After hearing a July 19 briefing by the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) on the preservation and revitalization of indigenous languages, Premier Sean Chen instructed the CIP to cooperate with educational units to develop a unified transcription system based on either the Roman alphabet or an expanded Mandarin Phonetic Symbols system so these languages can be easily read and written by young students.
"A total of 42 dialects are used by Taiwan's 14 indigenous peoples. They are important cultural assets and primary source material for the study of Proto-Austronesian languages," said the premier. He added that the CIP's efforts to promote the learning and utilization of aboriginal languages, compile learning materials and train language teachers in recent years have laid the foundation for these languages' resurgence.
Chen noted that although modern technology can help preserve a language, revitalizing a language is a much more difficult task. He stated that if someone learns a language before the age of 20, he can make it a tool for communication in his daily life and use it fluently; but if he learns a language after the age of 20, he will have difficulty using it to express his feelings and will struggle to remember it. "This is why it is so important for school-age indigenous children to learn their mother tongues," he said.
The CIP noted that the government has a constitutional obligation to preserve and foster the development of aboriginal languages, and language revitalization is an important part of such efforts to treasure the nation's cultural heritage and preserve the roots of indigenous culture.
Faced with the challenges of the gradual loss of aboriginal languages and the complexity of many of these tongues, the CIP said it is reviewing its current programs and seeking more effective methods, and it hopes to halt language loss as soon as possible and open up new opportunities for preservation and development.