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APRIL/MAY The Linguist 21
FEATURES
With a mission to introduce Taiwanese culture
to the UK public, the Cultural Division of the
Taipei Representative Office in the UK
regularly organises events to showcase the
country's creativity and traditions. Created in
2012 as the UK branch of Taiwan's Ministry of
Culture, it provides Taiwanese creatives with
international experience and opportunities.
Its events and collaborations offer an
insight into Taiwan and its languages. In 2018,
'Taiwan in Poetry, Poetry in Taiwan' explored
the meaning of selected works and their
translation into English, while in 2019 the Bao
Lai and Jian Shan Indigenous Youth Choir
shared the beauty of Taiwan's indigenous
language music in their debut UK tour.
The Cultural Division has collaborated with
King's College London since 2017. 'Taiwan's
Lost Commercial Cinema: Recovered and
restored' screened rediscovered Taiwanese-
language films (Taiyupian) from the 1950s
across the UK. Last year, in conjunction with
SOAS's Centre of Taiwan Studies, the 'Taiwan
Post New Wave Cinema Project' discussed the
era of Taiwanese film since the 1980s. Amid
a liberalising society, the use of languages in
these films reflects a crossroads of language,
identity and politics in Taiwan's history.
This year will see a continued collaboration
with the University of Leeds through the
'Spotlight Taiwan' project, concerning the
English translation of Taiwanese literature. In
addition, the division and the National
Museum of Taiwan Literature (NMTL) have
formed a relationship with the British Centre
for Literary Translation (BCLT) at the University
of East Anglia. The centre's translation
summer school will feature Chinese translation
How Taiwan's Cultural Division supports translators of Taiwanese
literature, and promotes the nation's traditions and languages in the UK
workshops focusing on contemporary
literature from Taiwan for the first time. The
six-day online programme will feature daily
translation workshops, with additional sessions
geared towards career development,
networking and industry insights.
Five Taiwanese and five international
translators will be given a bursary to attend
by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture. They will
work with experienced Chinese to English
translator Jeremy Tiang to create consensus
translations of the work of Taiwanese author
Chi Ta-wei. This represents the first
cooperation between the NMTL and a British
literary institution. After a year of discussions,
the Cultural Division's Director, Dr Chen
Pin-Chuan, a film scholar himself, believes
the workshop is key to growing international
interest in Taiwanese literature.
To apply to the summer school visit
bclt.org.uk/summer-school/apply. For
details of events, see taiyupian.uk and
taiwanpostnewwave.org.uk.
Taiwan (Republic of China) is a
democratic island nation in East Asia
with a population of 23 million, with the
northern metropolis of Taipei as its
capital. The national language is
Mandarin Chinese, but other Sinitic
languages are widely spoken, including
Hakka and Taiyu (the Taiwanese
language), a variant of Hokkien. The
country's indigenous groups each have
their own respective cultures and
languages. The Taipei Representative
Office in the UK manages and promotes
Taiwan's relations with the UK.
FACT FILE
CULTURAL HIGHLIGHTS
Atayal weavers at the British Library for
Craft Week (left); and author Wu Ming-yi
at the Edinburgh Book Festival (right)
Embassy insights
