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Taiwan considers adding official language | ||
Tags: Taiwanese | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 1 of 11 25 September 2007 at 4:23am | IP Logged | |||||
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http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/03/20/622940-taiwan-mulls -abandoning-official-language
According to the article above, Taiwan might add Taiwanese and Hakka Chinese as official languages on an equal footing with Mandarin. I wonder if that would necessitate new written standards for the two languages, especially Hakka. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| victor Tetraglot Moderator United States Joined 7318 days ago 1098 posts - 1056 votes 6 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 11 25 September 2007 at 6:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The whole thing is a political move that has little to do with protecting the island's cultural interests and linguistic diversity. The de facto common language of the Taiwanese people, particularly outside Taipei, is now Taiwanese (a form of Minnan) since the localization movement where Mandarin is beginning to lose its prestigious status. Politicians, particularly in the pan-green (pro-independence) camp, try to use as little Mandarin as possible.
I'm not sure how much support this has gained in Taiwan since the article appeared in March. It's probably not on anybody's radar now with the whole movement to get Taiwan (back) into the UN. I'm not sure about Hakka, but I have at least seen vernacular Minnan written in characters on TV for drama series. It'd probably never replace standard written Chinese though. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 3 of 11 26 September 2007 at 3:02am | IP Logged | |||||
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Do school children in Taiwan have Taiwanese textbooks? Is there such a thing?
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| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6294 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 4 of 11 26 September 2007 at 8:10am | IP Logged | |||||
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Yes. Taiwanese (close to Minnan) and Hakka textbooks are available for elementary school.
Keep in mind that classical Chinese can be read in Cantonese, Hakka, Minnan, Mandarin, Wu, whatever... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ElfoEscuro Diglot Senior Member United States cyworld.com/brahmapu Joined 6289 days ago 408 posts - 423 votes Speaks: Portuguese, English* Studies: Japanese | Message 5 of 11 27 September 2007 at 7:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
I am pretty sure that the Republic of China will never be allowed to rejoin the United Nations in any way, shape, or form as long as the People's Republic of China is a member. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6702 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese | Message 6 of 11 29 September 2007 at 10:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
But that won't stop them from trying. This is their 15th attempt to join, and as long as they don't get shot for trying, they won't stop. Actually, if it's Mainland China doing the shooting, it might help their case. Oh, and I think it's as long as the PRC is a permanent member of the UN Security Council with full veto powers then ROC under any name will be unable to join. If the UN finally gets off its duff and reforms the security council according to modern conditions and not base it on the victors of WW2, then the ROC _might_ have a chance. Edited by Raincrowlee on 29 September 2007 at 10:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 7 of 11 30 September 2007 at 3:20am | IP Logged | |||||
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To be honest, I don't see why Taiwan wants to join so badly, except for the prestige of a few politicians.
Somewhat on topic: I discovered on Wikipedia the other day that Taiwanese was written with Japanese katakana for a while. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6294 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 8 of 11 30 September 2007 at 9:18am | IP Logged | |||||
You can see that in Japanese colonial-era textbooks where they write the text in Japanese (starting in Katakana in the set I have and then working to Hiragana mixed with Kanji) on one page and Taiwanese (in Katakana) on the facing page. Also in some dictionaries from the colonial era. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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