TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwanese translation of “The Little Prince” by French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery has sold more than 10,000 copies, CNA reported.
Cheng Ching-hung (鄭清鴻), editor-in-chief of Avangard Publishing, hopes that more people can appreciate the beauty of Taiwanese. The Taiwanese language was suppressed by the Kuomintang (KMT) in the past.
In an interview, Cheng said that the context of reading in Mandarin compared to Taiwanese is completely different. He added that, through the efforts of professional translators, the general public can better understand and appreciate Taiwanese.
A native of Pingtung, Cheng was raised by his grandparents. Cheng admits that it was a good thing that his grandparents did not like to speak Mandarin, which gave him an immersive Taiwanese experience.
In high school, Cheng read “The ‘Steelyard’” (一桿秤仔) by Lai He, considered the “father of new Taiwanese literature.” The novel is unique in that it was written in spoken Taiwanese, not Mandarin.
The novel sparked Cheng’s curiosity in Taiwanese. He then studied Taiwanese literature and language at the National Taiwan Normal University and later became an editor for Avangard Publishing.
The Pingtung native said that Taiwanese has long been considered vulgar and unpopular and that many misunderstandings result from the past policy towards “dialects.” He hopes that translations of more classics can promote Taiwanese and make people rediscover an emotional connection to the language.
