The language with the most native speakers in Taiwan is Mandarin Chinese followed by Taiwanese Hokkien, or "Taiwanese" for short. Hokkien is a topolect of the Chinese family of languages originating in southern Fujian and is spoken by many overseas Chinese throughout Southeast Asia. Recently there has been a growing use of Taiwanese Hokkien in the broadcast media.
As the language with the most native speakers in Taiwan, Mandarin is spoken as a first, second, or third language of virtually all Taiwanese under the age of 60. Standard Chinese has been the only officially sanctioned medium of instruction in schools in Taiwan since the late 1940s.
Members of the Hakka Chinese subgroup, who are concentrated in several counties throughout Taiwan, often speak the Hakka language. The Formosan languages are the ethnic languages of the aboriginal tribes of Taiwan, comprising about 2% of the island's population. It's common for young and middle-aged Hakka and aboriginal people to speak Mandarin and Hokkien better than, or to the exclusion of, their ethnic languages.
As a result of the half century of Japanese rule, many people born before 1940 also can speak fluent Japanese.
Famous quotes containing the word languages:
“Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute.”
—J.G. (James Graham)