Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Here's Ada's published article



Click here to go to China Post (You need to scroll down to look for Ada's work)

Due to the positive effects of the national languages development draft law, endangered languages in Taiwan such as Hakka and aboriginal languages have started reviving. The government now wants to build up a society which welcomes every variety of languages because a language is valued as the important heritage of culture, and there should not be judgments on different cultures.

Retrieving the Taiwanese history and the memories of citizens who received education in the early period of restoring Taiwan, languages except Mandarin were suppressed by the government at that time in order to unify the lingua franca and enable the government to release policies. However, the consequences of this strategy brought out serious damages of the balance or the equality between the languages. The local languages such as Taiwanese, Hakka, and aboriginal languages were considered inferior languages and represented subordinate cultures.

 In recent years, the public and the government awakened to the great significance of varied languages. Each language conceals its own remarkable character and uniqueness which has been conveyed from generation to generation, and these languages and cultures are essential to form a genuine Taiwan. After understanding the essence of language equality, the government established the national languages development draft law, and carried the plan out by promoting Hakka Television and Taiwan Indigenous Television, and also encouraged all levels of schools or institutions to provide various national language courses.

In order to create a society with respect for different languages and cultures, citizens in Taiwan must work together with the government. Taiwan will be an ideal country for its residents.

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