沒有既定的規則說明如何將真正的台語口語寫出來。 當然，有決心的人可能會想出各種巧妙的方法，例如用漢字、日文表音字、注音符號、羅馬字或這些方法的某種組合來書寫台語。 問題是其他說台語的人可能不會接受或無法理解所寫的內容，因為對於應該如何寫台語，人並沒有取得任何共識。
There are no definitely established rules for writing out the Taiwanese vernacular language in its pure form. Of course, a determined person may devise various idiosyncratic and makeshift methods for writing Taiwanese in Chinese characters, in Japanese kana, in Mandarin phonetic symbols, in romanized script, or in some combination of these methods. The problem is that other Taiwanese speakers probably will not accept or understand what is written because there is no consensus about how Taiwanese should be written.
正相反，隨著時間的推移，台灣人應該如何寫自己的母語這個問題越發混亂。 每個書寫系統都有其熱心的支持者，導致分歧和無奈。台灣政府也無法制定一個可行的方案，因為顧問對此事有不同的看法。 此外，政府缺乏人民的授權為台語創造一套統一的文字系統。
On the contrary, as time passes, there is more and more confusion about how Taiwanese should be written. Each scheme has its enthusiastic supporters, leading to dissension and frustration. Even the government cannot create a workable scheme because its own advisors have differing views about the matter. Furthermore, the government has not secured a mandate from the people to institute a comprehensive writing system for Taiwanese.
這困境也有一些出乎人們意料之外的層面。 一些專家反對用漢字寫台灣話；他們覺得使用漢字書寫台語口語的音節必促進中國中央文明對台灣文化的控制與侵襲。 如果說台語是台灣人文化身份的核心，那麼漢字就是華人文化身份的靈魂。 因此，有人認為，用漢字寫出台語會喚起深根固柢的文化記憶，最終摧毀台灣人民表達內心最深處的思想和感情的語言。
This is also a somewhat ironic predicament. Some experts oppose writing Taiwanese in Chinese characters. They feel that writing Taiwanese in Chinese characters only reinforces the control of the central Chinese culture. If Taiwanese language is the core of the Taiwanese identity, Chinese characters are the soul of the more general Chinese identity. Thus, some believe that to write in Chinese characters is to dredge up deep cultural memories and thereby to undermine the sounds and words with which the Taiwanese people express their deepest thoughts and feelings.
以上觀點站得住腳嗎？ 香港粵語似乎沒有遇到這麼糟的命運。 但粵語能夠在香港蓬勃發展的主要原因是英國統治營造的獨特環境。 有一個世紀之久，香港人民擺脫了華北的政治控制和文化主導，因此能夠推行把粵語白化完整地寫出來的實驗性運動。 然而，自 1997 年以來，北京再次開始強制執行對使用粵語方言的限制，規定在法院、學校、媒體和其他公共場所要說寫普通話。
Is this view tenable? Hong Kong Cantonese certainly does not seem to have met with this fate. But the main reason written Cantonese could thrive in Hong Kong was due to the unique circumstances of British rule. The people of Hong Kong were freed from the political control and cultural dominance of North China for a century, and therefore were able to experiment with true vernacular writing. Since 1997, however, the restrictions on the use of the vernacular are once again being enforced, and rule from Beijing is demanding the use of Putonghua in the courts, in schools, in the media, and at other public venues.
因此，這個問題自然也牽涉政治考量。 台灣一些語言學專家可能不希望台灣完全脫離中國大陸的影響，因此不希望創出一套可能加強台灣本土文化的文字系統。
Thus, naturally, this problem also has political connotations. Some experts in fields related to Sinitic linguistics may not support Taiwan independence, and so do not wish to create a system which may strengthen the local Taiwanese cultural identity.
還有一些基本的語言障礙需要克服。 為什麼寫台語這麼困難呢？ 第一個(也可能是最重要的)原因是漢字非常適合寫文言文(以及從其中發展出來的官話)，但不適合寫任何其他語言(而因為中國方言往往不能互通，它們可以合理地被視為不同語言)。 因此，在中國歷史上大多數時代，漢字僅限於用來書寫文言文。
There are also basic linguistic obstacles to overcome. Why is it so hard to write Taiwanese? The first and primary reason is that while Chinese characters are perfectly suited for writing Classical Chinese, but are not suitable for writing any other language (and since regional vernaculars in China are usually not mutually intelligible, they can be legitimately considered different languages). Thus, for most of Chinese history, characters were restricted to writing Classical Chinese.
第二項障礙是從古至今華人根本沒有寫地方白話的習慣。 直到唐代中葉，甚至沒有寫國話的先例。 因此，白話文最初的作品錯誤百出，而寫作的基本模式仍然以文言文為主，只是有添加少量的白話文進去罷了。
The second factor is the absence of a tradition of writing regional vernaculars. Indeed, until the middle of the Tang Dynasty, there was not even a precedent for writing a national vernacular. Hence, the early attempts to write vernacular texts were full of orthographic errors, and the basic model for writing remained Classical Chinese, with only a small amount of vernacular added in.
在隨後的幾個世紀中，通語逐漸發展，直到有形成元朝的早期官話和清朝的白話文。在1919年五四運動後，現代標準國語得到了中華民國政府的支持。 在1955年，中華人民共和國也為普通話制定了規範。
In the following centuries, a common language (or koine) gradually continued to mature until it became Early Mandarin in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, a written vernacular under the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and then Modern Standard Mandarin after the May Fourth Movement in 1919, with the support of the governments of the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China.
在這個漫長的過程中，從來沒有人認真試過書寫各地區方言的白話。 含有地方白話的文本，現存最早的是明末清初的四部閩南話劇。 然而，由於這些話劇的文體被文言文和國話（通話）大大稀釋了，書面閩南語並沒有從此興盛起來。 這四齣戲因此絕不能適當地代表當時閩南的口語話。
Throughout this long process, there never was any serious effort made to write regional vernaculars. The earliest extant texts containing a regional vernacular are four Southern Min dramas from the late Ming and early Qing periods. However, written Southern Min did not thrive because the writing style of those plays was greatly diluted with Classical Chinese and the national vernacular. They were in no way a true representation of the Southern Min language spoken at the time.
阻礙地方白話發展的第三個因素是學術界對這種語言的強烈偏見。每個時代的文人認為地方白話是不文明和粗俗低劣的。 這種成見從這些墨客留下的文獻可見一斑。的確，民間流行的文化 "不登大雅之堂" 此格言可用來概括學者普遍的看法。
The third factor hindering the development of regional vernaculars was a strong scholarly prejudice against such writing, which was viewed as uncivilized and vulgar. This bias, which was frequently referred to in comments by the literati, may be summarized in the Chinese maxim that popular culture is unqualified to take its place in the higher circles of those with refined tastes.
第四項阻礙是赤裸裸的政治迫害。 台灣的日本時期對那些想用台語寫作的人稍微寬鬆一些，但政府的重點主要放在日語教育上。 1949年，隨著國民黨的到來，國語被嚴酷地強加於人民身上。 在這種極端的情況下，台語文字就根本完全沒有發展的機會。
The fourth factor involves direct political interdiction against writing the Taiwanese language. The Japanese period in Taiwan brought a minor liberation for those who wished to write in Taiwanese, but the focus was mainly on education in the Japanese language. From 1949, with the arrival of the Kuomintang, Guoyu was harshly imposed on the populace. Under such circumstances, there was no opportunity for the development of writing in Taiwanese.
直到1987年7月14日戒嚴解除時，用台語寫作被視為顛覆性的行為。一個人可能因編寫台語詞典或教材，或甚至在學校、大眾媒體，政府機構等公共場所講台語而受懲罰。
Until the lifting of martial law on July 14, 1987, it was considered subversive to write in Taiwanese, and a person could be punished for compiling Taiwanese dictionaries and teaching materials, or even for speaking Taiwanese in public places such as schools, government agencies, and the media.
對地方白話的嚴格控管在中國大陸仍然存在。 隨著普通話通過教育、大眾媒體、商業和其他渠道擴展其影響力，套在地方白話脖子上的絞索不斷無情地收緊。 怪不得中華人民共和國的許多年輕人現已覺得說普通話比說自己的母語更為自然。
This firm control of nonstandard vernaculars is still in force in mainland China. As Putonghua extends its influence through education, mass media, commerce, and other channels, the hangman's noose around the neck of regional vernaculars is steadily and mercilessly tightening. The younger generation in the People's Republic of China are beginning to feel more comfortable speaking Putonghua than their mother tongues.
現在台灣人民可以自由使用母語，所以相當大的精力已被投入製定不同台語書寫的系統，但到目前為止尚未能創出可行的完整方法。
Now that the people of Taiwan are free to speak their mother tongue, a considerable amount of energy has been poured into formulating a system of written Taiwanese, but no fully workable methods have yet been realized.
寫台語的最大困難之一是許多最常聽到的語素，尤其是語法小詞，不能用漢字寫出來。
One of the greatest obstacles to writing Taiwanese is that many of the most frequently used morphemes, especially common grammatical particles, cannot be written with Chinese characters.
如何使用漢字寫出基本的台語語詞成為了十分有爭議性的話題。 使用的漢字常常是被視為“錯誤”的，因為可能是任意派上用場的同音字，而字的原意與該台語語詞是毫無關係的。
There is much controversy over how to write basic Taiwanese words in characters. Even when there are ways of writing Taiwanese words, the characters chosen for them are often "wrong" because they are arbitrary homophones, and the original meanings of these characters are completely unrelated to the Taiwanese words they are used to represent.
據估計，假如人想用漢字寫出真正的台語白話，會發現 25% 以上的詞素有缺字，而另外大約 25% 可能是以任意選來的同音漢字和特別編造的字寫出的。除此之外，還有 10% 會用極罕見但被視為正確的冷僻字來表達。最後，只有大概 40% 或以下的語素可以用被人認為是“正確”的字寫出來的。
If someone tried to write pure, unadulterated spoken vernacular Taiwanese in characters, well over 25% of the morphemes would lack characters, approximately another 25% would be written with arbitrarily chosen homophones and specially concocted characters, perhaps another 10% would be written with extremely rare but correctly identified characters, and only the remaining 40% of the morphemes could be written with the "correct" characters.
既然地方白話語素很少能以大家都認為是正確的字寫出來，所以台語文學無法有良好的發展這件事並不奇怪。
Since so few morphemes in the regional vernaculars are writable with undisputedly correct characters, no wonder their literatures have not developed well.
用羅馬拼音寫台灣話相對來講容易。 在 20 世紀，數以萬計講台語的人很快學會了閱讀教會用的拼音。 但可能因為這種羅馬拼音與基督教信仰息息相關，故並沒有在社會上廣泛受歡迎。 目前，至少有存在六種相互競爭的拼音系統，並且不斷有新的拼音方案紛紛出爐。
Writing Taiwanese in romanized script is relatively easy. During the twentieth century, tens of thousands of Taiwanese-speaking people quickly learned to read church romanization. But church romanization has not been widely accepted throughout society, probably because it is too closely connected with the Christian faith. At present, there are at least six competing romanization schemes, and new ones are appearing all the time.
即使國語操有強大的影響，英語越發普遍，以及無法有效地書寫台語，台灣百姓中許多人仍然堅持在日常生活上使用自己的母語。他們顯然感覺忘記母語是文化健忘症最嚴重的表現。
Despite the strong influence of Guoyu, the popularity of English, and the inability to write Taiwanese effectively, the people of Taiwan cherish their native language. Many evidently feel that forgetting one's mother tongue is the most serious form of cultural memory loss.
因此，最後得出的結論必定是: 在歷史上從沒有存在過一套可以用來記錄閩南白話純正形式的完整文字系統。 並且，可惜的是，要在不久的將來制訂出這樣一套文字的希望看來相當的渺茫。
Thus, it can be concluded that there never has been a comprehensive system used to write down the Southern Min vernacular in its unadulterated form. And, unfortunately, the prospects for developing such a system in the near future appear to be somewhat bleak.
