TAIPEI: Taiwan's transition from Tongyong pinyin to Hanyu pinyin as the standard Mandarin Romanization system is in its final stages, deputy education chief Lu Mu-lin said yesterday.

Lu made the remarks at a seminar on the progress of the government's efforts to create an internationalized living environment, which was held by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission.

Lu noted that the government has been promoting the adoption of pinyin - the same romanization system used on the Chinese mainland - in three stages, since October 2008.

At present, the work has entered its second and third stages, which involve changing the spellings on tourist guides and road signs, Lu said.

Proponents of adopting the Hanyu pinyin say it would bring Taiwan's romanization system in line with international practice, while opponents feel it would remove a point of distinction between Taiwan and the mainland.

Tongyong pinyin is also said to be more adaptable to Taiwan's other main languages - Hoklo and Hakka - than Hanyu pinyin.

Wade-Giles and other less prominent romanization systems have been used in Taiwan for decades, leaving many place names with multiple spellings.

Efforts to unify the romanization system in Taiwan have run into political resistance, and it is unclear whether the Kuomintang government will be able to enforce the use of Hanyu pinyin in areas where the opposition DPP has strong support.

According to Lu, the government should make good use of language to to encourage overseas visitors to come to Taiwan.

He cited South Korea, which rarely uses foreign languages on its street signs, as fostering a tourist environment unfriendly to foreigners and providing a model that Taiwan should avoid emulating.

China Daily

(HK Edition 09/03/2009 page2)