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Taiwan 2001 |
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Language |
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Language in Taiwan TodayAlthough Mandarin is standardized nationwide, each region speaks its own local version of it, usually reflecting influence from the native dialects of the area. These regional variations of Mandarin are perhaps not even as great as the differences between British and American English, but are definable. Typical Taiwan Mandarin, for example, exhibits four major differences from the Mandarin spoken in Beijing:
These characteristics are likely attributable, at least in part, to influence from the Southern Fujianese dialect widely spoken throughout the Taiwan area. Apart from these four major differences, there are also some relatively minor vocabulary and grammatical differences between the Mandarin spoken in Taiwan and on the Chinese mainland. For many years, Chinese dialects like Southern Fujianese and Hakka 客家, as well as the aborigine languages, were not given much official attention in Taiwan. In the process of making sure everyone mastered the common national language, the importance of other dialects and languages was played down. Taiwanese dialect pop songs tended in the past to be stereotyped and relegated to a subordinate position in the market. In recent years, however, Southern Fujianese has entered the mainstream of popular culture. Singers are often expected to produce at least a few songs or an album in Southern Fujianese. Use of Southern Fujianese in advertising and business--from TV commercials to restaurant names--is considered fashionable. Bookstores now offer entire sections of literature written in a style reflecting spoken Southern Fujianese. Hakka, on the other hand, is being spoken less by younger generations who favor Mandarin and Southern Fujianese. Many aboriginal people are bilingual and have been assimilated into mainstream society. Although more people today are willing to identify with their aboriginal ancestry than in the past, the new generation who grew up in cities can no longer converse in their ancestral tongues. To encourage research on Southern Fujianese, Hakka, other Chinese dialects, and non-Han languages, the MOE offers various levels of financial support in the form of awards for scholarly publications in these areas. Taiwan society is a rich mixture of diverse cultures, and more people on the island are becoming aware of the importance of preserving various languages and dialects. This awareness has become the propelling force behind government efforts to promote "nativist" education 鄉土教育 in elementary, junior high, and senior high schools. The goal of nativist education is to teach students about the natural history, geography, environment, dialects, arts, and culture of Taiwan, and thus cultivate an affection for Taiwan and respect for the island's different cultures and ethnic groups. Under initial plans adopted by the MOE in 1997 for promoting nativist education, bilingual education is a primary focus.
Bilingual EducationBilingual education has been introduced in the Taiwan area as a way of reversing the previous neglect of Chinese dialects other than Mandarin. The central government has been lagging behind several steps in its proponents for bilingual education; thus, the magistrates of three counties, making good on campaign promises, chose to "jump the gun" and institute programs in the areas under their jurisdiction prior to any decision by the central authorities. Ilan County 宜蘭縣 was the first to initiate Southern Fujianese courses in elementary and junior high schools. The program was heralded by a county order in June 1990 that students should no longer be discouraged from or punished for speaking dialects at school. Pingtung County 屏東縣 followed suit in September 1991, and elective courses in Southern Fujianese, Hakka, and the Paiwan 排灣 and Rukai 魯凱 aboriginal languages are now taught in selected county schools. Additional activities, such as speech and singing contests, have also been held to further motivate students. These events led to the production of a full multicultural program of music and dance which was performed islandwide. Extracurricular Atayal 泰雅 language lessons made their debut in 1990 at Taipei County's Wulai 烏來 elementary and junior high schools, where the majority of students are Atayal aborigines. In the absence of ready-made teaching materials, teachers depended almost solely on a blackboard and their own ingenuity. Some were not very fluent in their ancestral language, and had to learn it themselves as they went along. Materials were compiled as courses were developed. In 1992, the Taipei County Government 臺北縣政府 commissioned its Bureau of Education 臺北縣政府教育局 and the Taipei County Cultural Center 臺北縣立文化中心 to compile teaching materials for the two most prevalent Chinese dialects in Taiwan, Southern Fujianese and Hakka, and two aboriginal languages, Ami 阿美 and Atayal. The center was also asked to publish a county periodical on bilingual education; sponsor community and campus activities; establish a teacher consultation center; and conduct teacher training programs, teaching workshops and romanization contests. Textbooks compiled by linguistic specialists include content concerning the geography, history, famous people, religion, and arts of Taiwan. However, the promotion of bilingual education by local governments has faced many obstacles. One of the obstacles comes from parents who do not support bilingual instruction programs. Some parents worry that instruction time spent gaining competence in a chosen Chinese dialect or aboriginal language might negatively affect a student's ability to compose in standard written Chinese (see section on the Written Language), and possibly result in lower scores on college entrance exams. Other parents feel that the usefulness of their native language is limited. "Wouldn't it be better to teach English or Japanese instead?" they reason. For aborigines who are less well off, economic and social advancement is a much more urgent concern; bilingual education may be a luxury that they feel they cannot afford. To remedy the situation, the MOE revised guidelines and amended curriculum standards for elementary and junior high schools. Starting in September 2001, primary school students will be required to take at least one course on a local language, such as Southern Fujianese, Hakka, or an aboriginal language. For junior high school students, however, such language courses will remain an elective. Furthermore, the revised guidelines clearly stipulate that schools may teach in dialects. The government supports such courses with various levels of funding for compiling teaching materials, publishing teacher handbooks, holding teacher workshops, producing audio and video cassettes, and collecting teaching materials. Another obstacle is the absence of generally agreed-upon standard written forms for each of the Chinese dialects and aboriginal languages. Different phonetic systems have been proposed and tried. The choices for representing aboriginal languages in the written content of textbooks range from a number of romanization schemes to a phonetic symbol-based system similar to that for Mandarin. For Southern Fujianese and Hakka, the use of Chinese characters with no phonetic alphabet is a third option. However, simply using standard Chinese characters is problematic, since they may only indirectly indicate pronunciation, and some dialects lack widely known, written characters for some of their words. Mandarin Phonetic Symbols have sometimes been adapted to represent Chinese dialects and aboriginal languages. But because MPS is a part-alphabet, part-syllabary system created primarily for the language's relatively simple phonological and tonal structure, they are not particularly well-adapted for use with other dialects. This is especially true with multisyllabic Austronesian languages like Taiwan's aboriginal tongues. Romanization systems are perhaps the most flexible and precise and are well suited to serve as the primary writing system for aboriginal languages. In addition, they can serve as an auxiliary system for teaching Chinese dialects. For example, the romanization system developed by missionaries for Southern Fujianese has a long history and is currently in widespread use, so it would seem a natural candidate as a standard phonetic alphabet. As things stand, each method tends to start from scratch and contribute yet another idiosyncratic system to the existing jumble. Thus, progress is often held back simply due to indecision about which system to adopt in education. Nonetheless, a new system must be decided to accommodate both localization and globalization. In August 1994, the MOE established a task force, composed of experts from the Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica, to research dialects and aboriginal languages and establish guidelines for teaching them. A guidebook of auxiliary teaching materials for dialects in junior and senior high schools which proposed a Taiwan language phonetic system was published by the task force in March 1995. The project also involves developing materials for aboriginal languages, including Atayal, Ami, Yami 雅美, Paiwan, Rukai, Puyuma 卑南, Tsou 鄒, Bunun 布農, Saisiyat 賽夏, Kavalan 噶瑪蘭, and Sedeka 賽德克. Moreover, the Legislative Yuan passed the Aboriginal Education Act 原住民教育法 in 1998, which stipulates that the government should provide aborigines with opportunities to learn their native languages, history and culture at preschools and elementary schools in their hometowns. In January 1998, the MOE promulgated the Taiwan language phonetic system after some moderate changes were made in line with the romanization system developed by missionaries. Since then, official phonetic systems for Southern Fujianese and Hakka as well as phonetic symbols for aboriginal languages in Taiwan have been established. However, the adoption of this system is not compulsory. Academic or private sector groups are free to develop their own phonetic systems for dialect materials. The first official Min-nan Yu (Southern Fujianese dialect) Dictionary 閩南語辭典 was published in 2000 to assist with the implementation of Southern Fujianese courses in schools. It consists of Chinese characters and the Phonetic System for Taiwan's Min-nan Dialect 臺灣閩南語音標系統 developed by the MOE. The pronunciation is based on the widely used Tainan accent. The Taipei City Bureau of Education 臺北市教育局 published the first set of official Southern Fujianese textbooks for kindergarten students in January 2000. Other teaching materials include posters, CDs, videos and various teaching aids. In May 2000, a series of aboriginal language textbooks were also published by an independent publishing house. Foreign Language EducationIn order to promote the internationalization of the ROC, the MOE has planned to extend the teaching of foreign languages to the elementary-school level. The MOE has focused on English as its first target in foreign language education. After assessment by scholars, educators, and school representatives, the MOE has scheduled the teaching of English to fifth and sixth grade students, beginning in the academic year 2001. The MOE has compiled textbooks and begun recruitment of teachers for this new curriculum. In 1999, a total of 3,536 individuals passed the qualification test, becoming the first group of English teacher candidates for elementary schools. These candidates will still be expected to attend special courses for professional training to complete the requirements of the MOE. In view of the need for globalization, the MOE is promoting the Second Foreign Language Education Five-year Program for Senior High Schools 高級中學第二外語教育五年計畫 from July 1999 to December 2004, in addition to the compulsory English courses scheduled for primary school students. Although other languages are not excluded from the program, the focus is on Japanese, French, German and Spanish. Between September 1999 and July 2000, there were 264 Japanese classes, 64 French classes, 51 German classes, and 11 Spanish classes offered around the island. Under the multitrack admission policy, students attending these classes will have the advantage of gaining admission to related language departments in universities (see Education). Further Reading (in Chinese unless otherwise noted): Ang Uijin 洪惟仁. Tai-wan fang-yen chih lu 臺灣方言之旅 (An Excursion into the Dialects of Taiwan). Taipei: Avanguard 前衛出版社, 1992. Chao, Yuen Ren 趙元任. A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Cheng, Robert L. 鄭良偉. Yen-pien-chung ti Tai-wan she-hui yu-wen: to-yu she-hui chi shuang-yu chiao-yu 演變中的臺灣社會語文：多語社會及雙語教育 (Taiwan's Society and Language in Transition: A Multilingual Society and Bilingual Education). Taipei: Independence Evening News 自立晚報出版社, 1990. Forrest, R. A. D. The Chinese Language (in English). London: Faber and Faber, 1973. Huang Tung-chiu 黃東秋, ed. Tai-wan yuan-chu-min yu-yen min-su yen-chiu 臺灣原住民語言民俗研究 (A Study of Taiwan Aborigine Customs and Languages). Taipei: Crane Publishing 文鶴出版社, 1993. Kuo-wen tien-ti 國文天地 (The World of Chinese Language and Literature). Taipei, monthly. Kuo-yin hsueh 國音學 (A Study of Mandarin Phonology). National Taiwan Normal University, Committee for the Compilation of Mandarin Phonology Teaching Materials, ed. Taipei: Cheng Chung 正中 Bookstore, 1982; 1993. Li, Charles N. & Sandra A. Thompson. Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar (in English). Lo Chao-chin 羅肇錦. Ke-yu yu-fa 客語語法 (A Grammar of the Hakka Dialect). Taipei: Student Book Store 學生書局, 1985. Lo Chao-chin 羅肇錦. Kuo-yu hsueh 國語學 (A Study of the National Chinese Language). Taipei: Wunan Publishers 五南出版社, 1990. Norman, Jerry. Chinese (in English). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Ramsey, S. Robert. The Languages of China (in English). Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989. Tai-yu wen-chai 臺語文摘 (Taiwanese Digest). Taipei, monthly. Tung Kun 董琨. Han-tzu fa-chan shih-hua 漢字發展史話 (The Evolution History of the Chinese Characters). Taipei: Taiwan Commercial Publication Co. Ltd. 台灣商務印書館, 1993. Yang Hsiu-fang 楊秀芳. Tai-wan Min-nan-yu yu-fa kao 臺灣閩南語語法稿 (A Grammar of the Southern Min Dialect in Taiwan). Taipei: Tah-an Publishers 大安出版社, 1991.
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has generally merged with the dental sibilants ts-, ts', s-.
suffix common in Beijing is rarely used in Taiwan. 