Chinglification in Taiwan
The Taiwanese educational system is organized around two different yet parallel tracks, one being the official government-approved schools, the other being the unofficial, so-called cram schools. The former typically provides education from 8 AM to 4 PM, rather like schools function in other parts of the world. However, Taiwanese society is competitive to the degree that outside of these hours, almost every single child is forced to attend after-school classes. Since English is one of the main subjects taught at these cram schools, it comes as no surprise that 8 out of 10 telephone conversations end with ´´bye-bye´´ instead of the local ´´zaijian.´´
Up and Down, Side to Side, Left to Right or Right to Left? The Chinglification of Chinese Writing
One of the first difficulties foreigners encounter when reading Chinese newspapers, magazines and books, is determining whether they should read it horizontally from left to right or vertically from right to left. Although for more than 2000 years official documents and other writings in China have been read vertically from right to left, modern times have also made it just as common for articles to be published and read horizontally, from left to right. A native speaker of Chinese will quickly determine in which direction the article should be read, without thinking twice about it. On the other hand, foreign students of Chinese may read articles and tell their teachers they made no sense. The teachers will look at the articles and tell the students they had read it the wrong way. For a non-native speaker, reading Chinese text can be frustrating and confusing. However, in Taiwan there is a relatively new act that was passed by the government that may make things a little easier for non-native speakers of Chinese.
In May of 2004, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed an act stating that all official Chinese writing will read horizontally and left to right, like English. The law does not apply to artwork and literature. The chinglification (intensifying contacts and rapprochement between Chinese and English speaking communities) of the writing system has been driven by several factors. One of the major reasons is the use of Arabic numbers in Chinese documents. According to government officials who favored the change, the use of Arabic numbers is commonplace in Taiwan and appears very confusing when written in the traditional Chinese vertical format. Another factor that spurred the movement was the growing use of, and dependence on, computers. One good example is the e-Government initiative going on in Taiwan. The use of two systems makes it more difficult to get the government online to the degree it would like, due to technology requirements. Moreover, the increasing demand for international communications makes using the western writing format a logical step in speeding up the e-Government initiative.
When asked about change to the system, Jim Li, a college student studying information technology, felt that the old system was archaic and needed to change in order to keep pace with modern times. Although many share the same viewpoint, not everybody is a fan of the change. Some people like Dr. Zhang, a linguistics professor at a local university, felt that by instituting such a change, the Chinese were losing a part of their culture. With or without favorable reviews, a year has now passed and the government has almost finished the chinglification process. For foreigners beginning to study Chinese in Taiwan, all of the confusion about what direction to read Chinese publications will soon be eliminated. Now the only barrier to reading the newspaper will be acquiring knowledge of all 5,000 characters that compose basic written Chinese.