinese and Pinyin. Another example is a station called 朝阳公园. Its Pinyin is Chaoyanggongyuan; its English is Chaoyang Park. And it’s shown in Chinese and English. I ‘m confused why they sometimes use Pinyin and sometimes use English for the signs across the city.
Yidan
Hi HS. This is a very interesting question. I think there are both pros and cons for using Pinyin on the road signs. On the one hand, using Chinese-English in the road signs is illiterate-unfriendly for many people who are not well educated. On the other hand, if I were an international traveller new to China with little knowledge about Chinese, the English indication can make it a lot easier for me, and I will also feel welcome in this way. So… maybe the government should just incorporate Chinese, Pinyin and English altogether to satisfy more people…
Xin