How to Save an Ancient Language Before It Disappears Forever

For decades, Taiwan’s minority Hakka people were banned from teaching their native language. Now an unlikely coalition of aging academics and millennial radio DJs are doing all they can to keep it alive.

Photos by Rosalie Chan

It’s 6:30 p.m. at a radio studio in Miaoli, a small city in Western Taiwan. Yin Chang is plugged in. Her headphones are on, and the microphone is adjusted close to her mouth. The lights are dim; a blue banner declaring “Voice of Hakka Radio 97.1 FM” hangs behind her.

Chang, 36, fixes her headphones and pushes a strand of her bobbed hair behind her ear. With a bright voice, she enthusiastically greets the audience: “Hello, tegaho gaihei DJ Yin!” – “Hello everyone, this is DJ Yin!”

At the 97.1 FM Hakka radio station, DJ Yin Chang runs "Henai," an evening Hakka language program, and "Multivitamin," a night Mandarin language program aimed at youth. As a DJ, Chang works to promote the Hakka language, Hakka music and rising Hakka musicians. (Photo courtesy of DJ Yin Chang)

Chang hosts a program called Heinai, or “It’s me” in a variety of Chinese known as Hakka, the language of a Han Chinese ethnic group scattered throughout the continent. Heinai is aimed at Hakka youth; i…