A taxi driver working in Greater Kaohsiung, worried that the Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), Hakka and Aboriginal languages are gradually dying off, has been giving out flyers to customers urging parents to respect their children’s right to inherit their native language by using it with them.
He also thinks the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) may owe Taiwanese compensation for enforcing a Mandarin-first policy for decades.
Pan Ching-hsiung (潘清雄), 65, who was born in Pingtung County’s Yanpu Township (鹽埔), has been driving a cab since he was 34. He said that in many conversations with his passengers, he found that although they knew how to speak Hoklo, they chose not to.
Photo: Hung Ting-hung, Taipei Times
Curious about such reluctance, Pan began his very own survey of passengers 13 years ago. To reduce awkwardness and lessen chances of conflict, Pan said he often started by asking his passengers, in Hoklo, why they didn’t talk to their children in Hoklo.
Although most replied that it was because teaching Hoklo is difficult, Pan said he suspected that the real reason was that they deemed it classier to use Mandarin.
Once he met a mother who used English to talk to her child and Pan said he took the opportunity to suggest to her that her child was still young and could learn English later and that every-day conversation should be conducted in native languages.
“Once you learn how to speak a native language when you are young, it is with you forever,” he said. “Therefore the sequence of language learning should be be oral fluency in native languages, then Mandarin and then a foreign language.”
To promote the importance of a balance in learning three languages — a native language, Mandarin and a foreign language — Pan registered a trademark with the Intellectual Property Office last year under the Tungling Tri-language Balanced Learning Kindergarten.
Pan’s intent was not to found a kindergarten, but to promote the idea that parents should be required to speak in their native language with their children in order to preserve the native languages.
Pan said the promotion of Mandarin by the former KMT administration during the Martial Law era (from May 20, 1949, to July 15, 1987) was an erroneous policy that has ended up threatening the viability of native languages.
Pan said he has asked the Taiwanese Mother Language League to consider establishing a committee to seek compensation from the KMT for the Taiwanese who have lost the right to speak or inherit their native languages.
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
RSS