Chinese Language Standardisation Council Of Malaysia
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The Chinese Language Standardisation Council of Malaysia (; ), abbreviated Yufan () is the body charged with regulating the use of the
Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...
in
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
under
Ministry of Education (Malaysia) The Ministry of Education (; Jawi: ) is a ministry of the Government of Malaysia that is responsible for education system, compulsory education, pre-tertiary education, technical and vocational education and training (TVET), curriculum s ...
(In this case, the Chinese language is referred to as the
Malaysian Mandarin Malaysian Mandarin ( zh, s=马来西亚华语, t=馬來西亞華語, p=Mǎláixīyà Huáyǔ, first=s) is a variety of the Chinese language spoken in Malaysia by ethnic Chinese residents. It is currently the primary language used by the Malay ...
Chinese language.)


Background

Malaysia is home to approximately 7.2 million ethnic Chinese (23% of the population). The use of the Chinese language is preserved through Chinese vernacular education. Many
varieties of Chinese There are hundreds of local Chinese language varieties forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan language family, many of which are not Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the m ...
are also used. Malaysian Chinese have the option of sending their children to vernacular public schools which use Chinese as the medium of instruction at the primary level. At secondary level, some students opt for
Chinese Independent High School A Chinese independent high school () is a type of private school, private high school in Malaysia. They provide secondary education in the Chinese language as the continuation of the primary education in Chinese national-type primary schools ...
s, instead of national public schools, which use Malay (officially referred to as the
Malaysian language Malaysian Malay () or Malaysian ()endonymically known as Standard Malay () or simply Malay (, abbreviated to BM)is a standardized form of the Malay language used in Malaysia and also used in Singapore and Brunei (as opposed to the variety u ...
(Bahasa Malaysia)) as the medium of instruction. It is also widely taught as a third language alongside English and Mandarin in English Medium international schools. Malaysia also has a robust Chinese-language media. The ''
Sin Chew Daily ''Sin Chew Daily'' (), formerly known as ''Sin Chew Jit Poh'', is a leading Chinese-language newspaper in Malaysia. According to report from the Audit Bureau of Circulation for the period ending 31 December 2011, ''Sin Chew Daily'' has an avera ...
'' is the highest-circulated daily newspaper of any language in Malaysia. News telecasts read in Chinese (Malaysian Mandarin) are broadcast by state television stations TV2 and Bernama TV, and private stations such as
ntv7 Natseven TV Sdn Bhd, operating as NTV7 is a Malaysian free-to-air television channel owned by Media Prima, Media Prima Berhad. The third private commercial TV station in Malaysia, the network focused on the urban area with various types of ...
and 8TV. The
simplified Chinese script Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized Chinese characters, character sets widely used to write the Chinese language, with the other being traditional characters. Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of ...
is used officially in Malaysia, however Traditional Chinese scripts see widespread daily usage too especially in online media.


History

In 1997, Malaysia hosted the Seminar on Chinese Language Teaching in Southeast Asia, after which scholars in Malaysia agreed to form the Chinese Language Standardisation Working Committee (), which was the predecessor to Yufan. The Working Committee consisted of representatives from civil society organisations. It was dissolved in 2003. In order to standardise the use of Chinese by the Chinese media in Malaysia, the Ministry of Information formed the Standardisation Council on 12 February 2004. The Council is later transferred to the Ministry of Education Malaysia in 2006.


Role

The Council's stated mission is to "encourage the use of standard Mandarin Chinese, including translated names, phonetics, grammar, words and text, without discouraging the use of
Chinese dialects There are hundreds of local Chinese language varieties forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast part of mainland Chi ...
". It consists of six divisions, each in charge of specific areas: translation, information, phonetics, grammar, vocabulary and writing, and publishing.


Membership

Members of the Council consist of representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Association of Translation and Creative Writing, the Federation of Chinese Associations (Huazhong), the private Chinese education sector, the Home Ministry, Chinese newspapers, Chinese radio stations and public universities.


Chair

The following is the list of chairpeople of the Standardisation Council since 2004: #
Donald Lim Siang Chai Donald Lim Siang Chai (born 17 December 1955) is a Malaysian politician who served as Deputy Minister of Finance II in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Minister and Minister of Finance I Najib Razak and Minister of ...
, as Deputy Information Minister (2004–2006) # Hon Choon Kim, as Deputy Education Minister (2006–2009) #
Wee Ka Siong Wee Ka Siong ( zh, t=, s=魏家祥, p=Wèi Jiāxiáng, c=, poj=Gūi Ka-siông; born 20 October 1968) is a Malaysian people, Malaysian politician and engineer who has served as the Dewan Rakyat, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayer Hitam (federa ...
, as Deputy Education Minister and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (2008–2013) # Chong Sin Woon, as Deputy Education Minister (2015-2018) #
Teo Nie Ching Teo Nie Ching (; born 27 January 1981) is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who has served as the Deputy Minister of Communications under Minister Fahmi Fadzil since December 2023 and previously served as the Deputy Minister of Communicatio ...
, as Deputy Education Minister (2018–present)


See also

*
Malaysian Mandarin Malaysian Mandarin ( zh, s=马来西亚华语, t=馬來西亞華語, p=Mǎláixīyà Huáyǔ, first=s) is a variety of the Chinese language spoken in Malaysia by ethnic Chinese residents. It is currently the primary language used by the Malay ...
* Standard Singaporean Mandarin


Notes


References

{{Reflist


External links


Yufan – Official site
Organizations established in 2004 2004 establishments in Malaysia Standard Chinese Language regulators Education in Malaysia Chinese diaspora in Malaysia