Language rights advocates on Wednesday said that the government should provide resources to rejuvenate “Taigi” (Hoklo, better known as Taiwanese).
The Ministry of Culture must do more to promote Hoklo, the mother tongue of many in the nation, on top of launching a national plan last year to encourage people to speak it more at home, mother tongue preservation groups said at a news conference at the legislature in Taipei.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party legislators have slashed the budget for Public Television System (PTS), which handles the PTS Taigi Station, Taiwan Citizen Participation Association member Hsu Hui-ying (許慧盈) said.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
The opposition parties also cut the NT$2.85 million (US$87,143) budget earmarked for the ministry’s Hoklo at-home speaking plan, Hsu said, adding that other local governments have neither initiated projects nor set up dedicated agencies to implement the national plan.
Taiwan Taigi Loo Association board member Tang Lek-hian (董力玄) said the first phase of the ministry’s plan had very little participation at local levels from November last year to March.
More than half of local governments — including Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu County, Nantou County, Hualien County and Changhua County — had no supervising agency, Tang added.
Li Kang Khioh Taiwanese Cultural and Educational Foundation director Chen Feng-hui (陳豐慧) said Hoklo should be treated as equally important to Hakka and indigenous languages, but Hoklo has no dedicated supervisory agency at most local governments.
Meanwhile, Hakka has the Council of Hakka Affairs, which has started language projects at many local jurisdictions since 2008.
“We call on all Taiwanese to safeguard language programs, pay more attention to them at the legislature and protect those budget items,” said Chuang Chia-ying (莊佳穎), a professor of Taiwanese literature.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ngalim Tiunn (張雅琳) said that slashing the funds of language programs and the ministry’s initiatives severely harmed the linguistic rights of many people.
Hoklo is in decline, as Mandarin continues to dominate the government, media and most society sectors, Ngalim added.
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