On Aug 24, 2005, at 6:46 PM, Andrew Dunbar wrote:

> Please correct me if I'm wrong. I thought that in
> Taiwan everybody spoke the local Chinese "dialect"
> and was later educated in Mandarin and that the
> traditional characters are used there. Does anybody
> know if they would be typing the bopomofo
> pronunciation
> for the local "dialect" or Mandarin?

Mandarin. Min (Taiwanese) is spoken by only a minority of the
population. Mandarin is the standard dialect, as in the PRC.

> If Mandarin then
> uneducated people would not be able to use computers,
> electronic dictionaries, etc. This problem was avoided
> in Hong Kong by using input methods based on the
> script rather than the sounds of any particular
> "dialect". Is this right?
>

Cantonese-speakers rarely use phonetic input because they're not
trained in school to do a phonetic analysis of the sounds they make
when they speak, so it's very difficult for them. They find shape-
based systems easier to manage.

========
John H. Jenkins
jenkins@...
jhjenkins@...
http://homepage.mac.com/jhjenkins/