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Language in Taiwan
漢語在臺灣
Lost in Romanisation
迷失拼音
Ideological warfare over spelling
拼寫上的意識形態沖突
THE policy of détente with China espoused by Taiwan's president, Ma Ying-jeou, has caused fears among some Taiwanese that the island's rowdy democracy will be pushed into Beijing's political embrace. Fears of future reunification are even causing some Taiwanese cities to reject hanyu pinyin, the official system for Romanising Chinese words in both China and Taiwan, in favour of an older system.
臺灣總統馬英九就兩岸關系主張緩和政策。這讓臺灣民眾憂心忡忡，生恐島內吵鬧的政治局面將臺灣推向大陸的懷抱。對于回歸的擔憂甚至引發部分臺灣城市抵制漢語拼音，轉而支持舊有的拉丁化方案。
Mr Ma's government declared more than five years ago that the country would start using hanyu pinyin. The reasoning is sensible. It is the phonetic system used virtually everywhere in the world, including the United Nations and the International Organisation for Standardisation, for transcribing Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet. The one problem: it was developed in Communist China in the 1950s and so, for some Taiwanese, remains suspect.
早在5年多以前，馬英九政府就宣布臺灣將開始使用漢語拼音。其理由也非常充分，這種拼音方案幾乎被全球所有地區用來將漢字發音轉化為拉丁字母，包括美國和國際標準化組織。唯一的問題在于：這個方案誕生于19世紀50年代共黨治下的中國，因而臺灣民眾對它疑心重重。
Officials argue that its use will improve Taiwan's economic competitiveness by co-ordinating with other Chinese-speaking societies. But some Taiwanese believe this is a ploy by Mr Ma covertly to integrate Taiwan more closely with mainland China.
官方認為使用漢語拼音的能夠同其他使用漢語的社會統一標準，從而也能提高臺灣的經濟競爭力。但不少臺灣人堅信這這是馬英九暗中將臺灣和大陸一體化的陰謀。
Hanyu pinyin is now used on street signs in the island's capital, Taipei, but some cities ruled by opposition mayors are staging a boycott. They include Kaohsiung, the island's second-largest metropolis, and Tainan, a popular tourist spot filled with charming temples. These cities are clinging to the Romanisation system known as tongyong pinyin, which was introduced in 2002 and is closely associated with Mr Ma's predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, a passionate advocate of independence. Tongyong pinyin is unique to Taiwan, and its use was once lambasted by Xinhua, the mainland's official news agency, as a move to rid Taiwan of Chinese influence.
漢語拼音如今已經用于首都臺北的路牌，不過由反對黨市長領導的城市仍在進行抵制。其中包括島內第二大城市高雄和寺廟充盈的旅游勝地臺南。這些城市堅持使用“通用拼音”，該拉丁化方案在2002年開始使用。這套方案的使用同馬的前任—激進的臺獨分子陳水扁，有很大關系。通用拼音僅被臺灣采用，并且曾被大陸官媒新華社斥責為意圖消除臺灣的中華傳統。
Expatriate newcomers who cannot read Chinese characters easily lose their way. The Altar of Heaven, a temple in Tainan, is located on a lane off Jhongyi Road on the city government website, but is off Zhongyi Road on Google Maps. A lingering third system known as Wade-Giles, used before both the others, confuses visitors even more. Mr Ma's officials say there is no legal requirement for local governments to adopt hanyu pinyin and they are reluctant to push too hard, lest theystir up memories of the harsh martial-law regime that ended over two decades ago. But, even in language, Taiwan remains divided.
不懂漢語的移民后代重回臺灣時，很容易就會迷路。比如，臺南天壇位于忠義路邊上的小巷中，這條路的路牌上寫的是Jhongyi Road，而谷歌地圖的顯示是Zhongyi Road。還有第三種拼音方案叫做威妥瑪式拼音法，曾被雙方使用，但是卻更讓游客迷惑。馬英九政府的官員表示，法律上并沒有要求地方政府接受漢語拼音，政府也不愿意強制推行，以免讓他們覺得回到了20多年前殘酷的軍統時期。即便是從語言上說，臺灣仍出在和大陸分離的狀態。
