A Shanghai software designer said Sunday that he plans to launch the city's first free Shanghai dialect texting application for Android phones this week, in an effort to promote a user-friendly way to keep the dying language alive.
Wu Wei said that while he has poured tens of thousands of yuan into the project spawned in 2008, he has no plans to make any money off his work that boasts a pinyin-input method for some 200,000 words and phrases.
Wu said that he ultimately hopes his application can help reverse the effects of a Putonghua-based education system, which has contributed to a decline in the use of the dialect by local people in recent years.
"I'm putting it on the Android market for free sometime this week, after all the last-minute kinks have been sorted out," he told the Global Times Sunday.
"My goal is to help keep the Shanghai dialect alive and strong," he added.
Wu added that it should take users less than 20 minutes to familiarize themselves with the application.
"Even newer words that are popular among young people today are included in the application," he said.
Qian Nairong, who created a digital Shanghai dialect dictionary - a PC-based pinyin-input system launched in 2008, and is renowned for his study of the language as a professor at Shanghai University - has also tested the application and said that it should also "prove to be a valuable learning tool for young Shanghai people."
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