Does anyone have reliable info about Taiwanese courses in Kaohsiung/Tainan/Taipei? (Preferably the ones that provie with a student visa too).
Also, are there any courses of some indigenous languages? It’s a crapshoot, of course, I guess they’re only studied at the local departments of linguistics. But I’d really love to learn Yami 雅美 or have a linguistic look at other local minority languages.
Cheers!
–A.
You can study Taiwanese at Maryknoll (Taipei, where I studied, and Taichung), and TLI (Taipei, not sure if their other branches offer it). You will definitely not be able to get a visa through the first, not sure about the second. NCKU (Tainan) offer some courses in Taiwanese, but I think you have to sign up to their Mandarin classes and take Taiwanese as an elective. I would suggest talking to Taiffalo Chiung 蔣為文 at NCKU for some guidance.
I think there’s no chance of organised courses in Aboriginal languages in the cities. The granddaddy of Formosan linguistics is Paul Li 李壬癸, at Academia Sinica. You could try contacting him or someone in his department for more info.
There are textbooks on all aboriginal languages. The series named referential grammar books looks pretty useful.
This is the one for Tao (Yami)
books.com.tw/exep/prod/books … 0010161208
Though I would recommend referring to them as Tao. Since Yami means north, and every time the Japanese/Spanish asked what are those islands in the north called from another group of aboriginals, they would tell them Yami. The same goes for Amis, same root word, also means north, also not what they call themselves. There are a other islands named Yami in the Batan island chain. The Tao people on Ponso no Tao (Lan-Yu) used to refer to the Green island as Yami as well.
In general the name for most still existing tribes means “man/person” in their language. Since they are all branches of Austronesians, they are often similar. Such as Tao, Thao, Tsou, Atayal.
From what I can find, NCCU and NCKU offers courses in aboriginal languages. I am sure others does as well.
alcd.nccu.edu.tw/classroom/lan.html
course-query.acad.ncku.edu.tw/cr … no=B515100
Though this is debatable… I’ve also heard that they prefer to be called Yami.
Tayal (pronounced ta-YAN) means “tribe”, I understand.
Seediq means “person”.
TLI Kaohsiung does Taiwanese classes. Be aware that some of their teachers are better at using Church Romanization accurately than others (to put it mildly). I did a one-on-one two years ago there, for a month, and had to reluctantly complain to the management because out of 10 new words, eight had been spelled wrong. They switched me to a different teacher who really knew her stuff and we had a good class after that. They are also very flexible for those who have strange demands for language teaching (like endless repetition and telling weird stories.) 
And when I had to change my plans and miss the last week of class, they told me they would let the money ride on the books and I could take the remaining class hours whenever I wanted. I thought that was really above-and-beyond of them to help me out.
[quote=“Chris”]
Though this is debatable… I’ve also heard that they prefer to be called Yami.
Tayal (pronounced ta-YAN) means “tribe”, I understand.
Seediq means “person”.[/quote]
Well, it’s kind of like how some people in Guam wants the island and people to be called Guåhan, and others says they are used to Guam. But still, Tao is what they would call themselves in their language. There are also Amis people who would rather be called Amis instead of Pangcah , but the reason is usually that it would be easier for other ethinic groups instead of the sake of correctness.
I remember reading some where that Atayal means people and tribe is derived from that meaning. By the way, the word “people” in Chamorro of Guam is taotao.
Seediq or other pronunciation derived from the same root word only means people in Seediq and Truku tribes (there are talks of merging Seediq and Truku, but given the rift created during the Japanese era, it might be unlikely), which now a days would not be characterized as Altayal anymore. Word for person in the two branches of Altayal, Squliq and Ci’uli are Squliq or Ci’uli.
They stopped offering them a few years ago. I’m not sure if they offer them now.
Thanks for the info.
What about Lanyu for example? Do they have some cultural centre there that might have local language classes taught in English? 
That’s unlikely. The elementary school a block from my apartment in Banqiao has more students than all of Lanyu has inhabitants. And learning Yami isn’t the sort of thing that the handful of foreign tourists – the main people who would speak English there – could manage in a weekend trip … even if they were so inclined as to want to spend their time there doing that.
But Lanyu is a terrific place. If you’re really interested in learning the language, you might look into teaching there, though if you’re into night life or the like you probably wouldn’t last long.
They stopped offering them a few years ago. I’m not sure if they offer them now.[/quote]
You can do one-on-one, they’ve got a teacher there who really knows her stuff.
How is Maryknoll? It seems to be a church school. Do they teach non-Christians? If so, would classes there be comfortable for a non-Christian?
Any other recommendations for a Taiyu school in Taipei?
Thanks!
Maryknoll is run by Catholics, but anyone can attend. I’ve never taken a class from them, but I haven’t heard of them being overly churchy. SHould be fine for anyone.
My question: is there any good self-study material out there for Taiwanese? (Book/CD package, not unlike the Teach Yourself or Living Language series?)
I am proficient in Chinese. Now, I am interested in learning Taiwanese. Tips?
Thanks!
[quote=“jwey90”]I am proficient in Chinese. Now, I am interested in learning Taiwanese. Tips?
Thanks![/quote]
you are a really fast learner.
first thing I would suggest is learn the sounds by learning Tailo (Tâi-ûan Lô-má-jī), or POJ (Pe̍h-ōe-jī). I would suggest Tailo because some of the POJ’s phonetics is a bit ambiguous (o representing multiple sounds for example), but there are more people who use POJ.
to learn Tailo:
ntcu.edu.tw/tailo/sound.htm
the site mostly in Chinese… but I find it a decent site for learning Tailo.
For typing Taiwanese:
taigi.fhl.net/TaigiIME/
There’s “English Version” right near the top. There’s even a MAC version. It is so far the best tâi-uân-uē input system I’ve used. It is unfortunately that since I stopped using Windows, I could no longer use that great software. For me writing/typing helps me learn the language. That’s why I am suggesting it.
then classes always helps, but if not…
tailingua.com/resources/links/
has a lot of great Taiwanese resources.
A great place to get both Tailo and POJ reading material:
tcll.ntnu.edu.tw/pojbh/pojbh … efault.htm
I am not a Christian, there’s a bible site that might be useful.
taigi.fhl.net/list.html
Select 紅皮聖經全羅 紅皮聖經漢羅 and BBE
Select 台羅UNICODE
Click 閱讀
You will get a side by side comparison of the all romanized Taiwanese version, the Hanji/Romanization mixed version and the Bible In Basic English version.
(If your computer does not support unicode, ie. Windows XP or older and you want to learn POJ (based on kàu-lô Church romanization) only)
bible.fhl.net/new/read.php
Select KJV 紅皮聖經全羅 紅皮聖經漢羅
Click 版本對照
You will get a side by side comparison of the King James version, the all romanized Taiwanese version, and the Hanji/Romanization mixed version.
The only differences between Tailo and POJ:
Tailo POJ
ts ch
tsh chh
ua oa
ue oa
ing eng
ik ek
Every change is meaningful and systematic. Take the last two changes for example, the same vowel now is represented by a single letter. in>im>ing andit> ip>ik, instead of POJ’s in->im->eng, and it->ep->ek.
http://e-dictionary.apc.gov.tw/Index.htm
Taiwan Aboriginal Languages Online Audio Dictionary
This thing too 7 sevens to make (started in DPP era, as usually, glad this one wasn’t cut short like others).
Currently it offers Bunun, Tao (Yami), Truku, Saisiyat, Ita Thao, and Tsou (Arrissangh and Kanaknavu) language.
There are little tests, but for people with basic romanization knowledge, it’s more like a hearing test.