Criticism by opposition politicians of the Ministry of Education's decision to adopt Tongyong Pinyin (通用拼音) as its official Romanization system is misplaced, linguists claim, saying that the experiences of other countries show that convenience and relevance to the rest of the world should not be the only criteria in deciding such a contentious issue.
"After the US' independence from Britain, Noah Webster's unswerving effort to advocate American English -- a system distinctive from British English -- encountered opposition from pro-British forces, but his hard work proved worthwhile now that American English has become the mainstream language in the world," Yu Bor-chuan (
Yu quoted an article written last year by Loretta Chen (
In the essay, Chen used the example of the US two centuries ago to persuade the government to forsake Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音) -- a system used by China and accepted by the UN but which is flawed in many aspects, according to some linguists.
Dubbed "the father of the American dictionary," Webster maintained that the spelling, grammar and idioms of a language should develop according to the principle of easy learning. He thought reform of British English was needed because it contained a lot of unreasonable spellings.
In this first "American" dictionary, published in 1806, Webster introduced distinctively American words such as "skunk" and "hickory" and "chowder." He also introduced American spellings such as "color" and "music," derivations of the English spellings "colour" and "musick." Other examples include the modification of "centre," "draught," "plough" and "mould" into "center," "draft," "plow" and "mold."
Chen said that Webster's efforts to challenge the mainstream view at the time provided the foundation for the privileged status that American English now has in the world -- and that his perseverance should be a role model for the proponents of Tongyong Pinyin.
She said that, speaking as a Taiwanese living overseas, Taiwan should have its own system because "the adoption of a different spelling system illustrates Taiwan's independence from China."
Tongyong Pinyin was created by a group of pro-Taiwan linguists who argue that it preserves Taiwan's cultural sovereignty, corresponds to people's spelling habits and accommodates sounds in the Hokkien, Hakka and Aboriginal languages. Advocates of the system consider it a perfect combination of "globalization and localization."
The system has about 85 percent of the spellings used in Hanyu Pinyin, designed in 1958 in China.
The primary differences between the two are that Tongyong uses "s," "c" and "jh" instead of the "x," "q," "zh" used in Hanyu, which Tongyong's creators say is strongly influenced by Russian.
For instance, "jhang" will replace "zhang" in Hanyu to represent 張, "ciu" replaces "qiu" to mean 邱, and "sie" replaces "xie" to indicate 謝.
Opponents of Tongyong said it would make it more difficult for foreign visitors to read street signs and isolate Taiwan from the international community.
Yu said these concerns had been overplayed.
He said 99 percent of foreign visitors to Taiwan have no Mandarin skills, so for them neither Hanyu nor Tongyong would make any sense.
"The most important issue is consistency between maps and street signs," he said.
None of the street signs in Hong Kong and Singapore, the other two Mandarin-speaking countries, are written in Hanyu Pinyin, yet foreign visitors rarely complain, he said.
Yu said that for most foreigners, street signs were just a series of symbols and pronouncing them was irrelevant.
"But in terms of pronunciation, Tongyong is definitely more friendly than Hanyu for foreigners who do not know Mandarin," he added.
"Anyone who retains a fundamental understanding of international languages will respect Taiwan for adopting its own Romanization system."
Even though Tongyong was only created four years ago, several companies, including US-based Microsoft, have already produced software that uses both systems.
Ray Chao (晁旭光), managing director of IQChina Technology Inc (網際智慧股份有限公司), said his company devised software three years ago which enables computers to use either of the two systems.
The software can gain widespread acceptance abroad, especially if it is used by governmental departments, Chao said.
Having championed Tongyong Pinyin since he helped create it, Yu said he was pleased the education ministry had decided to use it.
"It would be an irreparable loss if Taiwan adopts Hanyu Pinyin. Taiwan would risk losing its unique cultural traits and national identity," he said.
"It would be a shame for us to lose the chance to claim our independent sovereignty. With patience and the government's assistance, it is not impossible for the system to be accepted around the world."
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