Taiwan: Learning Hakka language and culture on the rise

[Harold Schiffman]

    Learning Hakka language and culture on the rise
------------------------------

Learning Hakka language and culture are becoming increasingly popular in
Taiwan. That's what Taiwan's top official in charge of Hakka affairs said on
Sunday. Council of Hakka Affairs Chaiman Lee Yung-teh was overseeing the
2007 nationwide Hakka language proficiency test. The one-day test was being
held simultaneously in all major cities and counties nation-wide. Lee said
the number of people attending this year's test increased by some 2,600
people over last year's 5,000.

According to Lee, only 11.6 percent of Hakka children under the age of 13
could speak their mother tongue in 2002. But he said that in 2004 the
percentage rose to 13.8 percent. That he said is thanks to the establishment
of the Council of Hakka Affairs and the launch of a TV channel that uses
Hakka exclusively.  Lee said that the council has been trying to prevent
Hakka language and culture from further waning while also helping to enrich
the country's cultural diversity. In 2004, about 3.8 million people in
Taiwan identified themselves as Hakka. By the following year, almost
4.5million identified themselves as such.


-- 
Forwarded from edling-list @ccat.sas.upenn.edu
-------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20070613/6c467fb3/attachment.htm>