Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) has recently become a sort of national celebrity, especially among netizens, not because of his political ideology or performance, but because of his ability to fluently recite Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) idioms during question-and-answer sessions at the city council. However, his popularity is actually a slap in the KMT’s face.
Video clips of Hsieh questioning Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) have become some of the most circulated videos on online social networks used by young people. The majority of young netizens watching these videos are not fluent in Hoklo, and a significant proportion of them admire Hsieh’s ability to speak the language so well, even when speaking about administrative issues, and to use rhyming idioms to increase the vividness of his speech.
When asked by the media about his online popularity, Hsieh said that Hoklo is a beautiful and elegant language that should be properly preserved.
Such a remark about preserving the language is ironic, especially coming from a KMT politician. In most countries, it is natural for people to speak their native tongues fluently, and the use of slang and idioms is also something that occurs naturally.
However, even though more than 70 percent of Taiwanese are descendants of groups that traditionally spoke Hoklo, most young Taiwanese are incapable of speaking the language fluently. Instead, they are proficient in Mandarin — a language that was not widely spoken in Taiwan until after 1945 — and have no problem using expressions and idioms in that language.
Yes, Hsieh is correct that Hoklo — just like any other language spoken in this nation — should be preserved, but perhaps he needs a reminder that the language policies of the KMT are the most important — if not the only — reason all languages other than Mandarin in Taiwan are in decline.
In 1951, the KMT government stipulated that Mandarin, besides being the only language for instruction, should be the only language in which teachers and students converse.
In 1952, Bibles printed in the Bunun Aboriginal language were confiscated, with Bibles printed in other non-Mandarin languages also confiscated in following years.
Starting in the 1970s, the KMT government began a series of policies to repress — with the ultimate objective of completely prohibiting — the use of non-Mandarin languages in Taiwan, particularly Hoklo.
Most speakers of Hoklo, Hakka or Austronesian languages born before the mid-1980s experienced being told that it is shameful to speak “dialects” in school, because they are “lesser languages,” and many of them had to pay fines or wear placards that read: “I won’t speak dialects again,” if they were caught speaking their native tongues at school. Students were even encouraged to report their peers to teachers if their classmates spoke Hoklo.
Although the language ban was gradually lifted in the decades following the lifting of martial law in 1987, irreversible damage has been done and, despite government encouragement, the use of non-Mandarin languages in the nation has largely declined, especially in public places and among the youth.
Perhaps even sadder, the idea that “Hoklo is a lesser language” remains in the minds of many.
As a member of the KMT who is enjoying a significant amount of popularity because of his Hoklo proficiency, Hsieh should publicly apologize for the KMT’s past language policies. He should also come up with a policy platform to help preserve and promote the use of Hoklo, as he said that it should be better preserved and he is running for legislator on the KMT ticket.
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