What is the native language of the Taiwanese? Can you write Chinese characters?

Taiwanese language is closely related to ethnic groups. According to the common classification, Taiwanese people can be divided into four major ethnic groups, of which Minnan people account for about 74%, Hakka people for about 12%, foreigners for about 13%, and aborigines for about 1%. The Minnan people speak Minnanese as their mother tongue, the Hakka people speak Hakka as their mother tongue, and the foreigners speak "Mandarin" as their mother tongue. The Aborigines are divided into 11 ethnic groups, each using a different Aboriginal language as their mother tongue.

Southern Fujianese is in fact an authentic ancient language of the Central Plains. From the end of the Han Dynasty to the end of the Tang Dynasty, people from the Central Plains along the Yellow River migrated to the south, bringing the ancient language of the River Luo to the southeast coast; during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some immigrants from the mainland crossed the strait and brought the language to Taiwan, which is why the Minnan dialect is also known as the "River Luo language". Later, the Taiwanese Minnan dialect evolved into "Tainan accent", "Taipei accent" and "Yilan accent", among which "Tainan accent" is the most representative. "The Tainan accent is the most representative.

Since the Tang Dynasty, the north of China has been in constant turmoil, with foreign invasions, and the languages of various ethnic groups in the Central Plains have merged with each other and absorbed each other, gradually forming the Yuan Dynasty vernacular, the Ming and Qing official languages, and finally evolving into the Beiping dialect, which is the ancient language of the Central Plains that has disappeared in the north completely. At the beginning of the Republic of China, the Beiping dialect was renamed "Mandarin" and became the common language of the Chinese nation. After the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan, it set up the "National Language Promotion Committee" to study and promote the "National Language". Since there were more people from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong among the foreigners and they were more powerful, Taiwan's "national language" was influenced by the dialects of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Minnan, with an obvious Wu-Yue accent. After the founding of New China, the mainland took the Beijing dialect as the standard, and the northern dialect as the basic dialect, and further standardized the language phenomena such as heterophonic characters, soft sounds and paediatrics, which widened the difference between the "national languages" of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

In addition to the above languages, foreign languages also have a certain status in Taiwan. Anyone with a secondary school education or higher speaks some English. English is the lingua franca in the academic, business and tourism fields. Today's Taiwanese over the age of 70 generally speak some Japanese as well. A large number of foreign workers from the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam speak their native languages.

Most Taiwanese are able to use their mother tongue as well as the "national language". The "national language" is the lingua franca of the island's ethnic groups, the official language of schooling, and the official language of the press, publishing and official documents. According to some studies, the language most frequently used by travelers in Taiwan's train stations is "Mandarin," with an average of about 49%; Minnan is the second most frequently used language, with about 47%; "Mandarin"/Minnan is used in a mixed way, with about 1.7%; Hakka is used in about 1.7%; aboriginal languages are used in about 0.3%; and other languages are used in about 0.3%; and other languages are used in about 0.3%. 0.3%; and other languages about 0.3%. Generally speaking, the more urban and economically developed the area, the higher the frequency of using "Mandarin", and the more rural and economically backward the area, the higher the frequency of using Minnanhua. The younger the age, the higher the frequency of using "Mandarin", and the older the age, the higher the frequency of using Minnanhua. Women tend to use the "national language" more than men.