by Yanne C

語言:
English /// 中文
Translator: Brian Hioe
Photo courtesy of Sayun Pihaw

The following interview was originally posted on Global Voices ahead of the panel, “Digital Initiatives for Indigenous Languages of Taiwan,” which was held on June 28, 2025 at DAYBREAK. This event is the first time Rising Voices, in collaboration with New Bloom and the Indigenous Youth Front, organized an event in Taiwan to bring together local Indigenous language digital activists to learn from and connect with each other. The idea was to facilitate the exchange of learned experiences and innovative ideas among these language activists, inspiring more possibilities for their language work.

In this interview, Sayun Pihaw, an Atayal speaker from Taichung and Indigenous media worker, shares how her job provides her with exposure to the cultural agendas of Indigenous communities other than her own. At the same time, marrying into a Seediq family has opened the door to her involvement in the promotion of the Seediq language.

Rising Voices (RV): Please tell us about yourself and your language-related work

Sayun Pihaw:  I am Sayun Pihaw, Tayal from Mihu Tribe in Taichung’s Heping District, also wife to a Seediq Truku (a Seediq dialect group) member of the Alang Pulan tribe.

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time working in the field of Indigenous media, and my daily work involves engaging with and addressing the cultural agendas of various Indigenous communities. In planning programs, we are required to use a certain proportion of Indigenous languages in the content. In addition to that, I am also an editor for the Seediq Wikipedia.

RV:  What is the current state of the Indigenous language(s) you are working with, online and offline?

SP:  There is an increasing number of online communities and social media outlets that promote the use of Indigenous languages. They are often run by middle-aged to younger generations. I’ve met more Atayal and Seediq friends in these communities, but fewer of Bunun and Paiwan, among others. It was a surprise to me to see Indigenous people making social media posts and comments in Indigenous languages.

In real life, though, other than elders or middle-aged people remaining in the tribes, you’d rarely see the younger generations carrying out a conversation beyond ten minutes in Indigenous languages.

RV:  What are your motivations for seeing these language(s) present in digital spaces?

SP:  Taking the Seediq Wikipedia as an example… I started familiarizing myself with Seediq culture because I was married to a Seediq. Although we are both from Indigenous groups that practice facial tattooing, there remain many differences between us and our cultures. So when a Seediq friend invited me onto the project later on, I came on board, thinking that it sounded quite interesting and that it’d help me with my understanding of one more language and its culture.

RV:  Could you share with us some of the challenges encountered and lessons learned in your digital work with these languages?

SP:  As for the Seediq Wikipedia project, there are many ways to participate that’ll allow involvement from different age groups. Instructors from the middle-aged generation showcase the language through writing; community elders demonstrate different ways of saying things across generations, based on their lifelong recollections; and the younger generation keeps track of all the above, with a humble, learning mindset.

However, I think what remains most challenging of all is that young people are not as familiar with the language; they tend to get discouraged when learning it or avoid learning it altogether.

RV:  What concrete steps do you think can be taken to encourage younger people to use Indigenous languages in the digital space?

SP:  The Seediq Wikipedia borrows from the example of Payuan Classic in using short-form videos to demonstrate Indigenous words to facilitate learning.

Making videos is the easy part; it’s the editing that’s difficult — while it might be easy for someone from our own community to get the nuance of our own culture, how can we find an angle to help an outsider understand the same? This is something that’s worth exploring.
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