Taiwanese
Description
As a result of political change within Taiwan, the long suppressed Hokkien language (Taiwanese), spoken by 71 percent of the population, is gaining legitimacy. Once not even spoken in the schools, it is now being introduced into the curriculum of school throughout the country. More and more, it is being used in politics, the mass media, and in the everyday speech of the Taiwanese people.
In the Taiwanese language, there are 7 different tones. In addition , when speaking it is necessary to change these tones. This language come from a highly developed culture. Which, like the Chinese, has a 5,000 year history. As a written language, Taiwanese and Chinese (Mandarin) are very similar, that is, they use the same characters. As a spoken language, they are completely different. Because the spoken language has developed differently than the written language, this has caused a slight difference between reading and writing Taiwanese and how it is spoke.
Instructor
Grace Mei-Hui Wu
Email
gracewu@sas.upenn.edu