Professors and lawmakers condemned the government's policy on indigenous languages yesterday, saying that poor administration was to blame for the gradual disappearance of languages spoken by minority groups in Taiwan.
"Language is the most pivotal element for a culture. To maintain a culture, one must first work on the continuation of its languages. But the protection of languages used by minority ethnic groups in Taiwan has never been placed on the government's agenda. This is because there has never been a clear language policy," said Fan Jenn-chyan (范振乾), an associate professor at National Taipei College of Business.
There are around four million Hakkas in Taiwan -- the country's second-largest ethnic group, next to Hokkien -- and they account for approximately 18.5 percent of the entire 23 million on Taiwan. But only half of the Hakkas are able to speak their mother tongue, according to Fan.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMESN
"The Hakka language is on the verge of extinction if authorities fail to provide a more effective language policy," he said.
Fan, of Hakka origin, made an urgent appeal at yesterday's public hearing at the Legislative Yuan, hosted by New Party Legislator Cheng Long-shui (鄭龍水). The hearing was called to discuss the country's language policy and the difficulties faced by the Ministry of Education prior to the start of native language instruction at elementary schools starting next September.
Others representing various minority ethnic groups agreed with Fan's assessment. They included lawmaker Payen Talu (巴燕達魯), minister of Taiwan's Presbyterian Church Sing 'Olam (林生安) and a professor at National Chengchi University Peng Chin-ching (彭欽清).
Participants at the hearing shared the view that the government should be held accountable for the extinction of languages used by non-Han people in Taiwan.
"For the past 50 years, the government has been focusing its efforts on promoting Mandarin under the pretext that the standardization of language in a country would facilitate racial harmony among various ethnic groups. Languages spoken by minority groups are consequently sacrificed by such bigotry," they said.
"With the introduction of the mandatory indigenous languages instruction in schools, there seems to be some recognition of the importance of the issue. Unfortunately, the program was hastily put together and lacks adequate preparation. Ultimately, this will prove to be a false start for the betterment of native languages."
During the discussion, scholars criticized the lack of qualified language teachers to satisfy the requirements of the language program.
"How can the instruction be efficient without capable teachers? The program will begin within a year, but we do not know where we can find qualified teachers," Fan said.
Chang Jiunn-yih (
"First of all, there are very few Aboriginal teachers who can speak their mother tongues," he said. "Even when they do [speak their native languages,] they do not teach in the region where the native tongue is spoken."
In light of such difficulties, Chang suggested that the education ministry first locate Aboriginal teachers who are capable of speaking their native languages, then encourage these teachers to return to their hometowns to teach.
Sing 'Olam said that given the rarity of teachers who could teach Aboriginal languages, the education ministry should relax its rules, which stipulate that only teachers with official teaching certificates can teach at schools. He said that church missionaries or the Aboriginal elderly should also be recognized as instructors after receiving proper training.
Meanwhile, lawmakers said the lack of a standardized phonetic system would make learning the languages very difficult.
Reports show that native language programs have been offered by local governments for the past few years, but there are no consistent phonetic symbols. Materials in use vary from county to county.
In response to such questioning, Tsao Feng-fu (曹逢甫), director of the education ministry's Mandarin Promotion Council, said that he would recommend adoption of the traditional phonetic symbols used in Taiwan, which would be supplemented by notation that would be needed in specific cases.
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