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Home , Bopomofo, Chinese alphabet, Romanization, Zhang Binglin

投稿類別：英文寫作類

篇名：

Vanishing － The Effects of Abolishing Mandarin Phonetic Symbols

作者： 吳佩青。國立北港高中。應外三 林鈺慈。國立北港高中。應外三 葛孝萱。國立北港高中。應外三

指導老師： 周涵妮老師

Vanishing Bopomofo

I. Introduction

I.1. Research Background

Taiwanese people are used to using the phonetic symbol to learn Chinese, but the government has proposed that Hanyu should replace Zhuyin fuhao. Mandarin phonetic symbols should be abolished in line with international practice. However, Ministry of Education pointed out that Mandarin phonetic symbol is an important tool in Chinese system. Many Chinese publications in now are used in combination with phonetic notation. Once Zhuyin is taken placed by Pinyin, it will have a significant impact. Many Taiwanese raised many objections to this proposal. Most of them think that the Zhuyin fuhao symbolizes the uniqueness of Chinese, especially for Taiwan, and could not be neglected.

However, in recent years, there has been a boom in learning Chinese around the world. High school students from various foreign countries are eager to visit Taiwan to study Chinese. Therefore, we would like to carry on an investigation into the proposal of abolish Bopomofo in order to understand whether this proposal will have any impact under the policy of teaching and learning Chinese in the future.

I.2. Research Objective

Organizing the historical materials regarding pinyin and Zhuyin

Exploring foreigners’ learning conception of pinyin and Zhuyin

Debating whether to abolish Zhuyin among Taiwanese citizens

Discussing the effect of abolishing phonetic notation on Taiwan

Providing suggestions and making a conclusion for the future

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II. Thesis

II.1. History of Zhuyin

Zhuyin Fuhao, also named Zhuyin, is a set of phonetic symbols of standard Guoyu pronunciation. Zhuyin literally means to note the pronunciation of . Derived from its first four in the conventional order, some people would call “Bopomofo” in a colloquial way. The purpose of creating Zhuyin is to improve the shortcomings that the Chinese character is not readable without sound notation.

Chinese Hanyu Pinyin movement began with the Chinese campaign word movement in the late . The Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation was established by Beiyang Government in 1912 to select ancillary phonetic symbols for Mandarin. Zhuyin, which was based on Binglin’ shorthand, was created by the Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation in 1913.

The pinyin scheme proposed in the campaign word movement is varied and dazzling, which can be summed up as three major departments: using certain complete Chinese characters to symbolize other characters of the same sound, using letters, and using non-existent symbols.

✽Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/kzTNNw

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II.2. History of Zhuyin

The word, Hanyu, stands for “The spoken language of the people.” The literal meaning of “Pinyin” is “spelled sounds.” Hanyu Pinyin is a set of systems for spelling Mandarin, often abbreviated to pinyin. Pinyin now is widely used in mainland and to some extent in Taiwan. In China, pinyin plays an important part in the compulsory education.

＊ Source: Chinese Vocabulary Workbook for Elementary Students in . Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/ojNnmX

Pinyin was created by , the father of pinyin. was conscripted by the Chinese government to develop an accessible alphabetic . In 1958, pinyin was officially adopted to make those seemingly abstruse Chinese characters easily readable and boost literacy throughout the country. In 1982, pinyin was adopted by the International Organization for (ISO). Further, the also followed up on this policy in 1986. Despite having the controversial political issue between Taiwan and China, Taiwan adopted as an official standard in 2009, not for Chinese-learning education or computer-typing system but for international activities.

✽The Father of Pinyin ✽Hanyu Pinyin List

Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/uVxxWf Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/YXFZN1

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II.3. Learning Chinese by Zhuyin

With the rise of China and its increasing power and influence, Chinese has been declared a strong language in the 21st century. More and more people are eager to learning Chinese, which has stirred up a wave of global trend of learning Chinese. Here we make some comparison between Zhuyin Fuhao and Hanyu Pinyin to figure out their advantages and disadvantages.

Zhuyin is completely different from other phonetic notations, so students would not be interfered by the pronunciation of their own mother tongue. Zhuyin would be directly labeled on the right side of the Chinese character. Whether it is written vertically or horizontally, Zhuyin is closely followed beside the Chinese character. On the whole, students must visually see Chinese characters and zhuyin together, forcing students to recognize more Chinese characters and invisibly increase their ability to recognize words. Learning Chinese with of Zhuyin allows students to accept the new concept of symbols and logic from the beginning, which can better the ability of recognizing Chinese characters and symbols. Using Zhuyin to teach the concept of a correct can help students get into the state of writing Chinese characters faster.

However, as far as foreigners are concerned, Zhuyin Fuhao is simply a pile of strange and abstruse symbols. Zhuyin appears to be grotesque, which might be a major psychological obstacle for Chinese learners. It takes a long time to recognize Zhuyin, making beginners unable to quickly accumulate the ability of speaking and expressing. It is more likely for beginners to give up.

✽Chinese Class in America ✽Chinese Textbook used in Taiwan

Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/vaVgz4 Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/frW3PL

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II.4. Learning Chinese by Pinyin

Hanyu Pinyin is composed of English letters, which is much more familiar to them. Since Hanyu Pinyin is originated from Latin alphabet, most of foreign Chinese learners focus on learning Hanyu Pinyin, which can lower the learning difficulty and helplessness. Upon looking at Hanyu Pinyin, foreigners enable to read the Chinese sentences roughly. With Hanyu Pinyin, the pronunciation of Chinese characters can be transcribed into English . Those symbols look just the same as English. In this case, the psychological pressure can be reduced and students won’ get cold feet. Students need not to spend plenty of time to memorize the phonetic symbols. Students can quickly start learning the simple conversation, which make them gain sense of accomplishment initially.

✽MeiZhou Chinese Textbook published by Press in 2011 Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/ngnj1o

Nevertheless, the mother tongue is relatively disturbing while learning Chinese, especially for Chinese learners whose native language is non-English. It is difficult to correct the pronunciation by using Hanyu Pinyin in their first language. With the notation of Hanyu Pinyin, it is incredibly easy for students to say shorter sentences and express simple ideas. Students might have a misconception that there is unnecessary to learn and recognize Chinese characters. Hanyu Pinyi is usually noted below Chinese characters or completely separated from Chinese characters. During the process, students might focus on pinyin rather than the character itself. It is easy for students to the rejection of reading Chinese characters or the difficulties of memorizing them. Because students repel Chinese characters, their literacy skills can’t be improved. Due to the difficulty in literacy, students can only learn the basic part of Chinese. It will be hard to make more progress into the advanced level.

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III. Conclusion

Some people favor the abolition of phonetic symbols. They think the purpose of abolishing Zhuyin Fuhao and adopting Hanyu Pinyin is to make Chinese more accessible and readable. In addition, Hanyu Pinyin can facilitate children in Taiwan to learn English alphabets earlier, which also improve their English ability. Moreover, most of the foreigners who study Chinese are accustomed to using Pinyin instead of Zhuyin. Compared to Zhuyin Fuhao, Hanyu Pinyin will lower the anxiety for foreign Chinese learners.

However, some people also oppose the abolition of phonetic symbols. For citizens in Taiwan, Zhuyin Fuhao is beneficial to enhance the reading and writing skills. Additionally, Zhuyin Fuhao is also the essential tool, which is widely utilized in our lives, including many Chinese publications, computers, billboards, and mobile devices…etc. Once Zhuyin Fuhao is abolished, it will definitely have a significant impact on the daily life. Some people consider that Zhuyin Fuhoa has become the feature and culture in Taiwan, which cannot be ignored and abolished. Others even think some politicians use this issue to manipulate ideologies of independence or unification between Taiwan and China.

All in all, whether we are going to abolish Zhuyin and adopt Pinyin or not, we should think more deeply and have more discussion in a rational way. In fact, Hanyu Pinyin has been ubiquitous in Taiwan. These two ways of phonetic symbol can coexist simultaneously in Taiwan now. There is no conflict with using either Zhuyin or Pinyin. To sum up, most of are getting used to using Zhuyin Fuhao, but as a whole, Hanyu Pinyin has been already an international standard adopted by ISO and UN. No matter which one we adopt, Zhuyin and Pinyin are all distinct and indispensable. It will end up in a win-win situation for Taiwanese people if we can be adept in both of them.

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IV. Reference

1. Bassetti, . (2007). Effects of hanyu pinyin on pronunciation in learners of Chinese as a foreign language.

2. Chung, . K. (2007). Presentation factors in the learning of Chinese characters: The order and position of Hanyu pinyin and English translations. Educational Psychology, 27(1), 1-20.

3. Adamson, B. (2004). China's English: A history of English in Chinese education (Vol. 1). University Press.

4 Guy, . (2005). Peking opera and politics in Taiwan. University of Illinois Press.

5. Stevenson, . ., Stigler, . W., Lucker, . W., Lee, S. ., Hsu, . C., & Kitamura, S. (1982). Reading disabilities: the case of Chinese, Japanese, and English. Child Development, 1164-1181.

6. Hu, C. ., & Catts, H. W. (1998). The role of phonological processing in early reading ability: What we can learn from Chinese. Scientific Studies of Reading, 2(1), 55-79.

7. Youguang, . (1986). Modernization of the .

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