Why I Believe Pinyin Will Bridge the Gap in Learning Mandarin in This Asian Century
Some time ago, I wrote an article where I discussed why I think Chinese language schools should focus on pinyin over zhuyin (read here). I remembered how I disliked the Chinese language subject not only because of long memorizations. I also feel (until now) that zhuyin will never bridge the gap between Chinese speakers and non-Chinese speakers. Chinese schools in the Philippines tend to act like they're in Taiwan. There was hardly any practical application. Eventually, I remembered how later batches who took the Chinese language subject admitted to making erroneous sentences. I remembered two of the Chinese language teachers I had kept getting mad over the sentences, "The people are making people." this was just one of those erroneous sentences.
Zhuyin was a tool used during the Qing period up to 1911. Why does Taiwan, well, stubbornly still embrace zhuyin? I could respect Taiwan's desire to remain independent of China. I love Taiwanese stuff. Though, I think the insistence on zhuyin is one of them. I still think it'd be a good mental exercise to learn zhuyin since learning it is no different than learning the alphabet of other languages. However, with the Chinese language getting more and more widely spoken--bringing the gap was necessary. I even want to compare the rise of the Chinese language to how the late Bruce Lee made martial arts accessible to non-Chinese.
Today, the Chinese language isn't just "for the Chinese". I think a fatal flaw back then is that Chinese-Filipino academies never felt that they'd have an increased number of non-Chinese students. Zhuyin was still taught for a very long period. If you want a reading aid, use zhuyin, was the rule. I guess the lack of digital technology made people fail to see how useful pinyin has become in bridging the gap.
Here's useful trivia from the Hutong School website about pinyin and Taiwan:
The split in Zhuyin versus Pinyin is almost entirely political. In an effort to spread literacy, promote Mandarin over local dialects, and “modernize” the country, the People’s Republic of China official adopted Hanyu Pinyin in the 1950s to replace Zhuyin (as well as other systems of Romanization). The ROC, however, viewed Pinyin as a “Communist invention” that was an antagonist to traditional Chinese culture. This attitude pushed them to continue using Zhuyin.
At the same time, some Taiwanese conservatives were alarmed at the ease people could learn to read without using Chinese characters! They didn’t consider this “legitimate learning” and forbid using this method to promote “full literacy.” Both Bopomofo and GR were restricted to annotating the pronunciation of Chinese characters. Bopomofo was renamed as 注音符號 Zhùyīn Fúhào/Juhin Fwuhaw “National Phonetic Symbols” to emphasize its new, restricted role.
I really said, "If only the ROC knew that its inventor, the late Zhou Yougang, was a critic of Communist China!" Pretty much, Taiwan still keeps the zhuyin as part of their heritage which for me is okay. I think there's no harm in learning both zhuyin and pinyin. However, the PRC (even under the reign of the tyrant, Mao Zedong), saw the power of Hanyu Pinyin over Zhuyin. I felt ROC or Taiwan just didn't see the opportunity they could have had in modernization. I guess there was still this animosity between Chinese in Taiwan and China.
Fortunately, once again from the Hutong School we read about this change that happened:
Only in the past ten years or so has Taiwan been faced with a growing number of foreigners who have learned Pinyin. Some administrators didn’t want to be seen as adopting a “PRC invention” entirely, so they inserted minor changes that are enough to be different, but not so much to confuse foreigners too excessively. In 2009, the Republic of China finally switched over to Hanyu Pinyin to transliterate Mandarin into Latin letters. However, this is mostly for the benefit of foreigners, since native Mandarin speakers in Taiwan continue to use Zhuyin to teach children and to type Chinese electronically.
Shuyin still remains part of Taiwan's heritage. However, I'm glad that pinyin (with a few modifications) is used in Taiwan. An example is Cai can be alternatively spelled as Tsai or Xu as Hsu. I guess the number of people going to China to learn Mandarin must've caused this change in 2009. I simply saw non-Chinese going to Beijing to learn Mandarin. That alone made me regret why I didn't take the Chinese subject seriously. Again, I'm still criticizing the old outdated methods such as using zhuyin, not having taught pinyin, being overly focused on memorization (that's what ticked me off as a teenager), and having a lack of flexibility.
So, pinyin as a learning system, maybe what's truly needed. I personally would find it annoying if I had to get a specialized keyboard just to use zhuyin. I've enjoyed learning to type in Chinese using the pinyin. I feel zhuyin was really a burden in my past. Sure, zhuyin might be useful to keeping the mind sharp with a harder challenge. However, pinyin is pretty much a bridge to making Chinese more accessible. I might be Chinese by blood but I've grown up in the Philippines. I think pinyin may be a better way for ethnic Chinese outside China and Taiwan to reconnect and learn their language. Pinyin is now widely accepted due to its ease.
Just imagine if pinyin wasn't invented. I couldn't imagine how tapioca pearl (波霸) was spelled in the traditional zhuyin instead of as bōba. True, it's been misread and I've misread it and mispronounced it many times over. Some Mandarin words have been integrated into other languages. The Chinese word for tea (茶) has the pinyin chá while the Tagalog says tsaa and the Visayan says tsa. Pinyin has made the gap smaller. Now, it's time to really find more ways to make Mandarin more accessible in this Asian century.
