Introduction

Taiwan is a small island nation about one hundred miles off the eastern shore of China. Slightly larger than the state of Maryland, it is home to more than twenty million people. Though there is only one official language, the country consists mainly of speakers of three main dialects of Chinese and an increasingly smaller minority of aborigines. The three main dialects of Chinese on Taiwan are Mandarin Chinese, which is the official language, Taiwanese, and Hakka.

Having been educated in Taiwan and raised as part of the Hakka ethnicity, my parents spoke Hakka and Taiwanese in the home and learned Mandarin Chinese at school. Thus, they are fluent in all of the major Chinese dialects found on the island, though different situations call for the varied use of each one.

Tang Dynasty Poem (7th - 10th century AD) : Longing for Home

Mandarin	Taiwanese	Hakka

Analysis

Taiwan's history has long been characterized by the outside influence of other languages. During the seventeenth century, Taiwan was controlled by the Dutch and used as a trading outpost. In more recent history, Japanese occupation of the island began in 1895 and lasted fifty years. During this period, the spread of Japanese language and culture was total, with the forced adoption of Japanese names and studying of Japanese language in school. As a result, the native Taiwanese born in these times spoke Taiwanese and other dialects in their homes, but were also fluent in Japanese. This is the situation my grandparents were in when the Japanese lost control of the island after World War II in 1945.

At that time, the Taiwanese found themselves once again under the control of speakers of another language. The mainlanders from China had arrived and established a new government which promoted Chinese culture and education through the Mandarin dialect. Much like the Japanese government had done, Mandarin was the language of the mainlanders, who, though in the minority, held power in the country and designated Mandarin as the official and only language of Taiwan. This was a time of martial law and extreme punishment wherein the government held the highest power. Many native Taiwanese were incensed at this development, but the masses were unable to match the military power of the mainlanders, and few could understand this new tongue.

Through the following decades, Mandarin was used as the language of government and education. Laws were written for the Mandarin language and instruction in school was forbidden in native Taiwanese dialects. During the initial years of development of the country, students were often punished for speaking Taiwanese in school or not practicing Mandarin. The use of native dialects was banned, and they were not to be spoken in public areas, such as marketplaces. In this period, people were even fined if caught speaking in a Taiwanese dialect. Not only was spoken dialect disallowed, but publication of works in Taiwanese dialects was also prohibited and even considered seditious.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, these measures remained in effect, though their use was eventually discontinued due to lack of necessity; the first generation under the Chinese government had reached adulthood, and their primary language was now Mandarin. In the 1980s, more of these restrictions were lifted, and Taiwanese was allowed on the radio for the first time, though it was still limited in amount of airtime. By the 1990s, Taiwanese and other native dialects were no longer banned, but Mandarin Chinese, to this day, is still the only official language of Taiwan.

Though the government was successful in creating a society literate in Chinese, some effects of the Mandarin enforcement is clearly seen in the younger generation of Taiwan. Many are unable to comprehend Taiwanese or are only partially fluent; some can understand, but are unable to speak in the dialect. Through these several decades, Mandarin was promoted as the language of the literate, and Taiwanese is now viewed by some as the dialect of the uneducated and uncultured. Though in recent years there has been promotion of Taiwanese, most politicians still only speak publicly in Mandarin, and formal situations are almost never addressed in anything other than Mandarin.

In correspondence with the shift of political power, the recent development of Taiwanese promotion and education was only spurred by the change of political parties in Taiwan. The party that originally established the government in the late 1940s held power until 2000, when a new party was elected into office. This party has been at the forefront to teach Taiwanese in schools, alongside Mandarin, in addition to supporting Taiwanese programming on television and radio. This has started a movement of Taiwanese shows, some of which require guests to speak Taiwanese, and a trend in the younger generation of seeing Taiwanese as fashionable and in vogue.

The above poem is from a collection of the most famous Chinese poetry written during the Tang Dynasty, which was the golden age of Chinese culture. It is recited by my sister, mother, and father in Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, and Hakka, respectively. The poem features an AABA rhyme scheme that, after more than a thousand years, is still preserved in all three dialects, underscoring their development from the same ancient Chinese language.

Sources:

Romanization and Language Planning in Taiwan
http://www.de-han.org/pehoeji/lomaji/index.htm

Taiwanese Language Policy (Chinese)
http://tc.formosa.org/camp/camp00/tsa-02.html

Timeline of Taiwanese Politician Song Chuyu" (Chinese)
http://tacpa.org/column/Bio/soxng1.html

Taiwanese Orthography
http://pinyin.info/readings/mair/taiwanese.html

My parents, Cheng Liu and Chung Wu

About the Author

I was born and raised in Georgia, though my parents are both from Taiwan. In relation to my project, my parents were both part of the first generation of Taiwanese that were forced to learn Mandarin Chinese in schools, although they still spoke their native languages of Taiwanese and Hakka at home. However, as the society gradually became native in Mandarin, so did they become native in it, as well. They came to the United States in 1982; however, their English is still tinged with an accent.

Growing up in a multilingual home, I was taught to speak Mandarin and read Traditional Chinese. However, I did live with my grandmother for a period, and because she lived in Taiwan before the Chinese government took over, she is not very fluent in Mandarin. So, I can now understand Taiwanese after learning from her, but I cannot speak it.

I have studied Spanish in school and hope to continue learning more about the language. My interest in other languages is growing, and I wish to learn more about linguistics and to study German, as well. I am most intrigued by the influence of languages on each other and the borrowing and adoption of words from one to another. What is fascinating to me is the dynamics of language on Taiwan, and I am anxiously waiting to see in the coming decades which languages will die out there. It will also be interesting to see what will happen with Traditional Chinese script in the face of a growing China and simplified writing. In addition, I hope to join the global fight against poverty, the importance of which was made clear to me by my friend, Senator John Edwards.