Language rights advocates, including Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians, yesterday called for the establishment of a dedicated body to revive Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), and urged the government to formulate a complete set of policies to promote the language.
Taiwan is facing a serious crisis, as “the loss of habitat for languages” has led to younger people having fewer opportunities to hear and speak their mother tongue, the Taigi Policy Promotion Alliance told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
The group said the central government should establish a new body, which it called the “Hoklo Revitalization Council,” similar to the government councils dedicated to rejuvenating Hakka and indigenous languages.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“Hoklo was in the past the main medium of communication between ethnic groups in Taiwan. However, the use of Hoklo and the opportunities to speak it have dwindled so much that many are concerned that it would disappear,” alliance representative Hsu Hui-ying (許慧盈) said.
Koo Kwang-ming Foundation executive director Yang Zong-li (楊宗澧) said it was the result of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s suppression of all aspects of Taiwanese culture during the Martial Law era, and its push to make Mandarin Chinese the dominant language, while sidelining other languages such as Hoklo, Hakka and indigenous languages.
“People whose mother tongue is Hoklo should encourage its use in society and everyday life. However, nowadays, Mandarin prevails in the workplace, professional settings, the media and the public sector,” he said.
“Take as an example the recent discovery of African swine fever at a Taichung farm. Most veterinarians received their training in Mandarin, which is what they use at work, but most hog farmers speak Hoklo. This language gap creates problems in communication,” Yang said.
“We urgently need to revitalize Hoklo,” because it is the mother tongue of the majority of people in Taiwan, DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said. “It is also the soul of Taiwanese culture, the repository of Taiwanese history and our collective memory.”
While a recent government survey showed that Hoklo speakers are still the majority, the use of Hoklo in daily life has rapidly declined, he said.
Among people aged 65 or older, more than 70 percent can speak Hoklo, but that percentage is only 7.4 percent among young people, he said.
“There exists a generation gap ... but the government has been slow in responding to this situation,” he added.
“Instead of chanting slogans, the government must set up a Hoklo revitialization council because we need a comprehensive policy reform, with all ministries collaborating from top to bottom to promote Hoklo,” he said.
“Hoklo is now classified as an endangered language according to the standards of UNESCO,” Lin said. “I have repeatedly urged the government to take action to stop the decline of Taiwan’s mother tongue, to set up a dedicated body and build a Hoklo culture park to promote the language’s use in our daily lives and in society.”
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