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.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all