I can still remember while I was travelling on foot in Yuli, Hualien, I was treated to lunch by an elderly couple. The grandpa was an former village chief, and the couple has lived together for 50 years. It amazed me that they communicated fluently in four languages: Madarin, Hokkien, Hakka, and Japanese. Since then, I was curious about languages of Taiwan, so I spend so much time studying them. And now let's take a look at the language variety of Taiwan!
Taiwanese Hokkien, also simply known as Taiwanese or Hoklo (河洛/福佬/鶴佬), is spoken natively by about 70% of the inhabitants in Taiwan. The language is officially regarded as a variant of Hokkien (泉漳片), which is a dialect widely used in Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Amoy in southern Fujian.
Many Taiwanese youngsters' mother tongue is Taiwanese, but those who have grown up in cities may lose their abilities to speak Taiwanese. Taking me as an example, even though both my parents are from southern Taiwan and most of my relatives speaks Taiwanese, I cannot speak Taiwanese as fluently as Mandarin. In order to improve my Taiwanese speaking, I decide to listen to Taiwanese song and watch Taiwanese soap opera (鄉土劇) or glove puppet show (布袋戲) regularly~ lol
A glove puppet
photo credits to ibudaixi.com
Fire EX., a famous Taiwanese rock band
photo credits to www.cool-style.com.tw
Another subgroup of Han Chinese (漢人), the Hakkas, often speaks Taiwanese Hakka, mainly originating from eastern Guangdong. Hakka people have their featured and distinctive culture different from Hokkien-speaking people. However, Taiwanese Hokkien has been so prevailing that some descendants of Hakka people speak Taiwanese or Mandarin instead of Hakka. These people are referred to as Hô-ló-kheh (福佬客), including the incumbent president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen.
Traditional Hakka blue blouse
photo credits to thcdc.hakka.gov.tw
Tsai Ing-wen, a Hô-ló-kheh
photo credits to www.cw.com.tw
The Formosan languages are native to the Taiwanese indigenous peoples, comprising about 2% of the island's population. The Formosan languages have their significant statuses in historical linguistics since Taiwan, in all likelihood, was the birthplace of the Austronesian languages. With the impact of Han Chinese culture and languages, the indigenous peoples had a hard time protecting their fragile languages; some languages are endangered since few people are able to use them, and others just died out, becoming extinct languages. I try learning Amis and Yami this summer! When I visit aboriginal tribes next time, I wish I can get along well with the locals and make friends by speaking their native languages!
Tatala, a fishing craft maded by Yami people
photo credits to formosaimage.com
