jenny's thoughts

Every week, nay!: every day there seems to be a new post debate on Forumosa about romanized Chinese systems versus Taiwan's bopomofo system. The posting war always goes the same. A says ZhuYin is superior. B says China uses PinYin so it's better and more useful. A says ZhuYin is superior because its authentic. B says ZhuYin is a relatively modern phonetic system. A says ZhuYin is just the most awesome thing ever. B says something stupid in response.

It never ends.

Since I'm in Taiwan, I'm totally for ZhuYin. I <3 ㄅㄆㄇㄈ. Taiwanese know the system, so when I'm stuck for a character, I can write the ㄅㄆㄇㄈ and they get it. When filling out a hospital application, I didn't know how to write my address. The foreign minder was off chatting with her friend, so I wrote in pencil the words in ㄅㄆㄇㄈ and she later filled them in. If I had written it in PinYin, they would have shook their head in confusion. My Taiwanese friends know ㄅㄆㄇㄈ, not PinYin.

Lest I not mention cellphones. If I want to type Chinese into my cellphone, I must use ㄅㄆㄇㄈ. How are these PinYin enthusiasts typing Chinese? They can't, using a phone manufactured for the Taiwanese market. The other day I was writing a friend to tell her I couldn't go to her parent's house for Moon Festival...and couldn't figure out how to type her city's name. The guy next to me helped me with the ㄅㄆㄇㄈ and with choosing the characters. Beat that, PinYin.

For me, ㄅㄆㄇㄈ is the way to go. Yes. ㄅㄆㄇㄈ