A new language is becoming more and more popular among China’s 87 million Internet users, especially young netsurfers.

It consists of Chinese characters mingled with English letters and words, images, symbols and numbers.

The internet language has spread so fast that some netizens have compiled a special dictionary consisting of more than 1,000 newly-designed cyber words.

Lin Yunfu, an associate professor with the Xi’an-based Northwest University, says Internet language is characterized with conciseness, better visualization, strong humour and reflects the creativity and personality of young people.
Others believe that it is a normal phenomenon and a necessary stage in the development of Chinese.

But opponents blast the toleration of Internet language as “inappropriate” and “irresponsible,” fearing that the abusive use of Internet language will finally undermine standard use of Chinese.

Educators warn that young people may fall victim to Internet language and media reports that Internet language has been creeping into primary school students’ spoken Chinese and even their school work.

Meanwhile, more parents express deep worry about the “digital gap” between them and their children, who prefer to use Internet language to show off their personality.

From China Daily, via Chinal Digital News.