Liao Hsiu-kuang (
"I have only one heartfelt wish, and that is to hand down Taiwanese language culture to later generations intact" says 88-year-old Liao.
Liao taught Japanese during the colonial period, and later taught Chinese under Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
During the White Terror he was imprisoned on Green Island and in a military prison in Taipei for seven years. During his sixth year, a prisoner in a neighboring cell gave him several Taiwanese language dictionaries, which sparked his interest in researching the language.
Although Taiwanese is his native language, Liao has used his fluent Japanese and Mandarin to contribute to and edit other Taiwanese dictionaries published in Japanese. In his work he has insisted on using the word "Taiwanese" rather than "Hoklo," a practice which has been adopted in other Taiwanese dictionaries in other countries.
Liao says that most Taiwanese dictionaries on the market today use a pinyin-like romanization system.
However he believes that since Korean, Japanese and Arabic have their own indigenous phonetic transcription systems, Taiwanese should have its own as well. Therefore in his dictionary Liao uses his own hybrid system of Zhuyin transcription (
Liao says that his unfulfilled desire is to have the draft published. He said he is willing to give it to a non-profit publishing house because he did not write it for profit or fame, but to use his remaining years to do his utmost to contribute to Taiwan and Taiwanese language culture.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS