問我anything with yst

[oceancalligraphy]

Hi everyone! I'm the latest participant in 問我anything.

 

I'll start by clarifying the 問我anything posts. I suggested the series, thinking it would be a good way to get to know each other on the forum. Roddy let me organize. Participants either have been suggested by other members, or have volunteered to participate. I ask members if they'd like to participate before posting the topic, so there is some organization happening before each topic is posted.

[roddy]

And let me just say thanks for doing so...

 

You started helping out on here very soon after you arrived (or very soon after you started posting, anyway). Have you been involved in online communities before, or what was it that made you get so involved?

 

And tell us a bit about you - you hail from Taiwan, but where are you now and how did you get there...

[Shelley]

Thanks for doing this topic, it has been interesting finding out about our fellow forum members Also as an askee the range of questions asked has been interesting.

 

What do you do with your time when not involved with something Chinese?

 

What kind of music do you like?

 

What is your favourite food?

[Kobo-Daishi]

In these 問我's, why don't you have the participants give a short bio of themselves.

 

Quite frankly I don't know anything about you other than what I see under your avatar. That you speak native Taiwan Mandarin and Taiwanese.

 

Where do you live?

 

Are you a student? Working? Male, female? Favorite Beatle (okay, I'm dating myself. One Direction? Nowadays they always ask US presidential candidates who is their favorite Beatle. I can just picture some time in the future where it'll be favorite One Direction.)? Favorite color? Favorite food? Hobbies? Into martial arts? Sci-fi? Comic books. Manga? Anime? Cosplay? Detective fiction? Type of music?

 

I've been watching a lot of Taiwanese idol dramas and see where one character is speaking entirely in Taiwanese Minnan while another is answering back in entirely Taiwan Mandarin. Is this true to life?

 

At a Cantonese forum, a guy questioned the same but in reference to Hong Kong Cantonese and mainland Mandarin.

 

It seems so strange to me, but, I have seen where friends speak to their parents in English while their parents speak entirely in Chinese here in America.

 

Kobo.

[oceancalligraphy]

 

Have you been involved in online communities before, or what was it that made you get so involved?

 

I've participated in other communities, but just as a member. I knew that learning Chinese as a foreign language was something that was becoming more and more common, but I had no idea there was an entire forum dedicated to it. I remember doing some Chinese-related searches, and the forum kept coming up. At some point I figured I could help out since I'm familiar with some resources from Taiwan.

 

 

And tell us a bit about you - you hail from Taiwan, but where are you now and how did you get there...

Where do you live?

Are you a student? Working? Male, female?

Are you a student? Working? Male, female?

I spent my childhood in both Taiwan and the US (and by extension, both school systems). I've been in the US consistently since high school. Currently working. Female.

 

 

What do you do with your time when not involved with something Chinese?

Hobbies?

 

Wow, that's tough, since Chinese doesn't leave my brain. I guess the only time would be when I'm taking in English-language media: watching TV shows, listening to podcasts, reading. 

My main hobby at the moment is Chinese calligraphy.

 

 

What kind of music do you like?

 

I like all types of music, but my music library is mainly rock and classical.

 

 

What is your favourite food?

 

Stinky tofu.

 

 

Favorite Beatle (okay, I'm dating myself. One Direction? Nowadays they always ask US presidential candidates who is their favorite Beatle. I can just picture some time in the future where it'll be favorite One Direction.)?

 

hrm.. I didn't catch The Beatles in their heyday, but do enjoy their music. Not sure if I have a favorite, maybe not enough of a fan to choose. I know that One Direction is some super popular group, but am not familiar with their music at all. 

 

 

Favorite color?

 

Blue

[oceancalligraphy]

 

I've been watching a lot of Taiwanese idol dramas and see where one character is speaking entirely in Taiwanese Minnan while another is answering back in entirely Taiwan Mandarin. Is this true to life?

 

I think dramas have a tendency to have the parent or elder speak Taiwanese Minnan and the child or young person speak Taiwan Mandarin back. I feel that it's a way of showing the generation gap, where the younger generation only understands, but does not speak, Taiwanese.

 

My grandparents' generation spoke Taiwanese at home and learned Japanese in school. My parents' generation spoke Taiwanese at home and learned Mandarin in school. During martial law (1948-1987), Taiwanese was pretty much banned. My generation was taught to focus on proper Taiwan Mandarin because it was what was needed for doing well in school. This translated excerpt from Li-Chin Lin's book Formosa explains the situation very well: http://wordswithoutborders.org/graphic-lit/tongue-tied

 

Taiwanese Minnan, Hakka, and aboriginal languages have been in the schools since 1990s as part of the mother language curriculum. Mandarin is still the major language of instruction.

 

However, if both people can speak both Taiwanese Minnnan and Taiwan Mandarin, the conversation is usually a mix from both people.

[skylee]

Re the last question in #4. I am currently travelling in southern France and it is quite often that shop keepers / servers speak to me in French and I answer in English. And the communication is OK. Sometimes my face goes blank when I don't understand them, then they switch to English the best they can (truth is not everyone in France speaks English). French people are so much more friendly to English speakers nowadays.

As to Cantonese / Mandarin in HK, I have seen Mainland shoppers, when greeted by HK sales clerk in Cantonese, demand them to 講普通話 in a quite unpleasant manner. That might not be common, though.

Sorry for going off-track.

(PS - I also remember hearing a guy and a woman sitting next to me at a HK restaurant chat in Cantonese and Mandarin. The man spoke in Cantonese the whole time, and the woman in Mandarin.)

[Lu]

I have one Taiwanese friend who has pretty good Dutch: he understands virtually everything, even if you speak fast, but his speaking is not good enough to keep up with that. My Chinese is pretty much the same. We usually start out speaking Chinese, but as the evening progresses and I get tired I start replying in Dutch while he continues to speak Chinese.

It's awesome :-)

Sorry for the off-topic.

[roddy]

Do you get back to Taiwan often? Think you'll ever move back?

[oceancalligraphy]

Do you get back to Taiwan often? Think you'll ever move back?

 

I try to go back at least once a year. I think I'll move back eventually.

[Kobo-Daishi]

 

 

I've been watching a lot of Taiwanese idol dramas and see where one character is speaking entirely in Taiwanese Minnan while another is answering back in entirely Taiwan Mandarin. Is this true to life?

 

I think dramas have a tendency to have the parent or elder speak Taiwanese Minnan and the child or young person speak Taiwan Mandarin back. I feel that it's a way of showing the generation gap, where the younger generation only understands, but does not speak, Taiwanese.

 

My grandparents' generation spoke Taiwanese at home and learned Japanese in school. My parents' generation spoke Taiwanese at home and learned Mandarin in school. During martial law (1948-1987), Taiwanese was pretty much banned. My generation was taught to focus on proper Taiwan Mandarin because it was what was needed for doing well in school. This translated excerpt from Li-Chin Lin's book Formosa explains the situation very well: http://wordswithoutb...lit/tongue-tied

 

Taiwanese Minnan, Hakka, and aboriginal languages have been in the schools since 1990s as part of the mother language curriculum. Mandarin is still the major language of instruction.

 

However, if both people can speak both Taiwanese Minnnan and Taiwan Mandarin, the conversation is usually a mix from both people.

 

 

 

You got a wrong link to the book excerpt.

 

Here's the correct link.

 

http://wordswithoutborders.org/graphic-lit/tongue-tied

 

When I first searched through to find the correct page I thought it was just the one graphic, but, just now realized that there are navigation buttons to the side and that there are quite a few more pages. Quite interesting.

 

I take it that you're a ben di ren or ben tu ren and not a wai sheng ren, then?

 

Kobo.

[Kobo-Daishi]

 

Stinky tofu.

 

 

 

Really.

 

Do you find it difficult to find in the states?

 

And what do you miss most about Taiwan? Stinky tofu?

 

Do you live in an area where there are a lot of ethnic Chinese? And what are they most likely to speak? Cantonese? Mandarin? Hokkien? Surely not Hakka or even Taishanese.

 

Kobo.

[imron]

Do you find it difficult to find in the states?

If so, you will find blue cheese to be an excellent substitute.

[oceancalligraphy]

You got a wrong link to the book excerpt.

 

oops. I fixed it in my post too.

 

For those interested, the book was originally written for a French audience and published in France, titled Formose. The author 林莉菁 (Li-Chin Lin) expanded the book into a two volume set for the Taiwanese audience, with the title 我的青春，我的FORMOSA. The links are to the books' websites and have sample pages.

 

I take it that you're a ben di ren or ben tu ren and not a wai sheng ren, then?

 

I feel that that distinction is from the past, and something my grandparents (and maybe parents) generation would say. For my generation, we consider everyone 臺灣人 regardless of our ancestors arrival to Taiwan. But since you asked, yes.

 

Do you find it difficult to find in the states?

 

The problem with stinky tofu in the US is that usually it's just plain fried tofu, not fermented tofu. Even the best stinky tofu I've had in the US (which took some searching) does not compare to any stinky tofu in Taiwan (which is usually available at a roadside stand).

 

If so, you will find blue cheese to be an excellent substitute.

 

It's not the same type of stinky. Plus, I'm not sure it tastes the same with pickled veggies. =P

 

And what do you miss most about Taiwan?

 

Everything? The food (even with the ongoing safety issues), night markets, bookstores, the atmosphere, the people. Really can't compare it to anywhere else.

 

Do you live in an area where there are a lot of ethnic Chinese? And what are they most likely to speak? Cantonese? Mandarin? Hokkien? Surely not Hakka or even Taishanese.

 

Yes, mostly Mandarin and Cantonese speakers.

[imron]

It's not the same type of stinky.

My first thoughts when I tried stinky tofu was that it tasted just like blue cheese, and how happy I was to have a blue cheese substitute in a place where blue cheese was a rarity.