A Comparison in the Policy of Official Language between Taiwan and Korea under Japanese Colonization

[[abstract]]A Comparison in the Policy of Official Language between Taiwan and Korea under Japanese Colonization Abstract Taiwan and Korea both were once under Japanese colonial rule, and Japan’s rule policy to their colonies is to assimilate colonial people into those being loyal and steadfast to the imperialist Japan in order to enslave them for any purpose. Through this study on the policy of official language of imperialist Japan, we realized that the fundamental purpose of implementing the policy of official language by imperialist Japan was mainly on assimilating colonial people through education, which may help us to eliminate the negative impression made by the authority’s language policy, and further establish Taiwan’s own subjectivity of local language. By adopting comparison method, this paper is to first describe the theory and implementation of Japanese colonial policy, then to interpret the process and impact of respectively developing the policy of official language in Taiwan and Korea under Japanese colonization, and eventually to make a difference comparison of the policy of official language between both colonies. Its main purpose is intended to highlight Taiwan’s diversified cultural characteristics through widely and unlimitedly using its local language. Taiwan and Korea are very different nations who have their own language, historical and cultural background. Thus this paper is finally intended to make a comparison of the policy of official language in Taiwan and Korea under Japanese colonization implemented by the imperialist Japan, and the response from their individual people in order to affirmatively conclude that each nation shall stick up for and have a positive inclining to its own local language and keep it detached and independent from the language policy of a country. Key words: Imperialism, colonial discourse, Japanese colonization, official language policy, language planning