Nothing wrong with ‘Taiwanese’By Lau Seng-hian 劉承賢Aurelijus Vijunas’ recent opinion article “An accurate term for ‘Taiwanese’” (Aug. 3, page 8) argues that ‘Taiwanese’ (the common name for Hoklo) is not a suitable name for the Southern Min variety spoken in Taiwan. While Taiwanese is a Southern Min variety, many languages are named independently of their typological classification. Hakka and indigenous languages are undeniably important, but Taiwanese serves as the representative language of Taiwanese culture, arts, history and place names. Language is a key to culture, and if I truly wanted to become Taiwanese, learning Taiwanese should have been important.”As Pape observed, Taiwanese is key to understanding Taiwan’s culture. In contrast, Mandarin was imposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and is not inherently connected to Taiwanese identity.
