science

National Languages Committee

National Languages Committee is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand National Languages Committee rather than just read about it. In short: The National Languages Committee was established in 1919 by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China with the purpose of standardizing and popularizing the usage of Standard Mandarin in the country. The committee was known in English as the Mandarin Promotion Council or the National Languages Promotion Committee until 2003, but the Chinese name has not changed.

Key takeaways

National Languages Committee belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect National Languages Committee to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of National Languages Committee from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The National Languages Committee was established in 1919 by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China with the purpose of standardizing and popularizing the usage of Standard Mandarin in the country. The committee was known in English as the Mandarin Promotion Council or the National Languages Promotion Committee until 2003, but the Chinese name has not changed. The phrase Guoyu (國語 "National language") typically refers to Standard Mandarin, but could also be interpreted as referring to "national languages". The reorganization of the Executive Yuan made the duties of the National Languages Committee be transferred to the Department of Lifelong Education's fourth sector (Reading and Language Education) from 2013. It was created as the Preparatory Commission for the Unification of the National Language by the Republic (then still based in Nanjing) on 21 April 1919. On 12 December 1928, the commission was renamed to the Preparatory Committee for the Unification of the National Language, headed by Woo Tsin-hang and had 31 members. The committee was revived in 1983 as the Mandarin Promotion Council based on Taiwan. The decisions reached by the Council include:

Changing the first- and second-grade textbook titles from Guowen (國文 "National Script") to Guoyu (國語 "National language"), on 24 January 1920 Publishing the Guoyin Zidian (國音字典 "National Pronunciation Dictionary") edited by Woo Tsin-hang, on 24 December 1920. The Guoyin Zidian later became the Mandarin Chinese Dictionary (國語辭典; Guóyǔ Cídiǎn), a comprehensive online and CD-ROM Traditional Chinese Mandarin dictionary. The Committee for National Language Romanization (羅馬字母拼音研究委員會) under the Council selects and modifies Romanization Systems. The official Mandarin romanization systems in the Republic of China have been:

Gwoyeu Romatzyh (1928–1984) Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II (1984–2002) Tongyong Pinyin (2002–2008) Hanyu Pinyin (starting on 1 January 2009) Since the Taiwanization movement took hold in government, the committee also handles:

Researching the Mandarin spoken in mainland China, often comparatively to that spoken in Taiwan Researching the indigenous Formosan languages Researching local Sinitic languages, including Taiwanese Hakka and Taiwanese Taigi

See also List of language regulators Speak Mandarin Campaign (Singapore) Taiwanese Mandarin Traditional Chinese characters

References

External links National Languages Committee official website National Languages Committee: mandate (in the English-language section of the Ministry of Education website)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with National Languages Committee

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what National Languages Committee claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to National Languages Committee before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about National Languages Committee ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of National Languages Committee

In research: National Languages Committee appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses National Languages Committee in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: National Languages Committee is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1928 establishments in China, Chinese language reform, Education in Taiwan, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for National Languages Committee outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study National Languages Committee in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what National Languages Committee means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain National Languages Committee out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is National Languages Committee in simple terms?

Why does National Languages Committee matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study National Languages Committee?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on National Languages Committee.