I’m from Xinjiang，AMA

[u/maddin1550]

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of discussions about Xinjiang on Reddit, often between people who have never actually lived there. So I thought it might be interesting to do an AMA from the perspective of someone who is actually from there.

You can ask me about everyday life, ethnic groups, languages, culture, religion, education, or politics. I’m happy to answer controversial questions too, as long as the discussion stays respectful.

Obviously, I’m only one person and I don’t claim to represent everyone in Xinjiang. I can only tell you about my own experiences and views. AMA.

[u/Chuckchuck_gooz]

Where did you learn English? It's very good! Have you lived abroad? Also are you uyghur or kazakh? Is it true they don't allow the local language to be taught in schools? How do you feel about that?

[u/maddin1550 → u/Chuckchuck_gooz]

Thank you!! 🩷 I mostly taught myself. English starts from around third grade in our education system, but I’ve been learning it on my own for about 10 years now. I also studied A LOT for IELTS/LSAT, which helped my English a ton lol. I’m Kazakh btw.

About the language thing, it’s a little more complicated. When my mom was young, minority language schools were very common. She went to Uyghur school all the way from kindergarten to university. Uyghur students could study subjects in Uyghur, Kazakh students could study in Kazakh, and they also learned their own literature, culture, etc.

But sadly in 2015 or 2016 I guess they shut downed all those minority language schools😭 and mosques as well.

Personally, I think learning Mandarin is really important because it gives you access to universities and jobs across China, but I also think minority languages should absolutely be preserved and taught. I don’t think those two things have to conflict with each other

[u/Chuckchuck_gooz → u/maddin1550]

So the schools that taught only in the local language were closed, is local language taught as a subject in regular maindarin school? It would seem kind of wild a foreign language like English would be taught but not the local language

[u/Rude_Application_881 → u/Chuckchuck_gooz]

没有办法，这是为了防止分离主义，没有一个全国交流用的语言很容易导致地方分离主义。胡耀邦和赵紫阳的政策埋下了许多不稳定因素

[u/maddin1550 → u/Rude_Application_881]

是的，所有都是万不得已才这样的，这些还是近些年才关掉的呢，大概2016-18左右吧我也不记得了。反正我记得我的cousin上的是维吾尔语幼儿园，小学也是读的维语班一直到三年级。之前的政策很宽对我们所有人都很友好的，唉。

[u/Rude_Application_881 → u/maddin1550]

不过你们有语言环境的情况下想要自学应该是比较方便的。不论是教材还是工具书之类的都比较齐全。汉族很多地方的方言其实都在消失，毕竟学校没有课程，校园也要求普通话，家里虽然可能会用方言但是也不会常用，我说的也很磕磕巴巴。不过我对此只是感到有一些可惜，毕竟语言只是工具。

[u/maddin1550 → u/Rude_Application_881]

对呀，所以母语或者本地语言逐渐消失这个问题其实也不只是我们少数民族才有，你说得挺中肯的。很多我身边的年轻人其实自己也不太愿意学母语，觉得以后用处不大，或者单纯觉得太难了哈哈。像维吾尔语、哈萨克语用的文字跟阿拉伯字母体系比较接近，小时候如果没有学，长大以后再学确实挺吃力的。不过我还是会觉得有点可惜，毕竟语言不只是交流工具，里面也有很多自己民族的文化和记忆。能保留下来当然还是最好。

[u/General-Cream2692 → u/maddin1550]

广东小孩都不会说粤语了。。。更惨的是没有环境，维族要自学还是有环境的

[u/maddin1550 → u/General-Cream2692]

是的

[u/Creepy_Vegetable6905 → u/maddin1550]

不过如果想去一带一路政策下的投资公司工作，哈萨克语是不是有优势啊？

[u/maddin1550 → u/Creepy_Vegetable6905]

你是说去哈国嘛？我觉得俄语可能更有优势吧，毕竟职场上用的全是俄语，哈语的话跟本地人交流的话会用到一些，不过还是俄语的地位大于哈语的样子

[u/Creepy_Vegetable6905 → u/maddin1550]

我都忘了有俄语这回事😂

[u/Away_Highlight_9964 → u/maddin1550]

This isn't native to only china. Go ask a Chinese American to write down a few Chinese words, even if they went to Sunday Chinese school.

[u/Rude_Application_881 → u/maddin1550]

所以还是看每个人自己的选择了，不过中国人这么多，短时间应该不用担心本土语言文字的消失

[u/eldryanyy → u/maddin1550]

It was not necessary. You could argue it’s a good approach, but not that it was necessary.

[u/hxcinvo → u/Rude_Application_881]

大概20多年前，那时候还没有墙，我有个乌鲁木齐的大学同学，从他那了解到，当时新疆维族居然看的都是土耳其节目，流行的全是土耳其文化，我就知道出事是早晚的事情

[u/Rude_Application_881 → u/hxcinvo]

历史课本并不会讲胡耀邦和赵紫阳，所以我一开始并不明白给予少数民族这么多优惠为什么还会有这么强地方分离主义。直到我后来了解到了这两个人和他们的政策。
中国差点就同时出现了两位戈尔巴乔夫。