I know this is probably going to interest just a few of you here, but for anyone who is studying or thinking about studying Taiwanese (Hoklo, Hokkien, Ho-lo, Southern Min or whatever), we’re having a get-together on Thursday 28th January, at Taipei Artists’ Village (7 Běipíng East Road, near Shandao Temple MRT) from 8pm onwards. There will be at least a few people there who have studied or are studying the language formally, so it’s a good place to ask about the wheres, hows, and how muches of taking lessons. All welcome.
Damn…I’d love to but obviously not being in Taiwan will be a huge problem…unless you decide to go videoconference in the end?? 
Great idea, though. :bravo:
All foreigners studying Taiwanese should meet up now and then, all five of them.
I’m in the same boat as ironlady. Drat!
Sounds really fun, but, yeah …
Well, so let’s get something going online. That’s what the Internet is for.
I speak no Taiwanese at all, but I need a new project. My excuse for not learning was always ‘I need to focus on getting my Mandarin really good first!’. I think I’ve accepted that that’s not going to happen, though. 
I have a really lame textbook, but I didn’t realise when I bought it that the audio was on cassette, and the explanation of pinyin and tones didn’t seem very consistent. I guess I should google out some proper resources.
I’d love to join an internet group, with ‘observer status’.
I have a Taiwanese friend who is a brilliant teacher of both Taiwanese and Mandarin (one of the few Taiwanese people I know who can actually tell you what the tones are in Taiwanese). She is reasonably internet savvy. I don’t know if she’d be up for something but…
I took 1 on 1 classes at the TLI in Taizhong years ago and have since forgotten most of what I learned. I can’t meet at that time, but I’d definitely be interested if some people were to get together and try to do a group class.
Ironlady – Is your friend in Taiwan?
I have told Taffy I will try to attend this, and I would certainly enjoy meeting others who are studying Taiwanese with an eye to sharing tips and resources. I studied the first two books at Taipei TLI many years ago, and then have studied intermittantly on my own for a number of years. Because I’ve done mostly solitary self study (with books, VCDs, and TV dramas), I’m in the quite awkward position of having intermediate-to-advanced listening and reading comprehension while barely being able to stammer out a coherent phrase in real-time conversation. I need to push myself to work on speaking.
Yeah it’s hard. Even when in a Taiwanese environment, Mandarin always beckons. I’ll be a bit late but I’m looking forward to it
Similar situation as Rotalsnart. If you ever decide to make an excursion to Taichung or even Tainan, let me know. Would be fun to go somewhere on the weekend with a bunch of laowai’s that are determined to speak nothing but Taiwanese for a day or so.
Rotalsnart, do yo know 花田少年史？ It is a Japanese cartoon about a kid that can talk to ghost after a near death experience, dubbed in Taiwanese (probably also available in Mandarin). I found it pretty tough, at least in the beginning, but once you get used to special vocabulary (e.g. mo-sin-a) it is is fun to watch. If you are interested, I can bring my VCD box to Bobwundaye’s next time I am in town.
Yes, thanks, I have it too, and have already watched it. I also cracked up when I realized what he was calling his mother (ho-ba-bu “虎霸母” (母老虎)!
I’ve been interested in learning some Taiwanese recently, and I’ve had a CD set called 台語真簡單 in my iPod for the last few weeks or so. I’d love to make it to the meetup, but it’s during my work hours. I hope you guys write about it on here so the rest of us can hear about your study methods and resources, too!
I’ll be there! I’m one of the “five” foreigners learning Taiwanese in Taiwan. Maybe we’ll gradually find a few more…?
As Mary Knoll’s Book 1 says (Lesson 8, L8): Na3 tia3(n)-tia3(n) u3 teh2 kong2, tia3(n)-tia3(n)u3 teh3 hok3-sip8, goa1 khoah3(n), be3 phai1(n) kong2. (If you speak it often and practice often, I believe, it’s not difficult to speak)
I’ve been taking 1-to-1 lessons at Maryknoll’s since last April, now studying Lesson 9 of Book 1. Apart from the lesson vocab, my teacher teaches me about the same number of additional words. Now that Chinese New Year is approaching we’ll be doing some other texts in between from the book on “Taiwanese Festivals and Customs”. It’s fun, I believe I’m making slow progress, but I find it not so easy getting enough speaking practice in Tai7-pak4 (台北). Hopefully that will improve when I’ve progressed more in my lessons.
Tai3-ke1 ka7-iu5 (大家加油)!