It can't be denied that modern technology is wonderful. When Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg spoke to a Taiwanese using a speech-to-speech translation system powered by artificial intelligence (AI) for Hokkien, a variety of Chinese from Fujian Province in Southern China; I was more surprised to learn that the widely spoken Hokkien is but an oral language which lacks a standard written form. I recalled decades ago when a Malay teacher asked if it was possible to read the Chinese characters in Hokkien. My housemate and I replied simultaneously; he said No while I said Yes. Then I was so sure my late father read the Chinese newspapers using his native Hokkien language. When China's first emperor Qin Shi Huang unified China, among the things he did was to transform the writing system. He standardized the non-alphabetic written script and since Chinese characters are just ideograms, I thought they could be read by all Chinese in their own respective dialects. There may be some variations in grammar, tone etc but have you ever wonder how the Hokkiens in Taiwan and the Cantonese in Hong Kong make their movies without a written script; or even sing their songs without lyrics in words form?
Mark Zuckerberg communicating with a Taiwanese in each own's language....
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