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者、學生以及本地市民都挺身而出加入了保護上海話的行列，害怕這個中國最古老的方言之一會隨歲月消亡。與中國不同地區(qū)其他八十種的方言一樣，上海話也受到國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：“我認為年青一代對英語的熟悉度甚至超過其母語?！彼且粋€推廣上海話的非營利組織的負責人。

"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，知道語言是如何緩慢消亡的。希望上海話不會這樣?！?/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.
上海大學語言研究方向的教授錢乃榮，說拯救方言應立即開始--但時間十分有限。

錢乃榮做客滬江專訪：了解海派文化從說上海話開始>>>

"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“上海話的消亡也就是一兩代人的事情”，他曾撰寫過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.
作為吳語的一個分支，上海話已經(jīng)在上海及周邊地區(qū)有了超過2200年的歷史，有著自己的語法和詞匯，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.
例如一個經(jīng)常會用到的短語：“你吃了沒？” 普通話我們會說：“你飯吃過了嗎？”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者已經(jīng)開始行動起來保護上海話，他們的努力也開始略見成效。

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.
除去普通話和英語之外，一些公共汽車開始使用上海話進行報站，自今年1月起，上海航空公司也在部分航班上開始使用上海話。

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.
盡管越來越少的年輕人學習說上海話，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.
來自河南的大學畢業(yè)生張文霞說，在一個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“我覺得面試時就跟聾了一樣。大家都只說上海話。招聘經(jīng)理和其他的求職者都能很流利的用上海話交談，我沒辦法只能保持沉默。”

Xu Shudan, a 28-year-old insurance saleswoman from neighbouring Anhui province, is studying Shanghainese at a privately-run school.
28歲的徐淑丹是來自安徽省的保險銷售人員，正在一個私立學校學習上海話。

"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：“全國都在說普通話，但在上海，說‘儂好’來打招呼比說‘你好’ 更能迅速的縮短與客戶之間的距離。