Activists push for standard Taiwanese Romanization

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on September 29, 2006. It reports that a group of language activists in Taiwan recently urged the government to begin using the Taiwanese Romanization System (TRS) for teaching Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) as soon as possible.

"We hereby show our support and offer our endorsement toward the Ministry of Education's decision to use the Taiwanese Romanization System to teach Hoklo," representatives of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan's Mother-Tongue Promotion Department.

Hoklo, the language of China's Fujian Province, is common throughout much of Taiwan. Also known as Min Nan Hua, it is the primary language of about 14.35 million people in Taiwan, or 67 percent of the nation's population.

There are several competing Romanization systems that have been developed for Hoklo, including Taiwanese Romanization System, Modern Literal Taiwanese, and Tongyong pinyin. Tongyong pinyin was developed as an alternative to transcribe both Mandarin and Taiwanese in Roman characters.

According to the language activists, Taiwanese Romanization System is now the most popular system for teachers to teach Hoklo. More importantly, compared to Tongyong pinyin, Taiwanese Romanization System can better help people pronounce sharp and accurate Hoklo.

"In addition to Hoklo, we can also take advantage of Taiwanese Romanization System [in the writing of] Aboriginal languages and Hakka. The system is very similar to the International Phonetic Alphabet, which makes it easier for our foreign friends to learn Hoklo," the language activists said.