A Survey of Multilingual Services of National Museums in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Wu, Kunlin, 吳昆霖
• Other Authors: Liu, Wan-Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/gbns7n

碩士 === 國立臺南藝術大學 === 博物館學與古物維護研究所 === 106 === The island of Taiwan is comprised of many ethnic groups and diverse cultures. Language is at the core of these ethnic groups’ daily life, culture, and identity shaping. The protection of minority languages is an important global issue, as the UNESCO proclaimed in the 1996 “Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights” and the 2002 “Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity.” The spirit of multiculturalism in Taiwan is endorsed by the constitution. The call for equal language rights has continued since the “Restore My Mother Tongue” campaign in the 1980s. National linguistic multiplicity in combination with the increased language diversity from new immigrants, migrant workers, and foreign visitors drive the demand for multilingual services to become more critical. Since museums serve as a place that encourages multiculturalism, uphold equal rights, and facilitates social change they should become a pioneer in removing cultural barriers for the audience, including creating and leading measures of language equality. Although the issue about museums providing multilingual services has been raised in the past, only a few studies have touched on a single museum or any specific items of service in Taiwan. The status of multilingual services has not been explored. This study reviews the literature on multilingual services provided by 13 national museums (14 locations) in Taiwan as research subjects. Data was collected through Internet information retrieval, questionnaire survey, field research, and document collection. The status of each museum’s multilingual services and each respective item of service was determined by comparison. The survey results revealed that multilingual services are available at all national museums. While the museums provide diverse items and languages their availability varies at each museum. Overall, at least 19 languages in addition to different indigenous languages were observed. The most prevalent languages are Chinese and English, while Japanese is also common. There is, however, room for improved services in local languages such as Taiwanese and Hakka as well as other indigenous languages and Taiwanese Sign Language. The variety of languages and items of service have slightly grown in recent years, with new developments in friendly services for new immigrants and sign language. However, the number of museums that provide consistent services and the items of such services remain limited. Many museums have devised policies or plans related to multilingual services; yet, there are many challenges for the implementation of these services. The most common challenges include the recruitment of language talented persons as well as personnel education and training. Budgeting is a major challenge. Finally, this study proposes suggestions for implementations and service enhancements. The suggestions are for museum multilingual services to become more comprehensive and complete. The multilingual services are expected to become an important pathway that attracts the public and facilitates cultural empowerment. When people think about museums, they will know, “The museum services are fully comprehensible in our mother tongue.”