"Should It Matter?"

Lately I am very upset about what I read from the internet when there's topic about Mandarin,Cantonese and Taiwan Dialect,people started to fight.I am a southerner and I speak Mandarin which is with a southern accent.I also speak Cantonese and Taiwan Dialect and I have so much fun speaking these dialects.I have never expected that the government would restrict all broadcasters on radio or TV should only speak in standard Mandarin but not with a little,even a little bit accent or folksay from Cantonese or Taiwan Dialect.It's said these accents were of a lower level and should not be spreaded all over the country.

But the worst thing is not about this rule,it's the way people react to it.I am a Chinese and I am not against any geographical disparity.It's really sad seeing southerners and northerners fighting for their accents which belong to the same language.It does not make any sense to argue at all.In the old saying,we have 一方水土養一方人,I don't understand why people could not allow to see the differences between each other.Differences are good.It's the differences that make us unique and in the meantime prosperous and strong.Somehow I think we should respect these differences.

To me,unification is not that you control all  but you respect the differences and they have the same heart to grow together.

... Differences are good. It's the differences that make us unique and in the meantime prosperous and strong. Somehow I think we should respect these differences.
To me, unification is not that you control all but you respect the differences and they have the same heart to grow together.

yes.
you hit right on the point!
i believe unification by no means should repel differences. if mandarin is to be taken as the official one to speak, dialects spoken by folks living in different parts of the country must be allowed to continue to exist for many reasons. last but not the least is that local cultures should be preserved and enhanced.

Actually, respect to multi-culture, including language, is a sign of society civilization. Canada is a multi-culture, you can speak your language freely, you have religion freedom...  everyone has the speech right- you can talke whatever you want, that's one reason I like here...

Calm down and take it easy. nozone. It』s well put by you and Adelyn. Any dialect is a Chinese treasure, part of our culture. The people speaking dialects or with regional accents are no different than any others. In fact, I always pay respect to the people being able to speak dialects. My father could speak a few, including Minnan dialect and Cantonese.  I didn』t get a chance to learn the dialects from him. As to those against dialects, it』s not worth wasting your time to argue them down, and just bear yourself with dignity in the virtual world. We are behind you.

Since Mandarin is China』s national language and the central and local governments encourage people publicly to speak Mandarin, like the American speak English and the French speak French. I do speak my French occasionally on purpose to get my ideas cross over to others. There are cultural and economic values for people to speak Mandarin in China and everyone understands what others talk about, which makes things easy nationwide. This is why we have seen most public radio and TV stations broadcast in Mandarin for most of their programs. Hope you agree to that. I am considering any anchor with a standard Mandarin accent can help most Chinese audience exactly catch what he or she is saying. Same as looking for English natives to be our partners of English study, we would rather learn English from the natives than the ones with foreign accents including ourselves. It matters enough for us to want to do it right with the right people.  As far as I can tell, it is my preference to listen to Dan Rather in the air, other than Henry Kissinger』s speech, if their topics are of lesser importance.