Language is the key to the future.

　　As a symbol of the country and the nation, language is not only the hard power of the country’s development, but also the strong soft power of the country. The level of national language ability affects the overall strength of the country.

　　On the 14th, the 18th National Publicity Week for Promoting Putonghua was officially launched. This year’s theme is "Promoting Putonghua according to law and enhancing the country’s soft power". Its purpose is not only to mobilize resources from all aspects of society to actively participate in the popularization of the national common language, but also to apply them to many fields such as economy, society and culture. This activity also makes people further understand the importance of language and think about language problems.

　　"The reason why people are human is that they speak." Language is the basic tool for human beings to express their thoughts, acquire knowledge and communicate, and plays an important role as a bridge and link in our lives.

　　Language is the key to a country. When meeting with German sinologists, Confucius Institute teachers’ representatives and students’ representatives in Berlin in March 2014, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader pointed out that "the important tool of communication is language. The charm of a country’s culture and the cohesion of a nation are mainly expressed and transmitted through language. Mastering a language means mastering the key to a country’s culture. " Under the background of world multipolarization, economic globalization, cultural diversity and democratization of international relations, people-to-people communication plays an important role in cooperation between countries. Mastering different languages is conducive to effective communication, which enables people from different cultures, races and countries to know and understand each other in the process of feeling the profound connotation of different civilizations, thus narrowing the distance between people and countries and promoting the mutual tolerance and harmonious coexistence of world civilizations. Especially in the context of the current construction of the Belt and Road, it is as important as the interconnection of material civilization to promote the cultural exchange of countries along the Belt and Road with the exchange of languages, and then promote the "communication between the people".

　　Language is the key to wisdom. With the advent of internet plus, Industry 4.0 and new hardware era, science and technology such as big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things and mobile terminals have developed rapidly, and the intelligence of families, cities and society is getting higher and higher. In the past, many things that had to be done by hands can be easily done with a password or a button in the intelligent society. For example, to dial someone, just say the name of the other person and you can dial the phone; To buy a train ticket, just say the name of the place of origin accurately, and the self-service ticket vending machine will issue the ticket immediately; Turn off the electrical equipment at home, as long as you say the relevant password or verification code, the power will be cut off immediately … In the intelligent society, only universal, standard and standardized languages are effective, and the standardized construction and popularization of standardized languages are particularly important in our lives. It can be said that in the virtual space of the Internet, the effective expression of language plays a key role in the healthy operation of our smart home, smart city and smart society.

　　Language is the key to the future. In the future international competition, the language problem has risen from the general problem to the national level, and language has become a strategic weapon to safeguard national interests and security. As a productive force, language ability has also played a great role in promoting the development of language industry. Statistics show that there are about 1.2 million employees in China’s language industry, and the annual output value of translation and localization business is about 12 billion yuan. Facts show that the language industry has become a new growth point in the future economic development. Fully tapping and rationally utilizing the cultural and economic values of language resources, vigorously developing language resources and supporting the development of language industry will certainly provide new impetus for economic development while providing diversified language services for the society.

　　As a symbol of the country and the nation, language is not only the hard power of national development, but also the strong soft power of the country. The level of national language ability affects the overall strength of the country. The healthy development of language affects the future political, economic and cultural development of the country, and only by winning the future of language can we win the future of the country. We should re-recognize the function and function of language, and the whole society should pay more attention to language and development issues, vigorously strengthen the national and national language capacity building, build a language power, and enhance the soft power of the country. (Yao Xishuang, Director of the Language Application Management Department of the Ministry of Education)