President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday applauded the launch of an online cross-strait Chinese dictionary that incorporates a database on the languages used in Taiwan and China, a move to further bilateral cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.
The launch of the online Chinese Language Knowledge Database (中華語文知識庫), compiled by the General Association of -Chinese Culture (GACC), an institution under the Presidential Office, implemented one of Ma’s campaign promises during the 2008 presidential election to establish a cross-strait dictionary and facilitate cross-strait cultural exchanges as people on either side of the Taiwan Strait use different Chinese characters and phrases.
“The best way to handle the differences between traditional and simplified Chinese characters is to list both and explain the -differences. The database will help the two sides understand each other and promote cultural exchanges. There are no political intentions,” Ma said at the launch ceremony.
Photo: CNA
While defending the use of traditional Chinese characters since his two terms as Taipei mayor, Ma said it would be difficult to ask China to adopt traditional characters or for Taiwan to use simplified Mandarin instead.
“What we should do is to understand the different languages and look at the characters from a non-political perspective. Maybe the two sides will develop a new set of characters that can be used and -that would be acceptable across the [Taiwan] Strait,” he said.
GACC chairman Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said the database includes a compilation that juxtaposes characters and phrases commonly used by people from both sides of the Strait in their daily lives.
The online platform (chinese--linguipedia.org) can also be operated in a way similar to that of Wikipedia, allowing users to suggest more content or edit posted content after a submission is approved by experts, he said, adding that the association would eventually launch applications to extend the database service to users of smartphones and tablet computers.
The site includes a search -engine that allows users to look up words spoken by people from Taiwan and China. In addition to the definition, it will also show the equivalent used by the other side.
Ma said the database would also help the growing number of people who are learning Mandarin worldwide understand the differences between the languages adopted in Taiwan and China.
One of the examples he gave was the term “playing the trumpet” (吹喇叭), which means “giving someone a blowjob” in Taiwanese slang, but means “fawning over somebody” in China.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Wednesday said that a new chip manufacturing technology called “A16” is to enter production in the second half of 2026, setting up a showdown with longtime rival Intel over who can make the fastest chips. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of advanced computing chips and a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, announced the news at a conference in Santa Clara, California, where TSMC executives said that makers of artificial intelligence (AI) chips will likely be the first adopters of the technology rather than a smartphone maker. Analysts said that the technologies announced on
NO RECIPROCITY: Taipei has called for cross-strait group travel to resume fully, but Beijing is only allowing people from its Fujian Province to travel to Matsu, the MAC said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday criticized an announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism that it would lift a travel ban to Taiwan only for residents of China’s Fujian Province, saying that the policy does not meet the principles of reciprocity and openness. Chinese Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan (饒權) yesterday morning told a delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in a meeting in Beijing that the ministry would first allow Fujian residents to visit Lienchiang County (Matsu), adding that they would be able to travel to Taiwan proper directly once express ferry
CALL FOR DIALOGUE: The president-elect urged Beijing to engage with Taiwan’s ‘democratically elected and legitimate government’ to promote peace President-elect William Lai (賴清德) yesterday named the new heads of security and cross-strait affairs to take office after his inauguration on May 20, including National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to be the new defense minister and former Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) as minister of foreign affairs. While Koo is to head the Ministry of National Defense and presidential aide Lin is to take over as minister of foreign affairs, Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) would be retained as the nation’s intelligence chief, continuing to serve as director-general of the National Security Bureau, Lai told a news conference in Taipei. Koo,
MANAGING DIFFERENCES: In a meeting days after the US president signed a massive foreign aid bill, Antony Blinken raised concerns with the Chinese president about Taiwan US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and senior Chinese officials, stressing the importance of “responsibly managing” the differences between the US and China as the two sides butt heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues, including Taiwan and the South China Sea. Talks between the two sides have increased over the past few months, even as differences have grown. Blinken said he raised concerns with Xi about Taiwan and the South China Sea, along with China’s support for Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as other issues