This brief comparison between the national indigenous languages survey reports of Taiwan (made in 2012 & 2014) and the survey reports of Australia (made in 2005 & 2014) came out in Aboriginal Educational World《原住民教育情報誌》No. 63 (June, 2015). pp. 58-61.
My article argues that for a language survey report to be really useful, it should contain a detailed analysis of the language's current status based on both quantitative and qualitative survey results; it should generate localized endangerment and vitality factors from the detailed analysis; and it should also propose ways to redress that correspond to each distinct language endangerment case. There is definitely not one miracle pill for all types of loss.
To present survey results alone with numerous tables and statistic formulas is not helpful. Numbers are important, but it is the story of those numbers that truly enlightens.
It celebrates the island's indigenous cultures and remembers how indigenous rights came to be recognized by Taiwan's constitution since the Indigenous Rights Movement in mid-1980s.
1984 - Taiwan's indigenous peoples asked the government to call them by 'indigenous people' （yuan-zhu-min, 原住民 ）instead of the stigmatizing 'mountain tribe' or mountain fellow'（shan-bao, 山胞 ）.
1994 August 1- 'Indigenous People' made it into the constitution of Taiwan and replaced 'mountain tribe'.
1997- 'Indigenous People' became 'Indigenous Peoples', signifying the recognition of each indigenous group as a collective entity.
From 'raw savage', 'cooked savage' to 'mountain tribe' to 'indigenous people', this process marks our continuous fight against the naming power of colonizers. Nothing is by no means granted here.
For ILRDC, a center built to revitalize endangered indigenous languages, how else can we feel the meaning of the day other than speak our own languages and tell people not only do we have our own names, but we also have our own ways of saying them? We have our own languages; they too deserve to be recognized and used more in fact.
With that spirit, ILRDC launched 'Challenge Our Mother Tongues in Ten Seconds'（挑戰十秒說族語）, inviting people to film themselves speaking their own languages in ten seconds. By the end of 31st July, the center has 38 films from 19 language variations. Here they are.
Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day.
May indigenous languages continue to strive and stay alive.
