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.
‘SMEAR CAMPAIGN’: The ‘Global Times’ accused the DPP of offering politicians in Somaliland bribes and promoting Taiwanese independence by funding US think tanks The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday denounced China’s Global Times for disseminating disinformation about Taiwan, after the Chinese state-run newspaper claimed that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been bribing Somaliland politicians. Taiwan in August last year inaugurated the Taiwan Representative Office in the Republic of Somaliland, which is the nation’s only representative office whose title uses just the name “Taiwan.” The East African country also established a representative office in Taipei, despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations. The Chinese-language Global Times on Monday accused the DPP of offering Somaliland politicians and their families considerable bribes, citing anonymous sources. The International Cooperation
Phase 2 clinical trial results of the Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp’s COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday were published on the Web site of The Lancet: Respiratory Medicine, in an early preview before publication. The study paves the way for other nations to issue emergency use authorizations or produce the Medigen vaccine, given The Lancet’s credibility as a highly respected medical journal with a rigorous peer-review process, Medigen’s international affairs director Lien Chia-en (連加恩) said. Lien said that the study is important as it proposes methods for converting international units for efficacy comparisons. The methods have been used for correlating the efficacy of hepatitis B
Ambassador Theaters on Tuesday announced that its Breeze Center cinemas in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) would close late this month after screening thousands of major Hollywood movies and local favorites over two decades. Ambassador Theaters, one of the largest cinema chain operators in Taiwan, said that Oct. 25 would be the last day the Breeze Center cinemas screen movies, adding that its lease expires on that day. “We sincerely appreciate the support and recognition from audiences in Taipei over the past 20 years,” the company said. “We look forward to seeing you again in the future.” The cinemas started operating in 2001, upon
BUMPING AROUND: A total of 143 people sustained fall injuries at MRT stations or inside trains over eight months, with a majority caused by ‘distracted walking’ Taipei Rapid Transit Corp yesterday urged people to avoid looking at their phones when walking, saying 73 cases of “distracted walking injuries” had occurred in the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system from January to August. As the local COVID-19 situation has been brought under control, passenger traffic has been increasing, reaching about 1.5 million rides per day last month, the company said. However, many passengers have been looking at their phones as they walk through MRT stations, which can lead to collisions with other passengers or injury from falling down stairs. A total of 143 people sustained fall injuries at MRT stations
RSS