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Forum aims for equality of languages

Academics and Hakka groups yesterday gathered to brainstorm how to encourage a pluralistic, multicultural society and condemned past government policies that promoted a monolingual nation.

A forum held yesterday in Taipei by the Taiwan Society Hakka focused on reviewing past language policies and envisioning a more pluralistic Taiwan.

Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual society with more than 15 languages, participants said.

"Languages are not just tools for communication; Behind every language there is a culture," said Chi Chun-chieh (紀駿傑), a professor at National Dong Hwa University's Institute of Ethnic Relations and Culture.

Language policies during the Japanese colonial rule and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime were intended to create a single-language society, said Chen Chun-kai (陳君愷), a history professor at Fu-jen Catholic University.

"Both the Japanese and the KMT used punishment and humiliation to force people to stop speaking their mother tongues," he said.

Such measures included fines and being forced to carry humiliating plaques or to undergo public derision.

"It not only hurt the cultures, but also the self-esteem of an entire population," he said.

Reversing the damage will require coordination of educational, legislative and administrative efforts, participants argued.

Legislation should protect and promote cultural and linguistic pluralism, while administrative efforts develop policies that support the legislation in practice, said Chiu Jung-chu (邱榮舉), a representative from a Hakka group and an academic who researches Hakka culture. Educational efforts should promote the ideals of mutual respect and understanding among ethnicities.

"To achieve true equality, we must admit we're different, learn to respect our differences and find a way to communicate with each other," President of the Association for Hakka Studies Chang Wei-an (張維安) said.

The use of various languages at the forum was offered as an example of promoting linguistic equality.

The organizer encouraged all speakers to speak in their languages of choice, while a team of volunteers provided simultaneous interpretation between Hakka, Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese) and Mandarin.

"We wanted to provide the service so that people can be free to talk in their language of choice," said Chuang Chen Yueh-hsiu (莊陳月琇), who organized the team of volunteers.

Participants proposed ideas for the government to promote Taiwan's endangered languages.

"I think townships where Hakkas are the ethnic majority could be declared Hakka autonomous regions" Council for Hakka Affairs Chairman Lee Yung-te (李永得) said, adding that such an option could be voted on in referendums.

"In these autonomous regions, it would be encouraged to conduct everything from government administration to education to people's daily lives in Hakka, while Mandarin would be taught as a tool to communicate with people from other regions," Lee said. "The same thing would work for Hoklo or Aborigines as well."

"The government should provide the linguistic environment and motivation [necessary] for linguistic restoration," Chi said.
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