THE VIRTUAL HAKKA COMMUNITY: A NEW DOMAIN OF REVITALIZATION1

Hakka language is one variety of Chinese language in the Sino-Tibetan family. Hakka speakers themselves have many sub-dialects which mean they come from several areas in China such as Guangdong, Southern Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Hunan, and Sichuan provinces. In Thailand, the Hakka descendants are scattered throughout every province. However, there are only few older Hakka speakers who can speak Hakka language well. How do they preserve language and culture before the end of 21st century? The purpose of this paper is to present a new domain of Hakka revitalization via Hakka online community. This website was created just over three years ago by the webmaster who would like to preserve his ancestor language and culture. Although he cannot speak Hakka well, he wants Hakka speakers who who are fluent in the language to use this website to communicate or transfer Hakka language to the next generation using Thai language. So far, this website is quite well known among Hakka descendants who are interested in Hakka language and culture. There are some new members joining the website every day. They exchange opinions and knowledge on many aspects of Hakka language and culture. It seems that they live in a community although they stay in their homes scattered in many parts of the world. The most important thing is that there are members in every age group. This phenomenon reflects the positive way and hope for preserving Hakka ethnicity because the Hakka speakers themselves have realized the need for language and culture revitalization.