Illustration: Lu Ting/GT

If you ever happen to come across a number of foreigners speaking a language you don't immediately recognize, don't be too surprised. They may well be speaking the Shanghai dialect.

And in the battle to preserve this endangered dialect, the existence of expats learning Shanghainese could be a useful factor in ensuring its survival.

A report from local media last week said that overseas students can now take up a course in the Shanghai dialect at Tongji University specifically tailored for foreigners. The course lasts for four years and is fully enrolled. Its popularity indicates there is a great demand for learning the Shanghai dialect among overseas students. This is in contrast to reports in this very paper that show the Shanghai's younger generation are less inclined to speak their native dialect in favor of the far more widely used Putonghua. Qian Nairong, a professor of Chinese language at Shanghai University was quoted in the Global Times this February as saying that if this situation continues, the Shanghai dialect could disappear within 20 years.

At Tongji University, foreigners learn not only the dialect itself but also the Shanghainese culture in which it was nurtured. For example, most foreigners initially understand the Chinese word ayi to mean "aunt." But now they can learn that the term ayi has another meaning in the Shanghai dialect, that of "babysitter" or "cleaner." Becoming aware of these very specific, localized linguistic meanings can only lead to a deeper interaction and understanding between foreigners and their local neighbors and friends.

A dialect is only alive when it is being spoken, and the best way to preserve a dialect is to use it. So foreigners learning and practicing their new found skills in real life can only contribute to the preservation of the dialect, something that we should all welcome and encourage.

From the point of view of Shanghainese people, one also hopes that the idea of outsiders learning their dialect will act as an incentive to make greater efforts to preserve their culture and heritage.

One Chinese, non-Shanghainese student attending the Shanghainese dialect course at Tongji admitted to being stunned by the progress and abilities of many of these overseas students. "They don't speak with a foreign accent at all," he said. "In fact they speak the Shanghai dialect much better than me!" One netizen discussing the subject online wrote: "Now, even foreigners know how to ru xiang sui su (When in Rome do as the Romans do). He added: "As a true advocate for the preservation of Cantonese, I fully support and appreciate people - wherever they are from - who are trying to preserve the Shanghai dialect." The responses of many netizens show there is indeed a genuine desire among locals and non-locals to treasure the Shanghai dialect. And one can only hope that the phenomenon of foreigners learning the dialect will help to keep this issue on the news agenda and in the public consciousness. In this way positive, concrete steps can be taken to ensure that Shanghainese doesn't become just one more lost language that is only written about in the history books.