Shanghaihua (上海话)：use it or lose it There are about 6.000 languages in the world and some experts say that as many as half of these languages will disappear in the next one hundred years. Will Shanghaihua be one of t
1 ? It's a question that more
people are asking.
In China, Putonghua is the official language. That m 2 it's the language of government, business and
the media (媒体). And it's also the language that is used in schools.
Shanghai is a special city. It is modern, fashionable and sophisticated (老练的). And Shanghaihua shows
that by being modern, fashionable and sophisticated. "I love riding on the b 3 and listening to people speaking
Shanghaihua." Miss Evans, an American reporter said. " I don't understand a word they are saying but I like the
sound of the language. It sounds smoother than Putonghua. And Shanghainese like things "renao" (热闹)so even
a discussion about the weather can sound like an argument or a party. My bus rides are a 4 interesting."
Young people still speak Shanghaihua but not as well as their parents and grandparents. They are under
more and more pressure (压力) to speak Putonghua. So the language is being used l 5 often in everyday life.
Some people want to keep the language from disappearing completely by building museums and having cultural
festivals to save it. But a language isn't a painting or a book. It's a living thing and you e 6 use it or lose it.
If people stop using it in their d 7 lives, a museum or a festival will not help. It will be lost forever, like
the Yangtze River dolphin.
