Media language different?

[Scoobyqueen]

Is the assumption correct that the mandarin used by the media use a signficant amount of expressions that are not used in the spoken language?

I guess for most languages there are a few words that are used mainly by the media (tabloids also have their unique words by the way). It is just that Chinese seem to have a lot of them. I base this evaluation on the fact that often my teachers will tell me ohh so and so word is just used in the written language and most of these come from newspaper articles.

Do you think the media uses a different language (print, radio and TV)? If so, what may be the reasons?

This has been touched upon within a thread somewhere and I cannot find the thread. Someone mentioned that because the Government controls the media the language used tend to be a bit stilted (?) and not open to creative expressions.

[82riceballs]

Yeah, it's true that there's an obvious difference between spoken language and language used in newspapers. In newspapers, the language is shortened and different words are used.

E.g. 已經 is shortened to 已.

該 is sometimes used for "this".

Neither of these would be used in real life.

But there are similar cases in English. When talking to someone, you would never say "Fed to cut interest rates," would you?

I don't think this has much to do with the government. Chinese news sources on both sides of the Taiwan Strait use similar language Maybe reporters like to save space ?

This is what I've learned by trying to read Chinese language news, so I might not be 100% accurate. Native speakers, please correct me if I'm wrong!

[renzhe]

I think many of the differences simply come down to the difference between written and spoken language. Books and essays will also display this. Even comics are often written in a way I've never heard anyone speak.

[Scoobyqueen]

Thanks for the contributions.

I appears to me that Chinese has more written expressions than English. Indeed in English you will find people using what might be termed written expressions. That would normally be associated with a higher social class or intellectual level. English lit lecturers being a case in point

Your further observations as to whether Chinese has more purely written language would be appreciated. I did read somethere here on the forums that the language ´used by the media was significantly differnt.

[calibre2001]

When I watch chinese documentaries, I find the spoken language used by the narrator too formal for my level. In a way I find the same to be the case for English documentaries. So could we say that for both languages the use of written forms in speech is considered more high-class?