Re: Culture first, language second

[teoh@cs.utk.edu]

>From philipc@elm.ncs.com.sg Mon Dec  2 01:59:14 1996
From: Chin Philip <philipc@ncs.com.sg>
Subject: Re: Culture first, language second 

I kept reading that 'Hakka' are being suppressed all the time such as the 
Jews. BUT what I don't get are the reasons behind these so-called 
persecution of my people - the Hakka culture and our dialect.

What did we do wrong that our culture/dialect are 'banned' or dispised in 
Taiwan? Are we so superior in our undertakings that the locals are afraid
of our power, economically and politically?

Seems to me that it's only in Taiwan that we are perceived as 'undesirables'?
Where else are we so-called 'persecuted' like the Jews that our younger
generation can no longer speak our dialect, etc? Don't you think that 
it's your folks that should be teaching the younger generation to come 
the dialect and culture; and at the same time be immersed into today's
societys' mainstream and evolve with the changing, modern world we are
experiencing. 

So is it a serious problem, today being a Hakka in certain regions of this
world? Are we as 'bad' as the Jews, as we compared ourselves to as such?
Or are we merely exaggerating this so-called problem of being a Hakka
and losing our culture due to persecution or suppression? Is this being
blown out of proportion? What about the other dialects, aren't they also
losing their culture/dialect for the same reasons - econmical evolution.



On Wed, 27 Nov 1996 teoh@cs.utk.edu wrote:

> >From sllee@infinet.com Fri Nov 22 13:16:26 1996
> Subject: Culture first, language second
> 
> KonLiong,
> 
> Absolutely true if we can speak and read and write the language, we would 
> be able to understand the culture much better. But remember there are 
> also many Hakkas who cannot speak Hakka any more because of many reasons. 
> (Political suppression in some countries was a big reason). If they claim 
> themselves as Hakka and identify with Hakka culture, they should be 
> treated as Hakka. On the other hand, there are also Hakka who speak 
> fluent Hakka but do not identify with the ancestry and history of Hakka. 
> I would say they are less Hakka than the first type. That is my point.
> 
> SL Lee
> 
>