Hmmmm~ I can speak Mandarin fairly well, and have no problems with day to day conversation. Of course, there’s still a lot of vocabulary I need to learn - and my writing sucks (with my reading only being slightly better)…
but when it comes to Taiwanese… I am learning it… slowly… very basic things like “hurry up” “go home” “eat” some of the numbers etc. and of course, all the bad words… I’ve got those… I just don’t have the same motivation or need to learn Taiwanese over Mandarin.
If anyone is interested, I have a 4-CD beginner’s Taiwanese language guide where a woman says a phrase in Mandarin and then repeats it in Taiwanese. I’ve ripped it to MP3 and have been listening to it while riding the MRT. It’s fun having people stare at me, the wacky foreigner saying, “This is too spicy…This is too sweet…This is too sour…” to himself in Taiwanese.
My sporadic attempts at learning Taiwanese have been thwarted by the fact that I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve NEEDED Taiwanese. Being stuck in a sink-or-swim environment is pretty essential for me. Moreover, when I first started taking one-on-one Taiwanese classes in Taizhong city, I was disappointed at nearly everyone’s reaction to me trying to learn the language. “Learn Taiwanese? Why on Earth would you want to do that?” Not a single person encouraged me.
Why do you think this is? Think its because Taiwanese is kind of like their “secret language”? It’s normal for foreigners to learn Mandarin, but learning Taiwanese is getting too close to home?
I’ve never seen anyone dismayed that I’ve “broken their secret code” when I speak Taiwanese with them. Although that may be because I don’t speak it all that well and pose little threat.
My mother-in-law loves that I’ve broken their secret code. But maybe that’s because I haven’t really broken the code and can only speak a few phrases in Taiwanese and mostly just use one at their house, which is “jin ho jia” (delicious), as I scarf down her black-chicken-foot soup or other oddities.
My spoken Taiwanese is better than my Mando.
Both of which are just slightly above the ‘babbling fool’ level.
But comprehension is getting better since I’ve actually started to pay attention to what is being said.
Normally I just look sincere and nod my head while thinking of something else.
The same reason, why I didn’t learn Cantonese while working in Hong Kong. It’s not necessary when the people you deal with all speak English or Mandarin. I would make an effort to learn it though, if I were living in rural southern Taiwan and being surrounded by locals who prefer talking in Taiwanese.
Also, I would pick it up much faster, if the TV programs in Taiwanese weren’t so unwatchable. Silly variety shows, stupid soap operas, and pro-Green political discussions aren’t really what interests me.
What about watching the ancient Taiwanese art of…puppet shows?
I use the “living in a Hakka area” excuse, too. I can’t speak a lick of Hakka either though, and struggling still with Mandarin. It’s actually pretty disheartening when you spend years learning a country’s national language but still can’t understand what’s going on because no one around you actually communicates in that language.
This may offend some people, but there’s another reason – check the “Ugly Languages” thread. Of what I’ve heard, Mandarin is by far the most pleasant to the ears of the Chinese language family. I just plain don’t like the sound of Taiwanese.
Does anybody on this site speak fluent Taiwanese?
Of course! Some of our posters are native Taiwanese, like Dragonbabe. I wouldn’t be surprised if Poagao and a few others are fluent too. Me, I only know the odd handful like paisay, etc.
What are the learning materials like? I tried learning mando in the early nineties and the textbooks were for the most part, abysmal. I remember one bizarre conversation in my beginner’s book about the respective merits of clocks and watches.Wasn’t a great incentive to learn an already-difficult language.
Talking to old ladies selling apples in Tainan. Where else do you think I learn what little Taiwanese I do know?
Shay-shay!
Hello,
I know this is replying to a very old post, but do you happen to have those mp3 files still? would love to try learning from those. Also, great photography on your flikr man!
I’ve always wanted to learn Taiwanese, as that’s the language my in-laws speak amongst themselves. My excuses are that my wife won’t speak it with me (even though she’s a native speaker), and the lack of decent English-language study materials (I’ve actually used a Taiwanese phrasebook that’s aimed at Japanese speakers!). Like you, attempts at speaking Taiwanese with the in-laws only results in laughter.
My wife’s siblings are more comfortable speaking in Taiwanese than in Mandarin, and my mother-in-law actually doesn’t speak any Mandarin at all - she grew up during the Japanese era, and World War II prevented her from going to school. My wife has tried over the years to get her to learn, but she says she doesn’t need it as everyone she knows speaks Taiwanese.
Been there, though my wife has been more cooperative–for example, no one’s trying to get mom to learn anything lol–don’t give up. Has taken me years but I can at least carry a conversation with the old timers.
Listening is always the key, especially in a tonal language like Taiwanese IMO, try to listen and process as much as you can.
The Taiwanese don’t learn Taiwanese anymore
In the late 70s met a catholic priest in Taiwan who if he wore one of those farmer/coolie hats you would never mistake him for anything but a. Old Taiwanese farmer or laborer
He was Italian but his Taiwanese was superb
I should know because my Taiwanese was
As good as
Any old
Taiwan farmer then too
Now thanks to this blessed thing called Mandarin which not only fricked up my English if destroyed my Taiwanese too
But I actually like Taiwanese mandarin as long as it’s not too heavily accented
Many younger Taiwanese don’t speak the language anymore and that is sad