Opinions differ on whether native languages should be included in the local language curricula at elementary schools, and whether they should also be made a part of the junior and senior-high school curricula as compulsory courses.
For my lecture on Aboriginal and new immigrant cultures not long ago, I told my students to write a report on school instruction of native languages. All students, especially the Aborigines, recognized the value of such instruction to the preservation of traditional languages.
However, students were also concerned about the effectiveness of such instruction, because they still could not speak their native languages fluently even after entering college. This seems to prove that the effectiveness of local language instruction in schools is falling short of expectations, despite having been promoted for the past 18 years.
A “mother tongue” is a language, but it is also a transmitter of culture. The government created the National Languages Development Act (國家語言發展法) to show its recognition of ethnic diversity and respect for different cultures. The intent behind the legislation is praiseworthy, but the effect of the evolving external environment and trends must not be ignored. Otherwise, educational resources will be wasted, as well as students’ precious learning time.
According to research in the book Peoples of the World: Their Cultures, Traditions, and Ways of Life, nearly 6,000 languages are in use around the world today, but half are not passed on to children, which means they are doomed to become extinct.
Among all the world’s languages, only about 300 are being used by more than 1 million people, and on average, one language dies out every two weeks.
In other words, unless there are enough speakers to support the circulation of an endangered language, the natural disappearance of the language is inevitable.
Including native languages in the language curriculum can, to a certain extent, help preserve these languages and help pass on culture, but whether the inclusion will achieve the goal of ensuring that the next generation can and are willing to speak their native languages is another story.
I asked my Aboriginal friends whether they talk to their children in their native language at home, and it was no surprise to learn that they do not. Instead, they demand that their children learn to speak Chinese and English better.
You cannot blame Aborigines for attaching so little importance to their native languages, because as time progresses and the environment changes, new languages pop up in the information world at any time. In comparison, native languages have become less important.
Judging from the actual teaching situation in the classroom, to bring native languages that can be spoken naturally at home to the classroom and teach them using a Romanized system is not really about native language instruction, it is more like learning another foreign language.
Besides, it is questionable how much students can learn from one native language class of 40 minutes per week.
At the native-language recitation and speech competitions that are organized every year, many of the texts are written by teachers. They are then memorized by students who recite them while adding some facial expressions and gestures.
It should be pretty obvious to everyone how effective such contests are.
According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, the number of foreign spouses in Taiwan has exceeded 600,000, and their children, known as “second-generation new immigrants,” total 400,000.
Should they speak Chinese, their father’s or their mother’s native language? This is also a problem.
Parents are their children’s best teachers when it comes to native language acquisition, and the home is the best places to learn one’s native language. If parents are not speaking to their children in their native language at home, instead passing the responsibility for language and culture preservation on to native language instruction at school, their expectations are probably unrealistic.
Shiao Fu-song is a lecturer at National Taitung University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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