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?

John H. Jenkins wrote:

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

Actually, that's misinformation.
While the whole of the population of Taiwan is educated in Mandarin,
Mandarin is spoken as primary language by only a minority. Minnan and
Hakka are still in the majority as primary language spoken, with
Mandarin spoken as secondary by most of the populace.

cheers,
-Patrick