Taiwan is home to a rich tapestry of linguistic cultures. Except for Taiwan Mandarin, however, other local languages all face a risk of disappearance. To ensure the sustainable transmission and development of at-risk languages and cultures, the government in 2017 declared Taiwan Indigenous Languages and Taiwan Hakka to be national languages, and in 2019 further stipulated that the natural languages and sign languages used by the different ethnic groups in Taiwan are all considered national languages. In 2022 the government launched a 2022-2026 plan for comprehensive development of national languages, which utilizes seven major implementation strategies to promote the revitalization and advancement of national languages, in order to achieve linguistic and cultural equality and bolster the multicultural development of Taiwan. Moreover, the Executive Yuan in June 2024 approved a draft act for the establishment of a center for the research and development of national languages, which would serve as an institution dedicated to the languages' preservation, study and transmission.
Seven major strategies
■ Improve preservation of linguistic materials: Interview elderly people and experts in the field to preserve linguistic data. Build corpuses for Taiwan Indigenous Languages, Taiwan Hakka, Taiwan Taigi, Matsu Language and Taiwan Sign Language, and combine the materials through a data integration platform. Promote publication, digitization and technological applications of linguistic materials.
■ Standardize writing systems: Encourage standard wording of national languages in popular music lyrics and entertainment news. Establish input methods and online pronunciation search tools for local languages.
■ Improve language certification: Expand question banks and improve online examination methods for national language certification tests.
■ Broaden promotional activities: Expand initiatives encouraging nationwide language contests, speech and theatrical contests, and language camps, as well as fostering native-speaking households and communities.
■ Create friendly environments (including broadcast media): Produce flagship movies and media programs that showcase national languages. Subsidize or collaborate with the private sector to develop audiovisual media, comics, games and cultural content incorporating forward-looking technologies.
■ Strengthen educational resources: Strengthen support for teacher training, curriculums and immersive preschools for national languages. Establish comprehensive e-learning platforms for national languages.
■ Build up supplementary resources: Create websites offering digital resources for national languages. Encourage industry-academia cooperation on the development of language software translation platforms.