Hello Malcom,
<<<In due course, say 150-200 years when Chinese is pronounced the same way,in the dialect that I know of course :o), in every part of the country, sone kind of alphabet or syllabary will be created. But China will be prosperous long before that.>>>
Somehow when you say it, no one is offended. But, if I were to say that they (the Chinese) would have to overcome the handicap of their language structure and that it would take them at least 100 years to devlop an alphabet, a lot of people would be upset by it.
<<< There already exists a country which has become highly industrialized while still using Chinese characters. That's Japan of course. A counterexample to your "straddled with a primitive language" idea.
Watch China.>>>
It looked like for a while in the 1980's that Japan was going to take over the world. Somehow, they seemed to have hit some kind of ceiling. From what I have read and heard, most people are blaming it on the Japanize government's monetary or fiscal policies. Without having that kind of education, I can't really understand those arguments.
In my humble opinion (I have lot to be humble about), the Japanese do not have the modern day language structure and the advanced educational system, that could take Japan into the lead. They could catch up (because they are very smart and are willing to work very hard), but they can not take the lead.
I think to some extent this will happen to China. They will make tremendous strides to catch up (although it will be more difficult for them than Japan because of their size and from the levels they start at) but to get ahead is another story.
Regards,
Mary |
