Language Wars

A young politician puts Taiwan's multilingual policy to the test. Plus, reader responses to quarantine & Michelle's washing machine meltdown.

It was supposed to be a historic day. Taiwan’s parliament, the Legislative Yuan, had agreed to pilot a simultaneous translation program, decreeing that so long as they applied in advance legislators could speak in the language of their choice—Taiwanese, Hakka, Formosan or aboriginal languages, Taiwanese sign language—and be provided with simultaneous translators or interpreters to facilitate the dialogue.