Characters unique to Hakka are to be available on smartphones and computers as early as July next year after the completion of a special code entry system, the Hakka Affairs Council told the legislature yesterday.
Hakka Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chung Kung-chao (鍾孔炤) told the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee that the council has been working on a special entry system for Hakka for three years, which is to be finished before July next year.
The issue was brought up at the legislature after a group of experts concerned about the status of Hakka and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) in July proposed developing an entry system on the National Development Council’s Public Policy Network Participation Platform.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
As of last month, the proposal had been endorsed by more than 5,000 people, meeting the threshold to require an official response from the Hakka Affairs Council.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lo Bi-ling (羅美玲) said that although Hakka, Hoklo and indigenous languages were declared national languages with the promulgation of the Development of the National Languages Act (國家語言發展法), certain characters unique to these languages cannot be entered on computers and smartphones.
Currently, about 200 characters unique to the Hakka language have been added to the Windows operating system, Chung said.
“We are working with National Taiwan Normal University and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and consulting language experts and Hakka language teachers to compile idioms and phrases,” Chung said. “We will also develop a system to convert speech to text, which can be used by Hakka speakers with various accents.”
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
RSS