Romanization confusion
The protest by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters at the Taipei city bus station is — like many of this party’s initiatives — pointless and misguided (“Protesters support Tongyong,” Nov. 21, page 2). Criticism of the move to Hanyu Pinyin by the city government — to the effect that the system was devised in China — is hypocritical, considering that the Chinese characters used by Taiwanese (including DPP members and its supporters) were also developed in China. It only makes sense that the romanization of these characters might also have originated there.
The romanization of Chinese characters in Taiwan is an issue that mostly affects foreigners and visitors to Taiwan, not its residents. Taiwanese students use Zhuyin to learn the pronunciation of Chinese characters and thus do not have any practical use for any of the romanizartion used on public signs. Visitors to Taiwan with no formal training in Chinese have a general idea of pronunciation based on hearing the city names in news broadcasts.
The overwhelming majority of those with formal training in the Chinese language, including ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia, learn Hanyu Pinyin, upon which they rely when they are unfamiliar with the pronunciation of a certain character. Visitors are thus quite likely to mispronounce place names when using Tongyong Pinyin, especially for places like Taixi (Taishi), which would sound like “a temple on a platform” when pronounced by a Mandarin student.
The myriad romanization systems used in Taiwan is ultimately confusing. The spelling of roads named after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) are a case in point. I have seen the spelling Chungcheng, Jungjeng, Jhongjheng and Zhongzheng, often with different spellings at different stretches on the same road. The entire country should adopt a single standard to help visitors. Anyone trying to buy a ticket to Jilong (Keelung) using its Wade-Giles spelling would quickly agree.
DEREK HANNA
Formerly of Taoyuan,
Koh Tao, Surat Thani, Thailand
In reading the news over the last few weeks, one has seen a recurring topic: Chinese language policy.
In one article, a dispute is mentioned in which some citizens, proud of their strong Taiwanese culture, insist that Tongyong Pinyin be used on street signs. While Taiwan’s use of the system was historically one large mark of its individuality, current Chinese language pedagogy has been standardized throughout the world.
This standardization very often includes the use of the Hanyu Pinyin system. Since native Taiwanese have no problem reading street signs written in Chinese characters, is the romanization used really meant to benefit them?
The Tongyong and Hanyu pinyin systems vary in some fundamental ways, which easily confuse foreigners. For example the character “西” is written as either “si” or “xi” in Tongyong and Hanyu respectively. This difference can be the difference between “west” and “death” to those visitors unaware of Tongyong’s spelling rules.
Does having Tongyong make it easier for myself and my fellow Taiwanese to go where we need to go and do what we need to do?
BRIAN CRAGUN
Taipei
Treat us with dignity
The Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration’s decision to relax restrictions on the import of US beef has engendered heated debate. After the matter was discussed for days, Ma ruled out the possibility of renegotiating the pact with the US. Your thought-provoking article (“Ma rules out new US beef negotiations,” Oct. 30, Page 1) made me wonder why this issue has caused such a commotion.
First, we are threatened by the postponement of crisis.
Scientific studies show that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has a long incubation period. This means that when we eat infected beef, we are still unaware of our own death sentence.
At the moment, there is no mechanism to determine whether beef is dangerous or not. The thought that we might suddenly die one day if we eat infected beef — and that no one will be held responsible — creates public apprehension.
Most of us agree with Ma when he said that “negotiations are a matter of give-and-take. You cannot simply ask other people to accept your terms without accepting theirs.”
We are not asking Ma to tell us what he has “taken,” as it might be related to national security, but we all deserve a certain degree of respect. It seems that we will be the last to be informed on the matter, with no alternative but to accept the pact unconditionally.
Though this protocol relates to the image of Taiwan, it could be handled with more professionalism. The conflicting information provided by government officials prior to the announcement highlighted a severe breakdown in communication.
Ma keeps saying that his principal concern is the health and interests of Taiwanese, but his tendency to delegate makes it hard to believe his claim that his administration is any better than the previous one.
MANDY CHOU
Wenshan, Taipei
Do not legalize prostitution
I am the executive director of Equality Now, an international human rights organization that works to end all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world.
Today we are sending this message in solidarity with groups in Taiwan. We are calling on their government not to legalize prostitution.
We know from our work that prostitution is directly linked to sex trafficking and we are working very hard with other grassroots groups around the world to end the exploitation of women and girls.
We urge the Taiwanese government to look at Sweden, the Philippines, Nepal, Iceland and Norway, whose governments have decided to protect women and children in the sex trade, or criminalizing those who exploit them, including the purchasers of women and girls and boys in the sex trade.
Taiwan is at the critical point in promoting the rights of women and girls. Therefore it should not legalize prostitution at any circumstances.
Taina Bien-Aime
UK
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