A small group of scholars, students and local residents of Shanghai are standing up to save their dialect, which traces its roots to one of China's oldest spoken languages, from extinction. Shanghainese, like many of the estimated 80 other local dialects spoken in China, is endangered by the government's pro-Mandarin policy.
上海本地的一小批学者、学生以及本地市民都挺身而出加入了保护上海话的行列，害怕这个中国最古老的方言之一会随岁月消亡。与中国不同地区其他八十种的方言一样，上海话也受到国家普通话推广政策的威胁。

"I guess the younger generation is much more familiar with English than their mother tongue," said Roman Xu, a 33-year-old who heads an non-profit organisation that promotes the use of the Shanghai dialect.
33岁的许罗曼（音译）说：“我认为年青一代对英语的熟悉度甚至超过其母语。”他是一个推广上海话的非营利组织的负责人。

"I've read in history books about how a language gradually dies out. Hope my mother tongue won't become one."
“我看了些历史书，知道语言是如何缓慢消亡的。希望上海话不会这样。”

Qian Nairong, a professor at Shanghai University who specialises in language research, says it's not yet too late to save the dialect – but the clocking is ticking.
上海大学语言研究方向的教授钱乃荣，说拯救方言应立即开始--但时间十分有限。

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"Shanghainese will come to an end within a generation or two," said Qian, who has written textbooks as well as a dictionary on Shanghainese.
他说“上海话的消亡也就是一两代人的事情”，他曾撰写过上海话的教科书和字典。

Shanghainese, a branch of the Wu dialect which was spoken in regions around Shanghai over 2,200 years ago, has its own grammar and vocabulary, with limited correlation with Mandarin.
作为吴语的一个分支，上海话已经在上海及周边地区有了超过2200年的历史，有着自己的语法和词汇，和普通话差别较大。

For example, a commonly-used phrase "have you eaten?" would be "ni fan chi guo le ma?" in Mandarin but would be pronounced "nong che gu la va?" in Shanghainese.
例如一个经常会用到的短语：“你吃了没？” 普通话我们会说：“你饭吃过了吗？”但上海话的发音为“侬切估了伐？”。

Advocates, consisting mainly of scholars like Qian and non-governmental organisations, have started to move to protect Shanghainese, and their efforts seem to be bearing some fruit.
像钱乃荣以及一些非政府组织形成的倡导者已经开始行动起来保护上海话，他们的努力也开始略见成效。

Some public buses have started to use Shanghainese, in addition to Mandarin and English, in their announcements, while Shanghai Airlines in January began using the dialect on some of their flights.
除去普通话和英语之外，一些公共汽车开始使用上海话进行报站，自今年1月起，上海航空公司也在部分航班上开始使用上海话。

While fewer and fewer younger generations are learning to speak Shanghainese, those from outside Shanghai seeking jobs in the country's commercial hub say the dialect still plays a key role in society.
尽管越来越少的年轻人学习说上海话，但那些在上海打拼的外地人表示上海话仍然有着十分重要的作用。

Zhang Wenxia, an undergraduate from central Henan province, said she was completely left out at a job interview at a Shanghai-based media company.
来自河南的大学毕业生张文霞说，在一个以上海话为主的媒体公司面试中，她自己完全被边缘化了。

"I felt like I was deaf during the job interview. The only language that was spoken was Shanghainese. The hiring manager and other candidates communicated fluently in Shanghainese, and I had no choice but keep silent," she said.
她说“我觉得面试时就跟聋了一样。大家都只说上海话。招聘经理和其他的求职者都能很流利的用上海话交谈，我没办法只能保持沉默。”

Xu Shudan, a 28-year-old insurance saleswoman from neighbouring Anhui province, is studying Shanghainese at a privately-run school.
28岁的徐淑丹是来自安徽省的保险销售人员，正在一个私立学校学习上海话。

"Mandarin is spoken nationwide. However in Shanghai, using words like "nonghao" -a local expression for hello – can immediately close the distance between business partners," she said.
她说：“全国都在说普通话，但在上海，说‘侬好’来打招呼比说‘你好’ 更能迅速的缩短与客户之间的距离。