Any old China Studies majors out there who came to Taiwan and did not find China? What was your reaction to arriving in Taiwan and trying to apply what you learned?
Not that, but arriving in Taiwan as a Chinese (language) major and trying to apply what you’re learned can be a real trial sometimes… don’t know about the China studies crowd though.
Hell, coming to Taiwan as a Chinese Language major and trying to reconcile what you’re hearing with what you learned is a trial in itself
That’s true in most places on the mainland too, though.
Yeap, having studies 2 years Chinese back home and then having been sent to Wuhu, Anhui on a scholarship was a real torture. Gosh, people didn’t even understand 標準 Chinese there. You had to say “Anhui Sifan Dasue” to make sure, that the taxi driver knew where you wanted to go. I was supposed to stay for a year, but packed my bags, gave up the scholarship and escaped after 2 month (not because of their pronounciation of course). Found out that in Nanjing it was even worse, people there didn’t even know that the city they where living in actually was called Nanjing. They thought its Lanjing…Oh well.
Don’t get me wrong here, I like dialects, I’m for 入境隨俗. I was even once criticized by my 外省人- teacher at 師大 for speaking more like a Taiwanese instead of a Mainlander. Why the hell should I 卷舌 when I live in Taiwan (and I don’t mean that in a political way!)? On the other hand, 入境隨俗 is fine, but one should at least know how it’s supposed to be pronounced “correctly”.
I learned spoken and written Mandarin in central and southern Taiwan, then returned to the U.S. and took a degree in Chinese Lit.
Adapting to local accents hasn’t been a problem. When I’m in China, I speak like a Beijinger. When I’m in Taipei, I speak like a northerner. I can also go back to the heavily accented Mandarin I spoke when I first learned.
Being able to speak and read Mandarin has made a big difference in the number of work options available to me. I teach primarily in Mandarin, and have been able to work as a business consultant and a translator largely because of my Mandarin abilities.
No real frustrations for me here related to the language.
besides language?
Other than administration matters being slightly confused (well, utterly chaotic and disorderly actually) at NTU (Tai-Da), I’ve had very good experiences in the Chinese Literature graduate program here. The teachers and access to resources are excellent. For something like Chinese literature studies, Taiwan is still an excellent place IMO, and you won’t be forced to hear the “government interpretation” or things like “Dream of the Red Chamber”, etc., and you can research whatever you want. So, Taiwan gets a thumbs up from me on this part. :bravo:
NTNU is full of KMT ideologues… Don’t expect to come to Taiwan and find China. The old “real” China sale the KMT was trying to make still resonates among a few in CS programs and does little to prepare CS students for Taiwan. Too bad there are so few Taiwan Studies programs.