Handbook of Taiwanese Romanization

Taiwanese and the closely related Amoy Hokkien dialects are collectively the most widely spoken dialects of the Hokkien group. The Hokkien along with distantly related Teochew are among the most widely spoken non-Mandarin Chinese languages around the world alongside Cantonese, Hakka, and Shanghainese. Mandarin Chinese is still most widely spoken of all, and most written and spoken Chinese instruction is in Standard Mandarin. Each Chinese language/dialect uses Chinese characters and has a set of rules for pronunciation based on the context of how each character is used. However, with the estimated eight thousand to fifty thousand Chinese characters that do exist, there are still many colloquial terms where the given language’s syntax for Chinese characters do not fit how they are spoken. Additionally, unique to each Chinese language/dialect group exists coined Chinese characters that are specific to the respective group. In such situations, Romanization is a more feasible alternative to written Chinese characters in learning spoken language because it helps preserve not only spoken language grammar but also colloquial terms that may not be currently be expressed in written Chinese form. The Handbook of Taiwanese Romanization focuses on the phonology of Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien. It covers five Taiwanese Romanization methods used in currently available Taiwanese language materials for English, Japanese, and Mandarin 'Chinese' speakers. This book is for the native Taiwanese speakers who live overseas and are unfamiliar with Chinese characters but want to learn how to express their mother tongue through reading and writing. It is also a tool to aid native speakers in teaching their own children. This book focuses on Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien but provides a foundation in phonics and tones that can be applied to other Hokkien dialects.