Cabinet spells out rules to standardize Romanization

Pointing to increased globalization, the Cabinet on Aug. 22 announced the five guidelines for Romanization to integrate the various systems employed in Taiwan.

On July 10, controversy over the nation's system of Romanization diminished when the government announced it would adopt Tongyong Pinyin -- created by pro-Taiwan linguists who claim that their system is better than the more popular Hanyu Pinyin.

Under the guidelines, the Tongyong system would be used for all Romanized place names.

But places with international fame would not change their original spellings, according to the guidelines.

In addition, the names of major cities, counties, international airports and ports should follow the Cabinet's official spellings.

Also, citizens' names on passports and household-registration books should follow the Tongyong system. But those who have already had their names Romanized using a different system needn't change the original spelling. The Romanization of children's family names would also match that of their parents.

Moreover, apart from the Mandarin phonetic symbols -- otherwise known as the "bopomofo" system -- the guidelines require language teachers to abandon the more popular Hanyu system and use the Tongyong system when teaching Mandarin to foreigners.

The Cabinet hopes to standardize the Romanization of all street signs by 2007. It also plans to complete the construction of English computer Web sites of key government agencies and provide multilingual services by that time.

To improve the nation's competitiveness, Premier Yu Shyi-kun officially introduced the Challenge 2008 Plan in May. The first project outlined in the plan is the cultivation of talent for the "e-generation" -- with a special focus on mastering English and other languages.

Under the plan, Taiwan should designate English a quasi-official language and expand the use of English as a part of daily life.