The Council for Cultural Affairs Vice Chairman Wu Mi-cha (吳密察) yesterday said that the nation would have no specific official language once the National Languages Development Law (國家語言發展法) passes through the legislature.
The law would also allow district governments to decide their own common languages, Wu said.
After the Council for Cultural Affairs listed language as a preserved item in the Cultural Heritage Preservation Law (文化資產保存法) last year, the Executive Yuan ordered the council to take over the drafting of the language law from the Mandarin Promotion Council under the Ministry of Education.
Referring to the Language Fairness Law of the Cabinet's Hakka Affairs Commission (客家委員會) and the Indigenous Peoples Languages Development Law of the Cabinet's Council of Indigenous Peoples (原住民委員會), the new law aims to preserve and develop national tongues and help arrest the disappearance of minority languages, Wu said.
Wu said the law would designate "national languages" as languages that are used by different ethnic groups in Taiwan while "common languages" would be the languages regulated by local councils.
This means, Wu said, that "the term `official language' will no longer exist."
As for which language the central government will use in public speeches, Wu said the choice of language would be open to the speaker.
"For example, if the central government lists three languages as common languages, then the speaker has the freedom to use any of those three. But there won't be any law to limit people to a specific language," Wu said.
"The gist of the law is that common languages cannot impede the development of other languages," Wu said, adding that the written word is not covered in the draft law.
Although Mandarin has long been used as the nation's official language, Wu said that there was no law that mandated a particular language as an official language.
Wu said that because regional governments have the power to decide their common languages, there will be a stipulation that ensures each region has more than one.
"We hope that there will be no specific language that predominates the usage," Wu said. "And there should be no particular language that has superiority over other languages in use."
When asked if the new rules would divide the nation, Wu said the law was drafted based on the principles of equity and autonomy.
"I believe that only through the understanding of other languages can a nation encourage solidarity," Wu said.
Also See Story:
Hakka leader Yeh worries about Hokkien in exams
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military