Regulations  for  Language  Use  in  Signs  in  China

students’  attitudes  further  in  Chapter  Six.  I  will  begin  with  the  analysis  of  the   language  polices  or  regulations  in  China  and  Japan  in  the  following  sections  first.  

4.2.1  Regulations  for  Language  Use  in  Signs  in  China    

Nowadays  in  China,  signs  displayed  in  public  places  in  Chinese  usually  are   written  in  simplified  Chinese  characters,  except  for  some  rare  intentional  use  of   traditional  Chinese  characters.  The  simplification  of  Chinese  characters  has  been   a  major  issue  since  the  mid-­‐19th  century.  Several  social  movements  have  called   for  and  worked  for  the  simplification  of  Chinese  characters.  After  the  foundation   of  PRC,  the  National  Chinese  Character  Reform  Committee  put  forward  the  “Plan   for  Chinese  Character  Simplification”,  which  was  the  government’s  effort  at   simplification  of  Chinese  characters  in  Mainland  China.  The  second  important   stage  for  accelerating  the  simplification  of  Chinese  character  is  the  government’s   publication  of  a  new  guideline  of  simplified  Chinese  Characters  in  1986,  which   repealed  a  failed  “Second  Plan  for  the  Simplification  of  Chinese  Characters”  

proposed  after  the  Great  Cultural  Revolution  (Wang  Jun,  1995).  It  is  not  until   2001  that  the  Chinese  government  issued  the  Law  of  the  People’s  Republic  of   China  on  the  Standard  spoken  and  Written  Chinese  Language.  

 The  discussion  about  adopting  a  standard  for  the  Romanization  of  place   names  can  be  traced  to  the  1970s  when  Premier  Zhou  Enlai  proposed  to  

establish  the  use  of  standardized  pinyin  on  Chinese  maps  for  the  purpose  of   helping  other  countries  know  China  better  (Zeng,  1989).  The  pinyin  system,  a   form  of  Chinese  characters  Romanization,  was  established  in  the  1950s,  and   experienced  several  revisions.  It  is  not  until  1982  that  the  International  

Organization  for  Standardization  recognized  pinyin  as  the  international  standard.  

Zeng  Shiying  (1989),  a  cartographer,  in  his  study  on  language  used  in  maps   indicated  that  in  maps  created  soon  after  the  founding  of  the  PRC  in  1949,  all  the   place  names  were  written  in  a  Chinese  Romanization,  but  the  lack  of  

standardization  made  some  Chinese  worried  that  it  could  become  an  obstacle  to   foreigners  understanding  China.  Starting  in  1953,  the  United  Nations  began  a   project  for  the  standardization  of  geographical  names  for  international  business.    

One  of  the  topics  was  how  to  set  up  a  unified  standard  for  place  names  for  the   countries  that  do  not  use  roman  letters.  The  Chinese  government  proposed  the  

“Hanyupinyin  Project”,  which  suggests  the  use  of  Chinese  pinyin  for  the  place   names  of  China,  in  the  Expert  Group  Meeting  for  the  standardization  conference   of  geographical  names  held  by  United  Nations  in  1975,  and  this  project  was   passed  by  support  from  43  votes  out  of  48  participants  in  the  Third  Meeting  of   the  Standardization  of  Geographical  Names  held  by  United  Nations  in  1977.  The   State  Council  officially  approved  the  use  of  pinyin  for  persons  and  places  in  1978.  

This  project  is  evidence  of  the  attempt  to  legislate  the  use  of  Chinese  Pinyin  in   geographical  names.  Yet  some  problems  remain  unsolved,  for  example,  whether   Pinyin  should  be  used  for  the  geographical  general  names,  such  as  “road”,  

“street”,  “river”,  or  “lake”?  There  are  disagreements  between  using  Pinyin  and   meaning-­‐translation  method  (Zeng,  1989).  In  any  cases,  this  project  was  a  start   in  the  attempt  to  regulate  the  language  usage  in  place  names  and  provides  a   direction  for  the  formation  of  public  signage  in  terms  of  linguistics.  

The  first  formal  and  official  regulation  pertaining  to  sign  usage  in  public   place  at  the  national  level  was  The  Law  of  the  People's  Republic  of  China  on  the   Standard  Spoken  and  Written  Chinese  Language,  adopted  at  the  18th  Meeting  of  

the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Ninth  National  People's  Congress  of  the  People's   Republic  of  China  on  October  31,  2000,  which  was  promulgated  and  went  into   effect  as  of  January  1,  2001.  A  specific  Article  was  designed  to  regulate  the   language  usage  in  signboards.  Chapter  II  of  the  law,  titled  Use  of  the  Standard   Spoken  and  Written  Chinese  Language,  Article  13  reads:    

“The  standardized  Chinese  characters  shall  be  used  as  the   basic  characters  in  the  service  trade.  Where  both  a  foreign  language   and  the  Chinese  language  are  used  in  signboards,  advertisements,   bulletins,  signs,  etc.,  as  is  needed  by  the  trade,  the  standardized   Chinese  characters  shall  be  used  as  far  as  the  Chinese  Language  is   concerned”  (MOE  of  China,  2011;  Database  of  China  Law,  2011).  

The  national  law,  although  indirectly,  officially  confirmed  and  accepted  the  use  of   foreign  languages  on  signboards  without  putting  any  extra  conditions  such  as  the   size,  font  or  color.  At  the  provincial  and  municipal  level,  the  regulations  usually   follow  the  national  law  of  China  with  only  minor  modifications.  For  example,   Beijing,  the  capital  of  China,  established  the  Regulation  on  the  Implementation  of   The  Law  of  the  People's  Republic  of  China  on  the  Standard  Spoken  and  Written   Chinese  Language,  which  says:  

“State  organs  should  adopt  standardized  Chinese  Characters  in   name  plates,  official  documents,  stamps,  placards,  direction  boards,   sign  boards,  electronic  screens  and  slogans”  (Article  6).    

“For  schools  and  other  educational  organizations,  

standardized  Chinese  characters  should  be  used  as  basic  scripts  for   name  plates,  sign  boards,  direction  boards,  electronic  screens,  official   documents,  stamps,  school  newspapers,  lectures,  test  papers,  

blackboard  newspapers,  blackboard  writings  and  so  on”  (Article  8).    

“For  public  service,  standardized  Chinese  characters  should  be   used  as  the  basic  script  to  provide  service  in  name  plates,  direction   boards,  sign  boards,  shop  signs,  official  documents,  stamps,  receipts,   statements,  instructions,  electronic  screens,  advertisements,  

propaganda  materials”  (Article  11).    

                     (Encyclopedia  of  Baidu,  2011)  

This  regulation  regulates  and  stresses  the  use  of  standardized  Chinese  in  each    

field  in  the  society.  Although  the  regulation  does  not  mention  adopting  foreign  

languages,  but  the  lack  of  restrictive  regulations  makes  it  possible  to  infer  that   other  languages  can  be  used  as  long  as  the  standard  Chinese  characters  are  used.    

Shanghai,  in  its  implementation  of  the  same  law,  has  a  regulation  that   reads:    

“In  the  following  situations,  standardized  Chinese  characters   should  be  used  as  the  basic  script,  (1)  official  document  (2)  schools   and  educational  organizations  (3)  municipal  publications  (4)  films   and  television  screens  (5)  corporations  and  other  organizations’  

names  and  plate  names  (6)  advertisements  and  facilities  names  in  the   public  places  (7)  public  services…”    

   (Language  Work  Online  of  Shanghai  Second  Polytechnic  University,  2011)    

In  Guangdong  province,  The  Regulation  on  the  Standard  Spoken  and   Written  Chinese  Language  says:    

“The  scripts  used  in  public  places  and  facilities  should  be  in   accordance  with  the  national  Law  of  the  People's  Republic  of  China  on   the  Standard  Spoken  and  Written  Chinese  Language:  the  geographical   general  names  for  mountain,  river,  lake,  sea,  administrative  division,   road,  street,  lace,  place  name  of  great  significance,  and  so  on,  should   adopt  standardized  Chinese  characters  and  Chinese  Pinyin  (foreign   letters  should  not  be  used  in  the  geographical  general  names);  the   signboards  for  station  names,  bridge  names,  scenic  spots,  historical   site,  and  public  places  alike  should  adopt  standardized  Chinese   character”  (Article  14).  

                     (Government  of  Guangdong  Province)    

Both  Shanghai  City  and  Guangdong  Province  accept  the  use  of  foreign  languages   in  public  places  implicitly.  The  prohibition  on  the  use  of  foreign  letters  for   geographical  general  names  in  Guangdong  is  an  exception,  as  the  law  itself  also   claims  that  it  should  follow  the  national  law.  This  difference  derives  from  the   unsolved  issue  of  how  to  translate  place  names,  which  has  existed  since  the  1975   United  Nations  conference,  which  has  been  explained  previously.    In  general,   Chinese  local  governments  have  been  accepting  of  the  use  of  foreign  letters  on   signs.  

At  the  national  level,  the  use  of  foreign  languages  is  approved  as  long  as   standardized  Chinese  characters  are  used.  Although  Beijing,  Shanghai  and   Guangdong,  as  the  leading  cities  or  province  in  terms  of  economic  and  social   development,  do  not  explicitly  support  the  use  of  foreign  languages,  in  principle   the  local  laws  should  follow  and  refer  to  the  national  laws,  while  giving  more   detailed  information,  as  seen  from  the  above  articles.  So  it  can  be  inferred  that   the  use  of  foreign  languages  is  also  accepted  locally  and  regionally,  although  the   degree  of  acceptance  varies  by  region.  As  Hu  (2001)  indicated  neither  the  work   of  the  Committee  for  Language  Reform  of  China  nor  the  work  of  the  State   Language  Commission  involved  any  statements  on  the  status  of  foreign   languages  or  the  use  or  teaching  of  foreign  languages.  Moreover,  foreign   language  teaching  is  under  the  jurisdiction  of  a  department  in  the  Ministry  of   Education  of  China.  The  Chinese  government  has  never  established  an  institution   related  to  manage  foreign  language  education.  Therefore,  further  exploration   turns  to  the  examination  of  the  foreign  language  education  policy  and  its  use  in   practice,  which  helps  to  explain  the  status  of  foreign  languages  better.  

In  terms  of  education,  there  is  an  ever-­‐increasing  demand  for  English  in   China,  because  of  the  impact  of  the  global  spread  of  English.  Satisfying  the  

escalating  demand  for  English  created  by  further  opening  up  of  the  country  is  the   first  reason  to  teach  English  in  primary  schools.  The  Ministry  of  Education  has   also  encouraged  English  language  education  as  part  of  its  reform  of  basic   education  in  China.  As  stated  in  a  Ministry  of  Education  policy  document,  ‘‘The   teaching  of  English  in  primary  schools  constitutes  an  important  part  of  China’s   basic  education  reform  in  the  early  21^st  century  (Li,  2001).”  The  Ministry  of   Education  of  China  released  this  policy  in  anticipation  of  the  necessity  to  upgrade  

its  citizens’  competence  in  English  for  the  sake  of  the  country’s  continuing   development  in  an  age  of  accelerated  globalization.    

In  actual  practice,  the  importance  of  foreign  languages,  especially  English,   is  also  emphasized  in  the  public  service  area,  as  the  translation  of  signs  has  been   a  heated  topic  over  the  past  ten  years.  The  convocation  of  the  first  Symposium  on   C  &  E  Signs  in  a  Global  Context  in  2005  put  forward  that  it  is  an  urgent  task  to   improve  the  current  situation  of  sign  translation  in  China,  in  order  to  prepare  for   the  2008  Olympic  Games  and  2010  World  Exposition.  The  symposiums  

promotional  material  said  that  “a  good  language  environment”  help  to  build  a   good  international  image  and  promote  internationalization.  This  symposium  was   held  by  the  Translators  Association  of  China,  directed  by  the  Foreign  Affairs   Office  of  the  Beijing  Municipal  government  and  sponsored  by  the  Beijing   International  Studies  University  and  the  China  Sign  Network.  The  second  

Symposium  on  C  &  E  Sign  Translation  was  held  by  Tongji  University  in  2007.  The   participants  invited  were:  Huang  Youyi,  the  vice  president  of  the  Foreign  

Language  Bureau  of  China  and  vice  president  of  The  International  Federation  of   Translators;  Zhu  Lei,  the  director  of  the  Shanghai  Language  Committee,  and  Qiu   Yongle,  the  secretary  of  the  Translators  Association  of  Shenzhen.  In  the  meeting,   Huang  pointed  out  the  main  issues  in  sign  translation  and  put  forward  that  those   problems  are  not  only  a  matter  of  academics,  but  also  a  matter  of  policy  (Liu  &  

Ye,  2007).  Moreover,  there  is  a  growing  call  for  the  legislation  of  sign  translation.  

And  some  leading  cities  also  have  taken  the  first  steps  in  that  direction.  For   instance,  Beijing  first  compiled  the  English  Translation  of  Public  Signs  the  General   Specification  in  2006,  which  is  a  starting  point  for  accelerating  the  normalization   of  public  sign  translation.  Shenzhen  City  followed  by  publishing  a  comprehensive  

Chinese-­‐English  Dictionary  of  Public  Signs  in  Shenzhen  in  2010  for  Shenzhen  city,   which  is  supported  by  the  Shenzhen  government  and  the  Translators  Association   of  Shenzhen.  Both  regulations  provide  reference  to  the  Chinese-­‐English  

translation  of  public  signs.  In  2011,  the  Shaanxi  Bureau  of  Quality  and  Technical   Supervision  released  the  Guidelines  for  English  Translations  in  Public  Places,   which  contained  three  main  parts:  General  Specifications,  Public  Transportation,   and  Tourism.  Many  local  governments  have  also  made  similar  guidelines  to   provide  C  &  E  sign  translation  service,  such  as  Shanghai,  Zhejiang  Province,  and   Jiangsu  Province.  These  government  efforts  have  sped  up  the  process  of  

standardizing  sign  translation.  

However,  so  far  little  official  attention  has  been  paid  to  multilingual  sign   translation  in  China.  Several  scholars  have  noticed  the  translation  of  signs  in   other  foreign  languages  (Huang  &  Du,  2009;  Lu,  2007,  Liu  &  Zhang,  2007;  Sun,   2009).  Lu  (2007)  suggested  that  more  multilingual  signs  should  be  used  in   stadiums.  Liu  &  Zhang  (2007)  mentioned  that  in  many  public  places  signs  are   bilingual  and  multilingual.  Huang  &  Du  (2009)  held  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  put   so  many  languages  on  the  signboards.  Sun  (2009)  found  that  in  Wenzhou,   English,  Japanese,  Korean,  Spanish  and  so  on  were  widely  used.  Thus  a  diverse   linguistic  landscape  has  formed  with  the  coexistence  of  Chinese-­‐only  signs,   bilingual  signs,  multilingual  signs,  and  foreign  languages-­‐only  signs.    

To  conclude,  the  status  of  foreign  languages  can  be  observed  through  an   examination  of  the  making  of  language  education  policy.  However,  the  policy   regarding  the  use  of  foreign  languages  in  signs  in  not  explicitly  and  officially   established  or  confirmed  in  China’s  laws  or  regulations.  Its  importance  is   strengthened  more  by  their  use  in  practice.  For  instance,  the  holding  of  many