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Taiwan

Gaijinian

Sempai
Joined
3 Jun 2005
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Hi all!
?? Well, I have safely arrived in Taiwan.?The city that I am in, Hualien,
is very nice.?From the house, I can see both mountains, and the Pacific
ocean.?People from Taiwan call it small, but to me it is far from that.
When I went to the night market last night, I was very suprised at all of
the people, music, and smells!
?? I will eventually try to figure out this computer to the extent that I
can send you all pictures, as I have already taken many!?Everything is
interesging--the sights, the smells, the people...?and I'm working on my
ability to comunicate, although it is hard, becasue people around here speak
not only Mandarin, but Taiwanese, also.
?? The food is really, really good!?I have liked all that I have tried!
I have seen a few iffy things, though.?Oh, and the tea is great, too.

Talk to you all
later!?Zaijian!
 
Yo man! Hope you have a good time there, and waiting for the pics !
 
Gaijinian Man said:
The city that I am in, Hualien,is very nice.From the house,I can see both mountains, and the Pacific ocean.

although it is hard, becasue people around here speak not only Mandarin, but Taiwanese,oh,and the tea is great, too.
Click to expand...

Good to hear from you afar.

Hualien is a mountainous town locates on the island's coast,there are native aborigine tribes in the area.It has always been a tourist attraction of Taiwan.

Taiwan has excellent variety of local teas.Nope,southern parts of Taiwan still mainly speak local dialects like Hokkien and Hakka plus aborigine languages with younger generation speak Mandarin at school.
 
WooHoo! Nice photos! Thanks for sharing, Gaijinian Man-kun!!
(hehe, I know you are laughing again at Gaijinian Man-kun thing)

Take good care and keep posting. I'm looking forward to seeing more pics!
 
Gaijinian Man said:
I'll make a blog,and give you all the link,hao bu hao ?
Click to expand...

Hao de .... xie-xie

Have you visited local aborigine townships,they have scheduled traditional cultural dances for tourist groups through out the year ?
 
Had my first day of school today--lotsa fun, but I felt like a zoo animal they way they all stared at me..
 
Hehe .... Youngsters in Hualien have never met a ( live person ) golden-haired teen,they regarded you as a fame of their amusement.


Is Mandarin-speaking mandatory ( as has been for 4-5 decades ) among attending students at local school ?

I've read present political climate in Taiwan island is to promote increase use of Hokkien dialect.
 
Most kids can't really speak Taiwanese, so I'm not sure... The classes are conducted in Mandarin, but a kid offered to teach me Taiwanese, so if it is mandatory, they don't seem to crack down on the kids too much.

And, unfortunatly, no-- I haven't been to any aborigine townships yet.
 
Hualien is best known for those local aborigne tribes,it's been a signtseeing stop on any foreign pre-packaged tour since 1950's.


It's good to read Mandarin is still enforced at school,your classmates probably speak Taiwanese ( either Hokkien or Hakka dialect ) at home.There was a period,walled poster imprinted with words " be Polite speak Mandarin " was common sight at schools through out Taiwan island.
 
Turns out lotsa them speak Taiyu. Today they were all teaching me random phrases in Taiwanese, and of course getting a good laugh out of my fa yin...
 
Gaijinian Man said:
Turns out lotsa them speak Taiyu.Today they were all teaching me random phrases in Taiwanese.

of course getting a good laugh out of my fa yin...( pronunciation )
Click to expand...

Yeah,Taiwan locals young and old typically can speak Taiyu.It's those 2nd and 3rd generation mainland descendants ( whose parents or grandparents fled China in the 1940's ) lost their own family dialect.

Taiyu ( Taiwanese-Hokkien dialect ) is from another branch of Chinese language,unlike Cantonese or Hakka dialect shares root with Mandarin.
 
Good luck reading my "pin yin"--ja you

I updated; I have some school pics now.

Wow, my Chinese is coming along. I can basically have a converstaion in Mandarin. It'll be so cool, but the time I'm back in the states my Mandarin should be good. Hai2 mei2 you3 zai3 1 gu yue2(?), ke3shi4 wo3 ke3 yi3 shuo1 gantan (some Taiwanese for ya) de hui4 hua4. Hao3 cool o1. Sorry that my pin yin is not quite there yet...

Ricecake, when where you in Taiwan? Ni3 hui4 jian tai2yu3 ma.? Yin1wei 4 zai4 Hua1lien2 de hua4, hen3 duo1 ren2 shi3huan1 young4 tai2yu3, wo3 ye2 xiang3 yao4 xue2 shi2 tai2yu3. Ke3shi4, fa1yin1 bijiao nan, dui bu dui? Yin1wei4 you3 7 gu sun, shi bu shi... Zai4 zhe-li3 de ren2 shuo1 tai2yu3 de shi2hou4, ta1men shao (smile)--shi3huan1 de ba! Dui bu dui... Dui2 bu4 qi3, wo3 zhe1dao4 wo3 guo2 yu3 hai2 bu2 tai4 hao3, ru2 guo3 wo3 shuo1 de shi2hou4, yin1wei4 wo3 zhon1gwen2 hai2 mei2 you3... summa... hao3... ren2 ting1 le wo3, xiang3 yong4 YINGWEN. Keshi, wo zai zheli de shihou, WO XIANG XUE ZHONGWEN... Do sha (xie xie--Taiyu, haha)
 
Gaijinian Man said:
I updated; I have some school pics now.

Wow,my Chinese is coming along.I can basically have a converstaion in Mandarin.

It'll be so cool, but the time I'm back in the states my Mandarin should be good.
Click to expand...

Xie xie for sharing photos of your typical school day.

Great to read you're making progress,practice regularly with classmates is essential.Youngsters have more time and patience,they allow minor mistakes and would politely coach you the use of grammars in proper fashion as your peers.

Make good use of your one-year stay in Taiwan then,you can be sure confident in conversational Mandarin when you're back in the US.

My Mandarin is self-taught with no schooling or no tuition fee for private lessons,I can speak near fluency.
 
Gaijinian Man said:
Ricecake,when where you in Taiwan ?

Ni3 hui4 jian tai2yu3 ma ?

Yin1wei 4 zai4 Hua1lien2 de hua4
Click to expand...

I've been to Taiwan on 2 vacations,never lived there though.First time was with family in my teen years on a pre-packaged tour with primary hotel accommodation in Taipei and scheduled sightseeing tourist attractions included a stop in Hualien for local aborigine cultural dances.Second trip was in 2002,went to Kaoshiung city where a neighbor's ( N California ) family lives and stayed at their place.Their home's interior has Japanese influence,with bedrooms have floored tatamis.

Q: do you speak Taiyu ? ..... No,I don't speak Taiyu,my Taiwan-born sister in-law can and so are my little nephews.

Q: because it's Hualien local language .... Yeah,locals are ( Taiwan-Hokkien ) Taiyu speaking Chinese.
 
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Gaijinian Man said:
hen3 duo1 ren2 shi3huan1 young4 tai2yu3,wo3 ye2 xiang3 yao4 xue2 shi2 tai2yu3.Ke3shi4,fa1yin1 bijiao nan ... dui bu dui ?
Click to expand...

Q: Majority people commonly use Taiyu,I also want to learn Taiyu.But,pronunciation is more difficult ... right or not ?

A: Yes,as I explained in one previous post here,Taiyu doesn't share root with Mandarin.It belongs to Minnan branch of Chinese language family,Teo-chow is one and only " sister " dialect shares close to 35% basic usage with Taiyu ( Hokkien dialect ).

Hokkien and Teo-chow speaking Chinese peoples are paternal cousins can trace to same ancestral roots in Henan province.There is a taboo,those families don't or can't inter-marry because most of them are related through blood-line from ancient times.
 
Gaijinian Man said:
I can basically have a conversation in Mandarin.
Click to expand...

Mandarin is influenced by Manchu and Mongol ( Altaic ) languages.I can teach you 2 common phrases derived from Manchu," ma ma hu hu ( hoo hoo ) " and " ba bu de ".

It's wise to stay concentrate on Mandarin not local dialects,Northern Chinese dialects have large Mandarin component.Mandarin sub-dialects are broken down into 4 regions in mainland China.
 
Gaijinian Man said:
Sorry that my pin yin is not quite there yet...
Click to expand...

You're doing fine,it takes little time to brush up PinYin.

I can read (but can't write) some PinYin by recite the words in Mandarin.My 5 full years of Chinese education during childhood,romanization format wasn't taught at the private Chinese school I attended.

As a Chinese descent,I have an advantage over other ethnicities.With just a few years of Chinese language education,I can comprehend Chinese at high school level.I've finished many well written romance and swordplay-martial arts novels,plus books on East Asia history ancient and modern.
 
I have the same problem as you with pinyin, because I only learned zhuyin.

Anyway, I'm going to work on my Mandarin for the next few months, and then try to pick up some Taiwanese. I know it might throw off my Mandarin a bit, but it'll be helpfull for living in Hualien. Plus, it'll impress the locals to see a white teenager speaking Taiyu.

Anyway, I plan on adding some new pics now, feel free to take a look.
 
Gaijinian Man said:
Try to pick up some Taiwanese,but it'll be helpfull for living in Hualien.Plus,it'll impress the locals to see a white teenager speaking Taiyu.
Click to expand...

Taiwan's coastal and southern cities are more traditionally local,unlike Mandarin is widely spoken in the capitol city of Taipei.

My oldest brother graduated from Taipei University many years ago,landed a teaching position for 4 years at a high school in small hick town near Tainan city.He felt alienated on lack of comprehension of local dialect,Taiwanese generally DON'T speak Mandarin to you unless you can't understand Taiyu.

Yeah,you will be a rarity for sure.Anyway,learning is always fun and can't go wrong.At least,Taiyu can help you get around town with no language barrier.
 
hey gaijinian man!

I am going to taiwan in Jan! I'll have some abc aussies with me haha, so it should be fun! The pics look great!
 
Tonight I was in luck--got to try both pig blood, and pig intestent in the same meal.. Pictures soon to come.
 
Gaijinian Man said:
Tonight I was in luck--got to try both pig blood, and pig intestent in the same meal.

Pictures soon to come.
Click to expand...

Was it stir-fried pig intestine and solidified pig blood cubes with pickled vegetable ?

Have you tried thinly sliced pig's ear,it's an appetizer ?
 
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