China to survey dialects to better protect them

China will next year survey the thousands of dialects spoken in the country with an eye to protecting ones which are threatened with extinction, a state newspaper said. The survey will also look at the influence of dialects on Mandarin, the official national language, and set up a database to record them, the China Daily said on Tuesday, quoting Mr Li Yuming, deputy head of the state language affairs committee.Focus will be the Shanghai dialect, 'as it is one of the most popular', the report said. 'As more and more young people in Shanghai use the dialect to communicate online, and as its vocabulary expands, it will be standardised and promoted as a distinct local language... AsiaOne