Taigi: Fluency Unlocked: Tâi-gí Ū Liàn-tńg - Paperback

by Úi-Pek Ong (Foreword by), Têng-Têng Tīⁿ (Author)

A Taigi textbook created specifically for English speaking children.

Children Friendly: We understand that for a language to survive and prosper, it is crucial to nurture the next generation of native users. We made the conscious decision to design the book with a conversation-based, graphic-aided, intuitive learning experience, particularly suitable for preschool audiences, (but equally effective for other age groups and even adults).

Pe̍h-ōe-jī: We cannot stress enough, for a language to assume the role of cultural carrier for a people, the importance of a standardized writing system. We believe that Pe̍h-ōe-jī, a romanized Tâi-gí writing system with a history of being used by Taiwanese for more than 150 years, is the ideal tool for documenting Tâi-gí. An alphabetic, phonemic writing system is easy to learn and helps immensely with pronunciation. The long, native history imparts a sense of tradition and belonging.

English, No Mandarin: We are painfully aware of the overwhelming dominance of the Mandarin language and the Hàn-jī scripts over nowadays Taiwan society and overseas Taiwanese diaspora; in particular, how the dominance dropped such a heavy anchor which always finds its way to disrupt and distort a still reviving Tâi-gí language. To mitigate such toxic influence, we prefer English over Mandarin, when translation or explanatory notes are needed in the book.