Should We Ban Internet Slang in News and Formal Documents?
The Internet slang words have become very popular among young people. They use terms such as “CU” for “see you” and “PK” for “competition”. But now the Internet slang terms are forbidden in official documents, news broadcasts and textbooks in Shanghai. The public hold different views on the regulation. Some people think such kind of terms will rock our traditional language. But others say the terms are vivid and accurate. There is no need to ban them. As far as I am concerned, we should not simply ban the Internet slang terms, but distinguish the good from the bad, and guide people to use the language appropriately.
Some people hold the negative opinion about the Internet slang terms. They think the young people are in the critical period of learning the knowledge and forming their values. For them, it is very important to use the standard language. In the virtue world, they use language at their will. If such kind of language is used in news and formal documents, it will do harm to the healthy development of language, even to our tradition and culture.
Their worries are justified, but the language has its own regulations as it is developing. As a flexible language, the Internet language has the feature of newness simplicity and humor, which can help to make the text vivid and interesting. This kind of language is with the feature of the times. In the early 20th century, Hu Shi and Chen Duxiu advocated to use the classical Chinese. At first, it was criticized seriously. But the reality proved the worth of the movement. In the development of language, there will be new words and terms, some of which are living, and some are not.
The good Internet slang terms will help our language become better and richer. As for some not-so-good ones, they will be washed out naturally. Some Internet slang terms have the same form with the characters, and the meaning they have are relatively stable. So they are very likely to enter the classical Chinese. So we should not factitiously ban the new-born words and terms in news and documents. The fittest will survive.In conclusion, we should not ban the Internet slang terms in news and official documents.If the vigorous Internet slang terms can stand the test of time, they will be accepted at last.