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New Language Page

Description
Mandarin Chinese is the official language spoken in Taiwan. The language has two dialects, the Taiwanese Mandarin (Hokkien) and standard Mandarin. Chinese Mandarin language uses its unique alphabetical order, unlike other languages. It consists of Chinese characters called logogram. The official language is used in schools and spoken by only 20% of the population, however Taiwanese Mandarin (Hokkien) is spoken by 70% of the population as well as used widely across the island. The official language is mainly spoken in Taipei and other cities

The other minority languages make up the remaining 10% of the population. English is also becoming more common on the island. It is now a compulsory subject in elementary schools. The other minority languages spoken are: Hokkien, Hakka, Taiwanese sign language, Japanese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Indonesian, Javanese, Dutch, and other different local dialects.

Word List
Some of the interesting common phrases in the Mandarin language used in Taiwan include terms such as “Nĭ hăo/ Nĭn hăo” which is a greeting term for hello, “Xièxie” means thank you, “Bù hǎo yì si” means excuse me or pardon me, “Duō-shǎo-qián” means how much, Bú yòng means no need, “Méi yŏu wèntí / Méi wèntí,” which means no problem among others.

Alphabet and Pronunciation
Pe̍h-ōe-jī (Taiwanese Hokkien: [peʔ˩ u̯e˩ d͡ʑi˨] (About this soundlisten), abbreviated POJ, literally vernacular writing, also known as Church Romanization) is an orthography used to write variants of Southern Min Chinese, particularly Taiwanese Hokkien and Amoy Hokkien. Developed by Western missionaries working among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia in the 19th century and refined by missionaries working in Xiamen and Tainan, it uses a modified Latin alphabet and some diacritics to represent the spoken language. After initial success in Fujian, POJ became most widespread in Taiwan and, in the mid-20th century, there were over 100,000 people literate in POJ. A large amount of printed material, religious and secular, has been produced in the script, including Taiwan's first newspaper, the Taiwan Church News.

Other related scripts include Pha̍k-oa-chhi for Gan, Pha̍k-fa-sṳ for Hakka, Bǽh-oe-tu for Hainanese, Bàng-uâ-cê for Foochow, and Pêh-uē-jī for Teochew.

Description
There are three main Chinese languages found in Taiwan: Mandarin, Taiwanese and Hakka. Though the three are often described as "dialects," the fact that the spoken versions are mutually unintelligible makes them closer to distinct languages like Romance languages in Europe.

Mandarin Chinese is the official language spoken in Taiwan. The language has two dialects, the Taiwanese Mandarin (Hokkien) and standard Mandarin. Chinese Mandarin language uses its unique alphabetical order, unlike other languages. It consists of Chinese characters called logogram. The official language is used in schools and spoken by only 20% of the population, however Taiwanese Mandarin (Hokkien) is spoken by 70% of the population as well as used widely across the island. The official language is mainly spoken in Taipei and other cities

The other minority languages make up the remaining 10% of the population. English is also becoming more common on the island. It is now a compulsory subject in elementary schools. The other minority languages spoken are: Hokkien, Hakka, Taiwanese sign language, Japanese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Indonesian, Javanese, Dutch, and other different local dialects.

Word List
Some of the interesting common phrases in the Mandarin language used in Taiwan include terms such as “Nĭ hăo/ Nĭn hăo” which is a greeting term for hello, “Xièxie” means thank you, “Bù hǎo yì si” means excuse me or pardon me, “Duō-shǎo-qián” means how much, Bú yòng means no need, “Méi yŏu wèntí / Méi wèntí,” which means no problem among others.

Alphabet and Pronunciation
Pe̍h-ōe-jī (Taiwanese Hokkien: [peʔ˩ u̯e˩ d͡ʑi˨] (About this soundlisten), abbreviated POJ, literally vernacular writing, also known as Church Romanization) is an orthography used to write variants of Southern Min Chinese, particularly Taiwanese Hokkien and Amoy Hokkien. Developed by Western missionaries working among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia in the 19th century and refined by missionaries working in Xiamen and Tainan, it uses a modified Latin alphabet and some diacritics to represent the spoken language. After initial success in Fujian, POJ became most widespread in Taiwan and, in the mid-20th century, there were over 100,000 people literate in POJ. A large amount of printed material, religious and secular, has been produced in the script, including Taiwan's first newspaper, the Taiwan Church News.

Other related scripts include Pha̍k-oa-chhi for Gan, Pha̍k-fa-sṳ for Hakka, Bǽh-oe-tu for Hainanese, Bàng-uâ-cê for Foochow, and Pêh-uē-jī for Teochew.

During Taiwan under Japanese rule (1895–1945), the use of Pe̍h-ōe-jī was suppressed and it faced further countermeasures during the Kuomintang martial law period (1947–1987). In Fujian, use declined after the establishment of the People's Republic of China (1949) and in the early 21st century the system was not in general use there. Taiwanese Christians, non-native learners of Southern Min, and native-speaker enthusiasts in Taiwan are among those that continue to use Pe̍h-ōe-jī. Full native computer support was developed in 2004, and users can now call on fonts, input methods, and extensive online dictionaries. Rival writing systems have evolved, and there is ongoing debate within the Taiwanese mother tongue movement as to which system should be used. Versions of pe̍h-ōe-jī have been devised for other Chinese varieties, including Hakka and Teochew Southern Min.

In the 2006, the Taiwanese Romanization System was developed based on pe̍h-ōe-jī for official use to write Hokkien phonetically.

Additional Resources