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.
上海本地的一小批學(xué)者、學(xué)生以及本地市民都挺身而出加入了保護(hù)上海話的行列，害怕這個(gè)中國(guó)最古老的方言之一會(huì)隨歲月消亡。與中國(guó)不同地區(qū)其他八十種的方言一樣，上海話也受到國(guó)家普通話推廣政策的威脅。

"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歲的許羅曼（音譯）說(shuō)：“我認(rèn)為年青一代對(duì)英語(yǔ)的熟悉度甚至超過(guò)其母語(yǔ)。”他是一個(gè)推廣上海話的非營(yíng)利組織的負(fù)責(zé)人。

"I've read in history books about how a language gradually dies out. Hope my mother tongue won't become one."
“我看了些歷史書，知道語(yǔ)言是如何緩慢消亡的。希望上海話不會(huì)這樣?！?/div>

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.
上海大學(xué)語(yǔ)言研究方向的教授錢乃榮，說(shuō)拯救方言應(yīng)立即開(kāi)始--但時(shí)間十分有限。

錢乃榮做客滬江專訪：了解海派文化從說(shuō)上海話開(kāi)始>>>

"Shanghainese will come to an end within a generation or two," said Qian, who has written textbooks as well as a dictionary on Shanghainese.
他說(shuō)“上海話的消亡也就是一兩代人的事情”，他曾撰寫過(guò)上海話的教科書和字典。

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.
作為吳語(yǔ)的一個(gè)分支，上海話已經(jīng)在上海及周邊地區(qū)有了超過(guò)2200年的歷史，有著自己的語(yǔ)法和詞匯，和普通話差別較大。

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.
例如一個(gè)經(jīng)常會(huì)用到的短語(yǔ)：“你吃了沒(méi)？” 普通話我們會(huì)說(shuō)：“你飯吃過(guò)了嗎？”但上海話的發(fā)音為“儂切估了伐？”。

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.
像錢乃榮以及一些非政府組織形成的倡導(dǎo)者已經(jīng)開(kāi)始行動(dòng)起來(lái)保護(hù)上海話，他們的努力也開(kāi)始略見(jiàn)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.
除去普通話和英語(yǔ)之外，一些公共汽車開(kāi)始使用上海話進(jìn)行報(bào)站，自今年1月起，上海航空公司也在部分航班上開(kāi)始使用上海話。

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.
盡管越來(lái)越少的年輕人學(xué)習(xí)說(shuō)上海話，但那些在上海打拼的外地人表示上海話仍然有著十分重要的作用。

Zhang Wenxia, an undergraduate from central Henan province, said she was completely left out at a job interview at a Shanghai-based media company.
來(lái)自河南的大學(xué)畢業(yè)生張文霞說(shuō)，在一個(gè)以上海話為主的媒體公司面試中，她自己完全被邊緣化了。

"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.
她說(shuō)“我覺(jué)得面試時(shí)就跟聾了一樣。大家都只說(shuō)上海話。招聘經(jīng)理和其他的求職者都能很流利的用上海話交談，我沒(méi)辦法只能保持沉默?！?/div>

Xu Shudan, a 28-year-old insurance saleswoman from neighbouring Anhui province, is studying Shanghainese at a privately-run school.
28歲的徐淑丹是來(lái)自安徽省的保險(xiǎn)銷售人員，正在一個(gè)私立學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)上海話。

"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.
她說(shuō)：“全國(guó)都在說(shuō)普通話，但在上海，說(shuō)‘儂好’來(lái)打招呼比說(shuō)‘你好’ 更能迅速的縮短與客戶之間的距離。