Chong is new council head on Chinese language

PUTRAJAYA: Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon has been appointed the new chairman of the Chinese Language Standardisation Council of Malaysia.

He succeeds Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, who is MCA deputy president, and will lead the council until 2019. It was set up in 2004 to standardise translation in the Chinese language.

Chong said after the council’s meeting here yesterday that new members had been appointed. They consist of representatives from the Education Ministry, Federation of Chinese Associations (Hua Zong), Dong Jiao Zong, members of the media, and the private sector.

“The involvement of the ministry and media is to ensure standardised names and terms approved by the council will also be incorporated into students’ textbooks and the public’s daily exposure,” Chong said.

It is hoped that Chinese textbook terms published in the future and terms used by the media will be standardised.

The council will be divided into six depart- ments that will oversee publishing, usage of Chinese terms, grammar and translation.

Chong said the meeting with the council was productive as they agreed on the standardisation for the Chinese translation of Facebook, Zika virus and the surname “Zhong”. He said Facebook will now be known as lian shu in Mandarin instead of mian zi shu or mian shu, while the Zika virus will be known as zi ka.

“We (the council) have also accepted a request from the Zhong Clan Association of Malaysia to correct the usage of the Chinese character that represents their surnames,” he said.