From the Beautiful Island to the Beautiful Country

Taiwan was called Ilha Formosa (beautiful island) by Portuguese explorers five centuries ago. I've had an amazing time in Taiwan. I've learned so much about such a fascinating place, my Chinese has improved a lot, and I've been able to gain insight into another perspective on the world. I will miss this place a lot. But I also miss home and the world I am so familiar with. It's Monday night and tomorrow I catch a plane home to America. "America" is written in Chinese as "the Beautiful Country", more a transliteration of the pronunciation of America than a word that carries any deep meaning. Nonetheless, I find it fitting that I'm leaving the Beautiful Island and heading to the Beautiful Country.

The past few days have been a lot of fun. Thursday night, I went with several classmates to play paintball in the hills northeast of Taipei. The game was a lot of fun and the setting was spectacular, but I was not very good.

Friday was the last day of class and I said farewell to my classmates and teachers. In one of my classes we watched a great comedy/drama about a woman who posts an advertisement in a newspaper saying she is looking for a prospective husband. One by one, the men come to a local tea house to meet her. Most are a little eccentric and some are downright crazy. The movie was a lot of fun and I was surprised how easy it was for me to understand it without English subtitles.

The weekend has been a slow one with me mostly packing, exercising, and getting ready for my flight home. Saturday night I went out with a Malaysian couple from my apartment building for dinner at a Malaysian restaurant in the Shida Night Market. Sunday, I met for lunch up with Yale student Haibo Zhao, who is studying Chinese literature at National Taiwan University. Afterwards, I did a quick visit to the National Museum of History, which was fantastic. The collection at the museum includes both priceless artifacts and works by modern artists. Finally, I went to the far eastern part of town (no pun intended) to pick up some pineapple cakes for my girlfriend's dad in America. For dinner, I tried a restaurant where everything is served in containers that look like toilets. Today, I focused on running my last errands and getting all set for tomorrow.

What I loved/disliked about Taiwan:

Taiwan is an amazing place with a rich history, vibrant culture, and unique political and economic position. Taipei is one of the world's great cities and National Taiwan University is one of the world's great universities. Taiwan has beautiful mountains, lush jungles, sandy beaches, old forts and castles, priceless art, and the most high tech gadgets on the planet. As a student of Chinese, Taiwan offers a chance to practice traditional characters, learn Taiwanese mandarin, and gain a different perspective on Asia than living and studying in mainland China would.

Taiwan is a very modern and in many ways westernized country. Many people speak fluent English. Countless others are learning and want to practice their English at every opportunity available, while others do not know any English, but everyone makes assumptions based on their prior experiences with foreigners in Taiwan. These assumptions are as follows: everyone with an Asian face speaks fluent Chinese and everyone with a non-Asian face, regardless of how fluently they are speaking Chinese to me, does not have as good Chinese as my English... Well, for students of Asian heritage, this can be rather frustrating, as locals will assume you speak fluent Chinese regardless of whether you grew up in America or are actually Korean or Japanese. If you ask them to slow down and explain your situation, they will likely ignore you and may in fact speed up the pace of their talking. For non-Asians, a simple task like asking for directions can become very frustrating. Locals will often answer questions asked in perfect Chinese with incomprehensible broken English, hand gestures, or phrases in Chinese like "I don't know English, sorry." This makes it impossible to actually fully immerse oneself in the culture. Thus, while Taiwan is a great place to study Chinese for an advanced learner, I would not recommend it to a beginner taking second year Chinese and looking for a chance to practice spoken Chinese in real life environments. Finally, Taiwan's level of westernization makes connecting with "authentic" Taiwanese and Chinese culture rather difficult and requires some effort, for example patiently turning through station after station of commercialized soulless American pop music and even more commercialized and soulless Taiwanese imitations before coming to stations playing traditional music, more original pop music, and music Taiwanese or aboriginal languages.

What I loved/disliked about ICLP:

ICLP is a student's dream. The program focuses more on speeches and essays than on exams, caters to students' own interests, and moves at a slow enough pace to allow students to actually digest class material. Advanced students can take courses on newspaper reading, classical Chinese, business Chinese, legal Chinese, diplomacy Chinese, literature, Taiwanese, Hakka, and media Chinese. Most teachers make teaching there their life's work and are very dedicated. The resources of the program and all of NTU are available for students. In short, the program is fantastic.

The only issues I have with the program are slight. The program attempts to teach "standard" mandarin, as spoken in say Beijing. Textbooks and teachers make use of Beijing pronunciation and the well known Beijing "er" sound. However, the program also teaches tonality according to a Taiwan standard, and the vocabulary taught is geared towards what people in Taiwan speak. Leading to strange sentences such as "lese tong zai nar?" for "where is the trash can?" It sounds almost comical, like a Taiwanese person faking a Beijing accent. Personally, I think the program should do away with teaching the Beijing "er" and focus on a more Taiwan-oriented approach. After all, the program is in Taiwan.

Okay, pictures:

Toilet restaurant - 2

National Museum of History - 3

Old house

Haibo and I

Malaysian roommates and I

Classmate, teacher, and I

Jason