• Organisation

In order to understand foreign language teaching in contemporary Taiwan, one must know about something about the native languages spoken there. Taiwan's official language is Mandarin; however, the most commonly spoken language is Taiwanese. A Minnan dialect is spoken in parts of the Fujian Province of the Chinese mainland, and when different ethnic groups migrated to Taiwan from the Chinese mainland over the last five hundred years, they brought their distinct language diversity with them. During the fifty years of Japanese occupation, from 1895 to 1945, attendance at elementary schools, taught in Japanese, was possible and recommended by the authorities, and after 1941 was made compulsory for all Taiwanese.