Local language preservation activists demonstrated outside the legislature yesterday, criticizing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for deleting a NT$40 million (US$1.1 million) budget for proficiency tests in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese) earlier this month.
“Hakka and Aboriginal languages are in a critical situation at this moment, and Hoklo is not far from it either — so we need to save it now,” said Tainan City Councilor Lee Wen-cheng (李文正) of the Democratic Progressive Party, who led the demonstration.
“What the KMT is doing right now is trying to murder our language and destroy our culture,” he told the crowd.
KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) initiated the motion to delete the NT$40 million budget submitted by the Ministry of Education to hold Hoklo proficiency tests this year. The motion was backed by the KMT caucus and quickly passed. Hung said at the time that she was only trying to save taxpayers’ money.
“I’m not against preserving languages, but the education ministry has other budgets related to languages and cultures,” she said. “Besides, we don’t have enough good teachers and there are too many different versions of materials.”
The legislators’ move upset local language preservation activists.
“There are language proficiency tests for Aboriginal and Hakka languages — we even have an English proficiency test in this country, where English is not a native language,” Taiwan Romanization Association chairman Ho Sin-han (何信翰) said yesterday. “Why can’t we have a Hoklo proficiency test?”
The Council of Indigenous Peoples spent more than NT$110 million on Aboriginal language proficiency tests, Ho said.
“Is NT$40 million really too much for KMT?” he said.
Tiunn Hak-khiam (張學謙), a professor of Chinese language and literature at National Taitung University, agreed with Ho.
“If saving money is really so important, why does the government want to spend more than NT$1 billion to change the Romanization on road signs to Hanyu Pinyin? We could just use 10 percent of that NT$1 billion for the Hoklo proficiency tests,” he said.
Li Khin-huann (李勤岸), a cofounder of the Global Coalition for Taiwanese Languages, said he was concerned about the quality of Hoklo language education without the proficiency tests.
“If we want a well-established Hoklo language education, we need certified teachers, and a proficiency test would be a good measurement for the teachers,” Li said.
“I’m worried how far a quality Hoklo language education can go without a well-established proficiency test,” Li said.
The ministry originally planned to require all Hoklo teachers to pass the proficiency test by 2011.
No one from the KMT caucus came out to take the demonstrators’ petition.
However, Deputy Minister of Education Wu Tsai-shun (吳財順) met with them and promised the ministry would still try to organize a Hoklo proficiency test on a smaller scale by getting money from different departments.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS