Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) vision for Taipei as an international metropolis moved a small step closer to realization yesterday when the city set goals to create a bilingual environment before the central government finalizes the standardized Romanization system.
The proposal, which was drafted and delivered to Ma by the city government's secretariat (秘書處), set immediate, short, mid and long-term goals with the hope of reaching the ultimate objective by Sept. 30 of next year.
The proposal envisages that, ultimately, city government signage, posters, voice mail, and telephone hotlines will be in Chinese and English.
Municipal hospital medical staff will be expected to be bilingual. Certain by-laws will be published in English as well as Chinese.
Ma said that it was important to create a bilingual environment for city residents and foreign visitors alike.
"Taipei simply cannot wait any longer [to become an international city]. Creating a bilingual environment is one step forward on the road to internationalization," he said. "We need to move fast in order to keep up with the pace of our English education."
Starting this September, elementary school students from grades three through six will be required to take English-language courses.
Although the central government has not yet made a final decision on an official Mandarin Romanization system, Ma said that the city can still plan ahead since the two contending systems -- Tongyong Pinyin (通用拼音) and Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音) -- are 85 percent similar.
The Hanyu Pinyin system is an internationally accepted system and is used in China and other Mandarin-speaking countries.
The Tongyong Pinyin system, on the other hand, is pitched as being able to more accurately reflect Taiwan's linguistic idiosyncrasies.
Journalist Darby Doll, a native of the US state of Wyoming, said that the city should wait for the central government's final decision.
"[The city] should hurry up and try to standardize [the Romanization system], but I think it should make sure that all of Taiwan is under the same system and that the system chosen is closer to the real sounds," he said, adding that he is used to the confusing spelling after living in Taiwan for over seven years.
Curtis Smith, a Canadian who has been living in Taiwan on and off for about 12 years, on the other hand, said that the city should go for a standard approach on a local level.
"They shouldn't be afraid of what academics say that you should adopt a standard system because scholars are traditionally used to adjusting to local preferences," he said.
Smith added that the city should concentrate on more important issues.
"It should take greater care over building a more humane city rather than the finer points of spelling," he said. "They're just drawing people's attention away from the real issue while they concentrate on this silly thing."
Miho Ikebe from Japan said that although she has little problem reading Chinese signs, she would like to see both the central and the city governments adopt the Hanyu Pinyin system.
"The system I learned in Japan was Hanyu Pinyin, but when I came to Taiwan, I had to learn the `bopomofo' (
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