More than 90 percent of Taiwanese consider learning Mandarin helpful for work and interpersonal relationships, a survey released by National Taiwan Normal University’s (NTNU) Chinese Language and Technology Center showed.
The survey, conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, collected 1,092 valid samples from Taiwanese aged 21 to 60, the center said on Thursday.
The study also used news reports on classical Chinese education posted on Professional Technology Temple (PTT), the nation’s largest online bulletin board system, it added.
Photo: CNA
The survey was publicized after an announcement by the University Admission Committee last month that subjects of the General Scholastic Ability Test are to be included in each university department’s admission criteria.
The test consists of six subjects: Mandarin, English, category A mathematics, category B mathematics, social sciences and the sciences.
However, some universities — including a number of engineering departments at National Taiwan University — have decided to exclude applicant scores for Mandarin when considering their qualifications.
The project’s principal investigator, Chung Chung-hsien (鍾宗憲), who is also a professor at NTNU’s Department of Chinese, said on Thursday that the Mandarin language topic has generated a lot of discussion.
Mandarin courses are often criticized as being conservative, especially as electronic devices have altered the function of language and how people interact, he said, adding that opinions for and against Mandarin courses exist.
The survey found that 76 percent of respondents considered Mandarin lessons “very good” or “good”; while 82.7 percent of respondents thought that Mandarin teachers were “very good” or “good,” he said.
Furthermore, 91.7 percent, 88.5 percent and 91.8 percent of the respondents thought that Mandarin courses had a good influence on career, life planning and interpersonal relationships respectively, he said.
One of the major goals of Mandarin courses is to facilitate communication by teaching the essence of the language, he said.
Respondents over the age of 30 highly supported Mandarin lessons, indicating that teaching materials containing a large proportion of classical Chinese, familiar to people in that age group’s school curriculum, do not hinder the ability to learn and apply the language, he said.
His comment alluded to the Ministry of Education’s curriculum review committee decision in 2017 to reduce the proportion of classical Chinese content in senior-high schools to between 35 percent and 45 percent from between 45 percent and 65 percent; the change took effect in 2019.
NTNU Department of Chinese professor Hsu Kuo-neng (徐國能) said that departments can only consider scores of four subjects as their admission criteria, so a trade-off would be inevitable.
However, some departments initially decided to exclude Mandarin, but later included it back in their assessment criteria, he said.
Language education is related to students’ adaptability, competitiveness and quality of life, so should be reconsidered and adjusted, he said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS