Journal of Asian Pacific Communication - Volume 18, Issue 2, 2008

This study examined interview accounts from thirty-one Taiwanese older adults about their inter- and intra-generational communication experiences, and perceptions of today’s young and older people. Thematic analysis showed that Taiwanese older adults tended to initiate conversation topics accommodative to young people’s lives such as their job and marriage, whereas conversation topics with their old-age peers centered on adjustment into senior years (e.g., health, exercise) and their children’s achievement. Analysis also revealed some of the Taiwanese older adults’ major perceptions of young people (e.g., less respectful towards elders) and their peers (e.g., losing status in the family). The discursive strategies used in constructing such perceptions (e.g., discourse on self exception, denial of self inclusion) demonstrated the ways in which they negotiated and managed their age identity in inter- and intra-generational communication. Results are discussed in light of Social Identity Theory, Communication Accommodation Theory, age identity, filial piety, and cultural change.

One well documented aspect of politeness is that speakers, when making requests, often try to avoid the appearance of imposing on the other person. There is some evidence that the degree of politeness is affected by socio-demographic variables such as age, sex and SES. This paper is a small scale study of variation in politeness usage in Hong Kong Cantonese. It uses a context, in which the interactive negotiation of a social relationship is very constrained, so that the effects of the socio-demographic variables can be clearly manifested. The findings indicate that it is possible that SES plays a small role in variation, and that women and young people are in general more polite. The study has implications for variation studies and politeness studies.

The Chinese state sees language as an essential determinant in ethnic minority schooling. The use of minority language as a medium of instruction is viewed as a way to increase attendance rates and strengthen socialization into a national ideology. However, the policies differ for those ethnic miorities with or without a commonly used written script. Among the minorities without a script are the 300,000 strong Dongxiang, an ethnic group with the lowest level of literacy and school access in China. There is virtually no systematic research on the role of language in school access for Chinese minority groups without a written script. In particular, there is a lack of analysis of the Dongxiang (and similar groups without a written script) learning and school discontinuation. This research aimed to identity the major difficulties in school based learning for the Dongxiang speaking children. Specifically, it explores local perspectives on how language and other factors are related to school enrolment and achievement. In order to accomplish this, the research combined a variety of data gathering methods, including survey questionnaires, open ended interviews, in-depth interviews, field visits, observations, and case studies to analyze the difficulties of language transition faced by Dongxiang ethnic minority children. The results reveal that although native language does not directly cause schoolchildren to discontinue their studies, it has an important indirect influence, especially on the girls. The research results also show that Dongxiang ethnic minority schoolchildren in the early years of schooling generally cannot understand their teachers’ Chinese teaching, which results in poor school performances, a decline of interest in learning, a frustrated sense of achievement, and a decline in self-respect. Many students drop out as part of a vicious cycle that sees a reproduction of poor conditions for learning.

“Standard language” status is a relative construct defined by a variety of attributes rather than by any single criteria. This paper uses the taxonomy of standard language attributes presented in Downes 1998 as a framework for examining the degree to which written Cantonese, particularly in Hong Kong, has developed attributes of a standard language. In particular, it is argued that written Cantonese has gained a degree of autonomy from Standard Written Chinese, that the Cantonese speech community has clear usage norms regarding how spoken Cantonese words should be represented in writing, that written Cantonese is functionally elaborated in the sense that users have little difficulty with lack of vocabulary for technical or academic concepts, that written Cantonese plays a growing social role in Hong Kong, and that its level of prestige is increasing. The paper concludes that while written Cantonese does not have all the attributes associated with standard languages, it has developed a significant number of these attributes to a significant degree, and that the growing role of written Cantonese is an important indicator of the degree to which Cantonese is taking on a regional standard role in China.

This study examined commercials (N = 141) featuring older adult(s) shown on three Chinese TV stations (i.e., national, provincial, and local) in the fall of 2005 to uncover the dominant value themes, the major product categories, and the association between value themes and product categories. Content analysis results revealed that three dominant value themes (i.e., health/life, product effectiveness, and family) appeared frequently in the Chinese television commercials featuring older adults, in which some major product categories such as food/drink, food/health supplements, and medicine were promoted. Results also indicated that the value of health/life was presented frequently in commercials for medicine and food/health supplements and that the family value appeared frequently in food/drinks commercials. Altogether these results demonstrated the importance of health and a lack of emphasis of modern values in Chinese television commercials which feature older adults, indicating a mixed view of aging (i.e., passive and negative). Findings are discussed in the context of the Chinese culture, aging, and television advertising.

Communication across languages and cultures is a markedly complex issue, and translation is more than just a careful linguistic transfer: it is a purposeful action designed to achieve the most effective result in a target group. Few studies have discussed the role of communicative intent in translation, and this paper is a small step towards filling the gap. The conceptual framework adopted in this study is Skopostheorie (Vermeer, 1989), a functionalist approach with an emphasis on communicative Skopos (purpose or aim), target texts and audiences. Using a method of contrastive comparison among effective, ineffective and controversial brand name translations from English to Mandarin Chinese, a systematic analysis is conducted regarding four translation strategies: phonetic appeal, suitable meaning, socio-cultural adaptation and consumer acceptance. The findings demonstrate that any effective communication strategy needs to be in accordance with the communicative purpose of achieving an optimal impact upon the target group, and a successfully translated brand name should function in a target culture as effectively as the original name in a source culture. They suggest that a function oriented approach, rather than a source-text oriented approach, holds the key for a successful outcome. The most important thing is that translated brand names suit the needs of Chinese consumers. This study is significant in that it challenges the traditional sound/meaning-based approach, and provides enriched understanding of the importance of achieving communicative purposes and optimal functional impact in a target group. The insights gained from this study add a vital conceptual dimension to the study of translation, and cross-cultural communication in general. In addition, the findings of this study may also provide practical assistance for an effective outcome in translation, and have pedagogical value in the teaching of translation. While the discussion in this study is based on Chinese data, the findings have implications for the translation of other languages.

This research reported findings from discourse analysis and content analysis on media coverage about a specific educational crisis on teachers’ suicide in Hong Kong. Overall, findings revealed that there was a great difference in sources being used by newspapers of different political ideology. The official position did not guarantee smooth access to the mass media via sources. Press ideology interfered in this process and determined what kind and how frequent news sources were used. Specifically, it was shown how linguistic choices in news texts accomplished the goal of framing the conflict, demarcating those supporting the education reform from those opposing the reform.

Along with the rapid economic development of China, the Chinese language is becoming a popular target language of learning in the world. A large number of learners try hard to learn Chinese. It is even believed that this situation is not a fad; instead it will continue and will make Chinese a world language. This paper is a conceptual and theoretical refutation of the possibility of such a happening. An analysis is made with occasional comparison to English from the perspectives of sociolinguistics and specific limitations of the Chinese language. It is argued that the concept of world language is related to the concept of language dominance. Although economic status and population of speakers may facilitate the promotion of a language, they are far from enough to make it possible. A language spreads on several more conditions. Among them are the broad acceptance of the traditional culture that a language represents, extensively scattered speech communities, a multiplicity of audio-visual publications of wide circulation, and more importantly, ease of learning and use. Evidence shows that none of these conditions currently exists for Chinese. In particular, the complexity and difficulty of the writing system handicap its spread.