Pinyin swap would cost NT$1bn

Minister of Education Cheng Jei-cheng (鄭瑞城) said yesterday that converting the official phonetic Romanization system used by the government from Tongyong to Hanyu Pinyin would cost an estimated NT$1 billion (US$30.6 million).

During a question-and-answer session with Chinese Nationalist Party Legislator Chiang Yi-hsiung (江義雄) at the legislature, Cheng dismissed media reports that changing the Pinyin system would cost between NT$7 billion and NT$8 billion.

MISUNDERSTANDING

“The public mistakenly believed that changing the Pinyin system would cost a lot of money. The media also reported yesterday that the cost could be as much as NT$7 billion to NT$8 billion, but this is impossible,” Cheng said.

Cheng said the project would cost NT$1 billion “at most.”

“Hanyu Pinyin is the world’s standard [Romanization] system. Our government also decided in 1999 that we should use the system, but the decision was later changed to Tongyong for certain reasons,” Cheng said.

The government adopted the Tongyong Pinyin system under the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government.

The pan-blue camp criticized the decision at the time, saying it was motivated by political and ideological reasons. Hanyu Pinyin was rejected because it is used in China, it said.

The Executive Yuan recently announced it would switch to Hanyu Pinyin to bring Taiwan in line with international standards.

Hanyu Pinyin was developed in China in the late 1950s.

Chiang suggested to the minister and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) that the two Pinyin systems both be used in Taiwan.

“Over the past several decades, the bickering over the two Pinyin systems has resulted in a lose-lose situation and an inconsistent Pinyin system,” Chiang said.

JUST FOR FOREIGNERS

“The Romanization system is used for those who are not familiar with Mandarin,” Liu said. “In other words, it is Pinyin for foreigners. Therefore, how convenient the system is for foreigners is very important.”

“The Pinyin system is not intended for Taiwanese people, since we can simply read the Chinese characters on road signs,” Liu said.