Taiwan is a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic country. There are four major ethnic groups. They are: Taiwanese, who speak Southern Min, account 73.3 % of the population, mainlanders -13%, Hakka - 12% and the aborigines (speakers of Austronesian languages) 1.7%.
Taiwan’s languages and dialects mostly come from the Austronesian and Han lingual systems. Taiwan’s aborigines use the Austronesian languages. And most common Han dialects - Minnanese and Hakka - are mostly spoked by those whose ancestors immigrated from China’s Fujian and Guangdong Provinces four centuries ago. Totally there are 14 major languages and dialects used in Taiwan. Taiwan’s official language is Mandarin Chinese. Only in Taiwan the old Chinese characters are still in use, while a simplified version is used on the mainland.
To represent the sounds of Mandarin language which accounts 37 phonetic symbols with marks that signify Mandarin’s four tones, people in Taiwan use the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols (MPS) system. With respect to romanization, several different systems are concurrently being used in Taiwan, these are Wade-Giles, Gwoyeu Romatyzh, Hanyu Pnyin, and Tongyong Pinyin, which was proclaimed as the official romanization system for Mandarin in 2002.
The MPS system was propagandized in the Ministry of Education in November 1918, that’s why all fundamental school students have been required to learn the phonetic alphabet in the first grade. Mandarin is the primary language in the society. Most schools and business offices use Mandarin, but according to ethnic demographics since 1990 the Taiwanese government started to initiate elective courses on local languages in elementary and junior high schools. In September 2001, the Ministry of Education provided revised guidelines and amended curriculum standards. They stated that primary school students were required to take at least one course on a local language, for example Southern Fujianese, the language which is spoken by more than 70 percent of the population of Taiwan, Hakka which is spoken by about 15 percent of Taiwanese population, or an indigenous tongue.
According to Huang (1993) although the Taiwanese group is far larger, for historical reason Mandarin is the national language in Taiwan. Most mainlanders didn’t speak Mandarin when they migrated in and around 1949 with the Nationalist government, although some of those languages are mutually intelligible with Mandarin. The younger generation of these families, however, choose to speak Mandarin.
Recently the indigenous languages have been vanishing. There are several reasons of that: for many years, local languages such as Hakka, Taiwanese, and indigenous languages were repressed in Taiwan to make sure that everyone knew Mandarin, for a long period of time the national language was propaganded improperly and the last reason is the global expansion of the majority languages in the country, or the so-called languages of wider communication (LWC), particularly English. For a long time Taiwanese government has ignored the indigenous languages. They were not taught at shcools and in the media world, they were also highly controlled . For example, almost all Taiwanese newspapers were in Mandarin, only one or two English papers made an exception. Later, in the fifties, the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan. The government allowed broadcasting Taiwanese programs in media since most people did not know Mandarin. But there was a condition that they were to be little by little replaced by Mandarin programs. In the seventies, it was declared that programs in the «dialects,» such as Taiwanese and Hakka , could be allowed only one hour every day. This restriction wasn’t removed until the lifting of martial law in the country. On another side, the native languages face the inexorable competition of LWCs, especially English. Most people realize, that if they want to get a good job or atchive alot in their lives they have to know English. That’s why LWS’s step by step replace indigenous languages in unequal fight.
After the lifting of the martial law, many people started to proclame the use of native languages in education and indigenous perspectives in teaching materials. Government has responded to their requests. (5.3)In 1992, the Second National Assembly provided a constitutional article to ensure «legal protection of [the aborigines’] status and the right to political participation.» The Amendment also requires the government to «provide assistance and encouragement to their educational, cultural preservation, social welfare and business undertakings.» The aborigines were also allowed to keep their traditional tribal names.
However, although today more indigenous people want to identify with their heritage, the younger generations often can no longer communicate in their native tongue. The problem is their language and culture is not popularized in the society. To help this matter the Taiwanese government not only provides the legal base for native languages but also takes further steps to popularize them. For example, in June 2001, two radio programs were cosponsored by the Taipei City Government’s Indigenous Peoples Commission. They were called to introduce the languages, cultures, and activities of the indigenous peoples to Taiwan. There are also many nationalist movements, such as Tai-yü language movement, which are called to save native languages.