According to the article Yang Yi-te (楊義德), the Commissioner of Taipei County’s Department of Civil Affairs , said the County Government chose “Xinbei City” as the official name because “New Taipei City” would be too similar to Taipei City.

The Taipei Times also reported on a group of Tongyong Pinyin advocates protesting against the use of the Hanyu Pinyin “Xinbei”. Chang Shu-feng (張淑芬), director of Taiwan Pinyin League, said the government should use “Sinbei City” or “New Taipei City” as the English name. The article also says a final decision on the English name of the city will be made by the Taipei County Council in September.

An article (中文) in the United Daily News (聯合報) says that both the KMT and DPP candidates for mayor of the new municipality favor “New Taipei City”. KMT candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) says that this is the original public consensus. DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen says that it’s most important for foreigners to know what the city is called. Foreigners won’t know that “Xinbei” is just the transliteration of some Chinese characters, but “New Taipei City” makes it very clear that this is a newly developed metropolitan area.

The United Daily News article also quotes Deputy Commissioner of Taipei County, Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), saying that the Ministry of Interior determined last year that place names should be transliterated using Hanyu Pinyin. Therefore “Xinbei City” met the standard. This decision was sent to the Ministry of Interior and Taipei County Council in April this year and won’t be changed.

A survey of Taiwan’s major English-language media organisations shows a variety of usages. The China Post, Taiwan News and Focus Taiwan (published by CNA) use Xinbei City. The Taipei Times, which supports Tongyong Pinyin, uses Sinbei City. While Taiwan Today (published by the GIO) uses New Taipei City.

In an e-mail Kaihsu Tai suggested the name Běixīn Shì (北新市) which could be written in English as “Basin City”. This is a reference to the Taipei Basin, a key geographical feature of the Taipei area.

There is a thread at Forumosa.com discussing the issue. Screaming Jesus suggests that they should go back to “Taihoku”, the Japanese name for Taipei. ludahai writes, “If India can handle Delhi and New Delhi, I think Taiwan can handle Taipei and New Taipei.”

Other uses I have seen around the web include “New North City” and “Sin City”. The latter should really be used for Taichung though!

My opinion is that the regardless of whether it is written as Xinbei City, Sinbei City or New Taipei City the name for the upgraded municipality simply lacks originality. While I have no specific suggestion for a new name I think it should be something that better reflects local history and culture. It is also important that there is public consultation on the issue and a range of alternatives be considered. Taiwan still has a long way to go in addressing issues of name rectification. The renaming of Taipei County is a good place for a fresh start.

• Clear day, brown haze
• More on population density
• North Korean wins human rights award
• Exploring the city of Kaohsiung
• Election campaign posters in Taichung

Two articles recently published on culture.tw contain some useful information and advice for foreign students studying in Taiwanese universities.

Jeana Jack, a student at NCCU, has written a survival guide for international students that is full of good advice. She discusses choosing a university, learning Mandarin, finding a place to live and other important things.

I had lived in Taiwan for several years before I became a full-time student here so this made adjusting to university life quite easy. I imagine it must be more difficult for people who have just arrived in Taiwan and have to simultaneously deal with adjusting to life in a foreign country and starting a university course.

The second article was written by me. I interviewed three students from different backgrounds about their experiences studying Mandarin in Taiwan. They talk about the positives and negatives of language learning in Taiwan as well as giving some advice about learning Mandarin. The most common advice for successfully learning Mandarin is that you need a lot of patience.

*photo from culture.tw used under Creative Commons licence.

• My new teaching job
• Links 10 December 2007
• End of the last semester at NCCU
• Shi-Da class outing to Yingge
• Wild Strawberries ready for nonviolent action

Another interesting article, from Reuters correspondent Ralph Jennings, reports on the promotion of bicycle tourism on the east coast. It is a good example of the things Kelly writes about being put into action.

Kelly concludes his article by noting that there is still room for improvement in promoting Taiwan to Westerners.

the 2008-09 report states that international travel bloggers will be invited to Taiwan to write about its attractions. Yet Taiwan already has many dedicated and highly informed foreign bloggers. On their own, these people are getting the word out about Taiwan’s appeal to thousands. Harnessing their enthusiasm, and giving them a little official boost, can only help to spread the message even further.

It is an important point because the English language websites and web based promotion of the tourist industry is often poorly done. As far as I know there have never been any attempt by the Tourism Bureau to engage with local English-language bloggers. Kelly’s own blog, Pashan, does a far better job than any government website for promoting hiking in Taiwan. The same could be said for a number of other Taiwan bloggers who communicate their passion for the island through writing and photos on their blogs.

• Free holiday in Taiwan
• Taiwan becomes ‘the heart of Asia’
• Free trips in Taiwan
• Clare Wang is a winner!
• Letter in Johnny Neihu’s mailbag

On a side note, Lien mentioned that he noticed Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd being asked by Chinese President Hu Jintao why he chose Taiwan rather than China to study Chinese.

Rudd replied that China did not offer scholarships to foreigners to study the language while Taiwan did.

I am very curious to know whether Kevin Rudd also chatted with Lien Chan at the meeting and what was said.

• Australia Conference at NCCU
• Families of murder victims speak at forum in Taichung

The conversation talks about Taipei 101, the National Palace Museum and night markets. John and Jenny then discuss some key points of the conversation and also point out some differences in usage between Taiwan and China.

I don’t subscribe to ChinesePod but occasionally listen to their upper intermediate and advanced lessons. I think their content is quite good especially for providing comprehensible listening input. The podcast mentions that they have many listeners in Taiwan.

If you are observant you may also have noticed a link to the Mandarin Chinese iPod phrasebook at the bottom of the posts. This is free content published by World Nomads Travel Insurance which is one of the affiliate programs I have on this blog. The files are configured for iPod. I don’t own an iPod but if you have one and have downloaded the phrasebook let me know what you think.

• Second trip to Smangus
• Taiwanese language learning materials
• One week at Shi-Da
• Links 18 February 2008
• Links

Today I went to check out some of the campaign activities for the 2008 Taiwan Presidential Election. My first stop was the tent which had recently been set up on a vacant block near Xindian City Hall to promote Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the KMT candidate. I was told KMT Vice-Presidential candidate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) will attend a rally there on Saturday morning.

The photo above makes an interesting play on words. 馬到成功 (mǎdào-chénggōng) is an idiom meaning "to achieve success". 馬 (Mǎ) is also the family name of Ma Ying-jeou. Hence it gives a meaning of something like "Ma will be a success". Another slogan making a similar play on words being used by the KMT is 馬上救經濟 (mǎshāng jiù jīngjì) meaning "rapidly rescue the economy" or as they would like to suggest, "Ma will rapidly rescue the economy".

Another interesting use of Chinese characters is Hsieh and Ma both using the same slogan. The image on the left comes from Ma's campaign poster, while the one on the right is a screenshot from Hsieh's website. Both say 台灣一定贏 (Táiwān yīdìng yíng) meaning "Taiwan definitely wins". However Hsieh's version has substituted the 一 (yī) in 一定 (yīdìng) with the number one representing his number on the ballot paper. Ma is number two on the ballot.

Next stop was DPP Presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's campaign centre on Chang'an East Road in Taipei, which was also recently visited by blogger Prince Roy. The centre has a full range of merchandise on sale. After purchasing a cap I was invited to sit down for a cup of tea. 

A little while later I was asked to join a rally at Yuanhuan (圓環) and we went there by taxi. The rally was only small with a few hundred people and as all the speeches were in Hoklo Taiwanese I didn't really have much idea what was going on. I am in the picture above with Taipei City Councilor Li Wen-ying (李文英). 

On the way home I stopped by the DPP's youth campaign headquarters near the Taipower Building on Roosevelt Road. The youth campaign is being led by Freddy Lim, leader of the band Chthonic, whose UNlimited Taiwan music video was previously featured on this blog. There weren't many people there when I visited but they have activities on most evenings. You can check www.freddyaction.com for more information.

Prince Roy established the Taiwan Presidential Election 2008 group at flickr which has more photos from the campaign. The election is on 22 March and there will be plenty more campaign activities before then. 

• Green Party bike ride
• More election campaign posters
• 2008 Presidential election links – special edition
• Frank Hsieh campaigns in Taipei
• Election campaign posters in Taichung

I saw the characters of 大中至正 taken down from the main gate of Taiwan Democracy Hall last night. Then tonight at 6:30pm the final one of the four characters 自由廣場  meaning "Freedom Square", was put in place. They seemed to spend a lot of time adjusting the right hand part of the 場 into position. It still looks a bit wrong to my eyes. 

Expect further controversy about this issue. It has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with aesthetics. I have already heard several people criticise the choice of script. I am no expert on this, but I welcome other's comments.   

A few other bloggers have also published their opinions and photos. Alton writes about the change. Poagao also has his say. And there were plenty of comments on my post about the issue yesterday. 

• Taiwan press freedom declines: report
• Taiwan still free but problems with judicial rights: Freedom House report
• Freedom House sounds a warning
• Wild Berry House opening
• Court questions constitutionality of Assembly Law

9:37pm, 6 December 2007

4:52pm, 7 December 2007 

5:26pm, 7 December 2007

5:28pm, 7 December 2007

Just before darkness fell on Taipei City this evening two workmen completed the removal of the four characters 大中至正 (dàzhōng zhìzhèng) from the main gate of National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall (國立臺灣民主紀念館). It was the latest step in the renaming of the Hall. Back in May the central government changed the name from Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (中正紀念館) to Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. The four characters on the main gate also refer to Chiang Kai-shek. The government plans to replace them with 自由廣場 (zìyóu guǎngchǎng), which means Freedom Square.  

A crowd of a few hundred people and a huge media contigent gathered to watch the historic occassion. There was a small number protesting the change, while the vast majority were either in support or just wanting to witness the moment. There was also a large police presence and they formed a wall across the middle of the area in front of the gate. The red and blue protesters were kept on one side and the green supporters on the other.

A few other bloggers have commented on the name change. Michael Turton has written about AFP reporting on the issue. At Taiwan Matters Feiren has a post on the incident yesterday were several people were hit by a truck and one person was seriously injured. Spinning the Globe witnessed the incident. Tim Maddog also has some comments about this and other issues. 

Earlier this year I wrote about some of my ideas for transforming the space around the Hall. However, I know that many people in Taipei have a sense of attachment to the Hall. While I support the removal of the references to Chiang Kai-shek, I think more thought could have been given to the new names and there should have been some sort of process of consultation. Your comments and opinions are most welcome on this blog!

• Freedom at last
• Glimpses of democracy or dictatorship?
• KMT values dictatorship above democracy
• 1208 climate change action in Taipei
• Understanding the struggle for democracy

I think part of the problem was that the curriculum and teaching style didn't really match my goals or my way of learning. Although the course was very much focused on reading and writing and I don't feel that I made much improvement in either field. Also perhaps my goals are ambitious beyond what can be achieved in a single semester of study. 

I found the teaching style very teacher-centered. Although there were only five people in the class there was very little opportunity to interact with the other students. It would have been interesting to have some discussions and perhaps give some short presentations on the topics.  Perhaps there is an assumption that students that have reached this level don't really need to work on developing their speaking skills. However, I feel that this is a very important skill that can always be improved.

I think the intensive reading approach has some merit, but to really improve reading skills extensive reading is essential. Total comprehension of a text is not always necessary. Also learning to skim texts for important or relevant information is also very useful. Rather than just analysing every text in detail, a variety of approaches to reading should be used in class.

Writing is, I think, the greatest pain of learning Chinese. I really haven't spent much time practicing writing before I started the course at Shi-Da, so I was kind of playing catch up. All the tests were based on writing. I had to spend a lot of time just practicing the new characters in order to be able to write something on the test. As a result I couldn't put more effort into focusing on the process of writing (i.e. sentence structure and organisation of ideas). Also there wasn't much instruction or feedback given on this anyway. No writing was assigned for homework.

The tests were all based on writing. There was dictation (聽寫) and also writing short essays based on the text or explaining vocabulary. Although it is not difficult for a teacher to prepare a test of reading comprehension, the tests never included any reading component. 

All that said, I would still like to study at Shi-Da again in the future. Although I would probably take a little more time to ensure I was placed in a class that better suited my needs. The easiest way to do this would be to sit in on several classes during the first week of semester and choose the one that seems best.  

Also I think that for students who have spent at least a few semesters studying at the Mandarin Training Center (MTC), the results speak for themselves. One of my classmates had reached the Newspaper Readings class after two years of full-time study at the MTC. Wandering the corridors I always heard students from many different countries communicating to each other in Mandarin. I think for any student starting out at a lower level who is prepared to put in the time and effort then Shi-Da is a good place to study. 

• End of the last semester at NCCU
• Another semester begins at NCCU
• Semester 2 at NCCU
• End of semester at NCCU
• What I am studying this semester

The amount of materials for learning the Taiwanese language* is quite limited. I have only used a couple of books myself. I have written some brief notes about them here and also some other resources. 

The first Taiwanese textbook I had was Shenghuo Taiyu (生活台語). This book contains no English, but I think anyone who has studied Chinese to intermediate level should be able to comprehend it. The conversations and vocabulary are written in Standard Chinese, Taiwanese using Chinese characters and POJ (Church Romanisation).

The conversations in the book cover fairly simple topics like introductions, talking about where you live and shopping. The book has a set of tapes to accompany it. These days I don't even own a tape player so I need to get the tapes converted to mp3 files. 

This semester at Shi-Da I have used the materials written by Xiao Laoshi (蕭老師). The conversations in this book are interesting and sometimes even funny. They are very much related to the common things one encounters in daily life in Taiwan. Some of the topics include visiting a night market, summer vacation, typhoons and surfing the internet. Xiao Laoshi also provided a CD with audio files of all the conversations in the book. 

The image is of part of the first conversation in the book. It is written in Taiwanese using Chinese characters, standard Chinese and POJ without tone marks or numbers. The teacher gave us all the vocabulary during the lesson so we could add the tone marks if we needed to.  

The Maryknoll books are also commonly recommended. These books are published by the Maryknoll Institute which has a long history of teaching the Taiwanese language. I have not studied these books in detail, but they use English and POJ. 

The Maryknoll books and some other Taiwanese language learning materials and dictionaries can be bought from the Tai-uan e Tiam (台灣e店) near NTU. The address is No. 6 Lane 76 Section 3 Xinsheng South Road, Taipei City (台北市新生南路三段76巷6號).

A number of online resources for learning Taiwanese can be found. Taffy's blog, Phai-se, hasn't been updated for a long time, but contains a few helpful articles. I came across a pdf file of Taiwanese language learning resources. Taiwanderful has a page about learning Taiwanese including a list of links. There is also a page about writing Taiwanese using Chinese characters. I wrote this to help overcome the common misunderstanding that there is no difference between writing Taiwanese and Mandarin using Chinese characters. 

* I use the term Taiwanese language (台語). The language is also referred to as Hoklo, Hokkein or Minnan (閩南語). 

• Taiwanese class at Shi-Da
• Computer based Chinese test
• Learning Mandarin in Taiwan
• Reading Chinese newspapers
• Starting Chinese classes