The Lo Lat Man : A one-man army is on mission to revive the Taiwanese Hoklo phrase 'LO-LAT', if possible; but maybe mission impossible?

PHOTO CAPTION: The Lo Lat Man, an American writer in southern Taiwan, records two women outside a bubble tea shop in Yunlin County speaking the old Taiwanese phrase loo-lat, which means “thank you” as he tours the nation in a quest to pick up 10,000 voice signatures and donate them to the National Taiwan Museum of Taiwanese Literature in Tainan City. [Photo by Sisly Liao, Liberty Times newspaper]

Reporting by Chiang Chun-liang in Chiayi and translation by Bear Lee in Taipei (CNA)
Most people in Taiwan seem resigned to the fact that the old Taiwanese phrase loo-lat (勞力), which means “thank you,” is fading from everyday use, but a long-time expat in Taiwan is doing everything he can to revive it.

Raised in the Boston area and a graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, the Lo Lat Man only heard the term for the first time recently at the Chiayi RR Station in March when it was spoken by an old man.

Determined to find out what it meant, Lo Lat Man asked students of all ages, but he could not get an answer.

It wasn’t until Lo Lat Man ran into Mr. Tien An-feng (田安豐), a practicing Bob-Dylan-loving pharmacist of traditional Chinese medicine in the city, that the mystery was solved.

Dr Tien told Lo Lat Man that loo-lat means “to be appreciative” and is one of many old Taiwanese terms no longer in common usage in Taiwan except by a few senior citizens.

Members of the younger generations mostly use the Mandarin xiexie (謝謝) or the Taiwanese to-sia (多謝) to express their thanks instead of loo-lat, Tien told Lo Lat Man .

However, believing it to be a beautiful and meaningful term, Lo Lat Man decided to do whatever he could to revive it.

In addition to printing loo-lat on his name cards, Lo Lat Man rewrote Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star into ''The Song of ‘Loo-lat’ and then recorded it and posted it on YouTube to encourage students to use it every day when extending their gratitude to others.

Lo Lat Man even launched a “10,000-people loo-lat” drive by recording people speaking the phrase in his bid to keep it alive.

Lo Lat Man said it would be great if local entertainers such as Peng Chia-chia (澎恰恰), Wu Bai (伍佰), Jacky Wu (吳宗憲), Chu Ko-liang (豬哥亮), Chang Fei (張菲) and Pai Ping-ping (白冰冰) could join his efforts to help pass the meaningful term down from generation to generation.

LIBERTY TIMES REPORT: 〔reported by 廖淑玲 ╱ reporting from 雲林報導〕

MAY 8, 2011 -- YUNLIN COUNTY, TAIWAN -- 因為一個笑容，美國人丹布隆在斗六火車站教人說台語﹁LO LAT﹂(意為感謝)，還發願要錄製一萬個人說﹁LO LAT﹂，尤其碰到年輕人、小朋友，就夾雜著美語、及不太﹁輪轉﹂的台灣話、國語，向人說明﹁LO LAT﹂的意思，用錄音機請人留下﹁LO LAT﹂一句話，還不忘帶上一句我是﹁新台灣人﹂，讓人印象深刻。

　﹁LO LAT﹂、﹁LO LAT﹂、﹁LO LAT﹂，近日來在斗六火車站附近，常見到有一個外國人拿著錄音機，到處請人說﹁LO LAT﹂，原本是一句台灣人極為常用的通俗話，為什麼能讓這個外國人如此著迷？

　丹布隆說，他在美國阿拉斯加出生，旅遊過數十個國家，到台灣十餘年，特別喜愛台灣，自稱新台灣人，近年來定居嘉義，在學校兼差教英文、幫CHINA POST翻譯寫文章，偶而也出書，一個月前，偶然聽到﹁LO LAT﹂這句話，結果問他的朋友，很多人都不知道什麼意思。
　日前丹布隆到一家麵店吃東西時，對麵店老板說﹁LO LAT﹂，老板竟然笑得很燦爛，一問原來這個五十歲的麵店老板懂﹁LO LAT﹂的意思，再問，才知道這句好話大多是中高齡者才說，年輕人很少用，回到學校問學生，學生們大都不知道，甚至不曾聽過，更不會說。

　但因為那個麵店老板的笑容，留給丹布隆極深的印象，於是發願要錄製一萬個人說﹁LO LAT﹂，尤其是針對年輕人及小孩子，因此，他特別利用假日搭火車從嘉義到斗六，在街頭教年輕人說﹁LO LAT﹂。

　在斗六火車站旁開美容院的余淑芬說，這個外國人拿著錄音機到店裡一直說﹁LO LAT﹂時，根本沒有人搞懂他的意思，後來經過交談，才知道丹布隆的用心，還收到一張很可愛的名片，覺得很有意思，更佩服他的勇氣。

　丹布隆則認為，住在台灣多年，愈來愈發現台灣話很有趣又有意思，但年輕人卻很少使用，才會突發奇想準備錄製一萬個人說﹁LO LAT﹂，完成後ＰＯ在網路上宣導，由於才第一個星期，錄到的人不多，也碰到不少人因為恐懼或不好意思，不敢對著錄音機說話，讓他有點受傷，希望大家以後在街頭看到一個拿錄音機的外國人，可以大方對他說﹁LO LAT﹂，讓他早日圓夢。

　本身精研台語的前雲林縣府教育處長郭清江指出，﹁LO LAT﹂，參考吳崑松的﹁通用台語字典﹂寫成﹁憦力﹂，即感謝、多謝、勞神、費神、辛苦，另在五南圖書出版的台灣閩南語辭典則寫成﹁努力﹂，看到有外國人這麼用心推台語，讓人感動，但其實要能普及還是得要政府重視。

PHOTO CAPTION: The Lo Lat Man on his self-appointed rounds in central Taiwan , picking up two more voice signatures for his ''10,000 Lo Lat Signatures Campaign'', a self-funded
exercise in pure devotion to a most likely unachievable goal. Still, he's going for it. ''Life is short, the art long.'' [Photo by Sisly Liao, Liberty Times newspaper]