Taiwanese back $1.4b govt plan to develop vanishing languages
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Katherine Wei
After a pledge to make the Taiwanese fluent in English by 2030 drew concern from academics that English would be given undue priority over indigenous languages, the island's Cabinet this month approved an NT$30 billion (S$1.4 billion) budget plan to develop languages used by Taiwan's various ethnic groups.
The proposal was put together by the Ministry of Culture, the Council of Indigenous Peoples, the Hakka Affairs Council, and the Ministry of Education, with the ultimate goal of revitalising, preserving and developing the use of spoken and sign languages used by ethnic groups in Taiwan.