A Judge's Resignation Letter

[stapler]

And about when less than 50% of the population have finished high school?

[lips]

As opposed to ? % of high school graduates being able to read and write correct English?

[stapler]

Doesn't that just make my case even stronger? Even in English speaking countries where more than 50% of the population have finished high school, people still don't write in Shakespearean English because "enough people have read it in school". Likewise in China, where fewer people have completed high school, not even all those who did pass high school necessarily understand classical Chinese.

[somethingfunny]

I still feel like "most high school students have studied 文言文" is a pretty weak case, especially in China.  But I'll admit that something which conforms to the style and grammatical rules of 文言文 could be easily understandable, as long as it doesn't become too poetic or prone to allusion.

 

Still, given the largely academic nature of the style (One_Eye's examples are from academics, Kenny's is correspondence between high-level politicians, and your own assertion is that people studying history, culture and literature will use it) it does seem a little bit exclusionary.  Even if most people could understand it, how is it likely to make them feel about the process?

[li3wei1]

I don't think court judgements in English-speaking countries are necessarily written in a language that uneducated people understand. I admit I haven't read many, but 'legalese' is often the butt of jokes, and if people want to sound like lawyers they start using a lot of 'whereas' and 'heretofore' and 'aforesaid'. Contracts and laws are written to be understood precisely with no ambiguity, but a certain way of writing has developed amongst the people that write these things that they understand and the rest of us don't. 'murder' means one thing to you and me; to a judge it means at least three things, and they've got three words for it: murder, manslaughter, and homicide. Apparently in the legal profession, judgement and judgment (with and without the e) are two different words with two different meanings. It's not Shakespearean, but it's not taxi-driver-speak either.

[Angelina]

Why did 陳新雄 think the 白話 movement was a mistake?

 

How did it start? I think it was with the publication of 《狂人日记》, inspired by Gogol, following the tradition of using vernacular language to spread literacy to all people. There were works written in vernacular language before, but the 白话 movement had a purpose to make all people literate. 

 

There might have been mistakes in the way it was done, at least I don't see any reason to regard the entire movement as a mistake. 

[Kenny同志]

Quote

A simple court ruling can be written in simple 文言文 and be understood by a Chinese high school graduate, like a simple court ruling written in simple English.

Exactly. Here are a few court rulings from ancient China: 

「晴則雞卵鴨卵，雨則盆滿缽滿；福王若要屋錢，直待光祖任滿。」

「兩牛相鬥，一死一傷。死者共食，生者共耕。」

「鶴繫金牌，犬不識字。禽獸相傷，不關人事。」

「佳人才子兩相宜，致富端由禍所基。判作夫妻永偕老，不勞鑽穴窺於隙。」

「殺賊可恕，不孝當誅。子有餘財，而使父貧為盜，不孝明矣！死何辭焉？」

「此鼠若判笞杖放逐則太輕，若判絞刑凌遲則太重，本官決定判牠宮刑。」

「准准准，准妳嫁夫君。去禪心，超梵心，脫袈裟，換羅裙，免得孫（僧）敲月下門。」

「一半葫蘆一半瓢，合來一處好成桃。從今入定風歸寂，此後敲門月影遙。鳥性悅時空即色，蓮花落處靜偏嬌。是誰勾卻風流案？記取當堂鄭板橋。」

 

http://www.sohu.com/a/147718249_683212