Hakka Romanisation

[Kobo-Daishi]

Dear readers,
How come there are 9 romanisation schemes for Hakka at this web-site. Are they all for a single standard Hakka dialect or for different sub-groups of Hakka.
Which is the most popular sub-group and the most popular romanisation scheme.
Kobo-Daishi, PLLA.

[Thomas Chan]

: How come there are 9 romanisation schemes for Hakka at this web-site. Are they all for a single standard Hakka dialect or for different sub-groups of Hakka.
A combination of both. e.g., "Rey Meixian Hakka"
refers to the system used in Rey's dictionary,
describing Hakka spoken in Meixian. There is
probably also a time dimension as well, depending
on when the data in each source was compiled--
the Rey and MacIver dictionaries are early
20th century, I believe.

: Which is the most popular sub-group and the most popular romanisation scheme.
The speech of Meixian is considered standard
(like how Beijing and Guangzhou are considered
the standard varieties of Mandarin and Yue,
respectively.) Unless otherwise specified,
the Meixian variety is usually described (but
double-check; e.g., Hakka dictionaries published
in Taiwan may describe Hakka as spoken there).
I don't think there really is a standard
romanization scheme.

Thomas Chan
tc31@cornell.edu

[James Campbell]

There are two standards in Taiwan: Hailu and Siyan (Si-xian). Good dictionaries in Taiwan offer both pronunciations, usually in zhuyin.