Taiwan: 2011 Summer Fellows: Mandarin Classes at National Taiwan University

This summer, I’m fortunate enough to be enrolled in the International Chinese Language Program at NTU. We just finished our first week of classes last week, and it’s been a pretty intensive, but it’s been a great experience so far.

The classes here are the smallest I’ve ever had for studying Chinese. I have three 50 minute classes every day from Monday through Friday. Two of those classes are capped at four students each, and the third class is a one-on-one session with the instructor, which means there’s a lot of pressure to come well-prepared every day. The curriculum here emphasizes speaking proficiency, so classroom time is almost all interaction-based. Reading, writing, and listening exercises are supposed to be completed outside of class. Most days, I will have to spend at least a few hours just doing homework.

Adjusting from simplified Chinese characters to traditional characters has also been a challenge. In my courses at GWU, and in my previous studies, I had only read and written in simplified Chinese, so many of the characters that they use in Taiwan are completely new to me. It was frustrating early on looking at menus and street signs and feeling like my literacy level was cut in half. The program has been pretty accommodating though about people in my situation. I would estimate about a third to a half of my classmates had little to no experience with traditional characters before coming over. Even though our textbook reading passages are all written in traditional characters, we have the option of writing our compositions in simplified characters, and many of the textbooks provide vocabulary lists in both styles.

With the program’s focus on oral proficiency, there’s also little actual reading that we’re responsible for. We spend quite a bit of time picking apart two to three page passages, rather than speeding through chapter after chapter. Aside from that, the overall transition from simplified to traditional characters hasn’t been quite as difficult as I’d anticipated. I feel like I’ve developed a reasonable feel for it even after only one week.

A Chinese language pledge is another important part of the program at NTU. The pledge requires that all language center facilities are “Chinese-only” at all times. This includes the classrooms, library, language lab, student lounge, and administrative offices. If you’re caught three times, you might be asked to leave the program.

I’ve heard about much more strict language pledges in other programs (which I sometimes wish was the case here), but the current pledge does a good job of encouraging language immersion in the immediate classroom area. For example, our orientation information sessions were all conducted in Chinese, although an English translator was on hand to reiterate key points, and many of the supplementary guest lectures that ICLP offers during the week are spoken only in Chinese. Overall, I think the program strives pretty hard to create a rigorous learning environment for all of the students.

Christopher Wong
MA International Affairs, 2012
Sigur Center 2011 Chinese Language Fellow
National Taiwan University, Taiwan

Taiwan: 2011 Summer Fellows - Baseball

Like Baseball? Good news then, Taiwan definitely has it. In addition to NBL games consistently broadcasted on the national sports station Taiwan has its own league. It seems like all the East Asian democracies have made baseball one of their most prominent sports as it's also pretty popular in Japan and South Korea. This could result from close ties with the United States but I'm not quite sure. Mainland China has a baseball league but few Chinese people really care about it; the NBA is vastly more popular on the mainland, particularly after Yao Ming joined the Houston Rockets.

I was surprised at this when I first arrived as I expected the primary sport of interest to be soccer. When I was in Japan last year for the World Cup everybody was staying out late to watch the games and the Koreas have a pretty serious rivalry with one another. I would imagine the reason for Taiwan's lack of interest in soccer is because there are so few national teams here. The only international competition I've ever seen the Taiwanese participate in was the international little league tournament in 2009, and even then the team called itself "Chinese Taipei."

Unfortunately, since Taiwan cannot compete with mainland teams on a regular basis the league is limited to cities that exist on the island. Moreover, a bribery scandal that occurred ten or fifteen years ago really hurt the industry so a lot of fans felt betrayed and the stadium is usually pretty empty; I think my high school sold more tickets to the average baseball game. A friend also told me that since the league lost so much money after the scandal they only have four teams left. This leaves little room for post-season excitement like a playoff so I really hope the league will recover or, even better, as Beijing-Taipei relations appear to be improving, maybe they can organize some cross-strait competition. Unfortunately neither of these outcomes appear likely in the near future.

The good news? Tickets to a game are about six dollars. Also, because Taiwan's government recently passed a law that stadiums, movie theatres and other entertainment venues could not bar clients from bringing in their own food, that means you don't have to but eight-dollar hamburgers and six-dollar unreasonably large Coca-colas; you can just bring in something you like. Every team also appears to have an accompanying band, making the experience reminiscent of a college game, which, having graduated from Florida State, I can appreciate.

So last week when the team was in town I finally got a chance. I'll admit, it was Dodgers at San Francisco situation but if you like just watching a game with some friends I recommend giving it a try. The Taichung Bulls hosted the Taipei Brothers, who seem to be a more popular team as more people at the game wore yellow (Taipei's color) than Taichung's green. Unfortunately, the bulls were not able to pull ahead and ultimately lost but it was fun to watch. We've got another game at home next Thursday so more than likely I'll be there.

Shawn Lynott
MA International Affairs 2012
Sigur Center 2011 Chinese Language Fellow
Taipei Language Institute, Taiwan

South Korea: 2011 Summer Fellows: It's good to be back!

I am thankful to have given this opportunity to study Korean at Sogang University for the next 2 months. The reason why I chose this University is that their classes focuses more on conversational skills compared to other Korean Language Programs at other Universities. This school is also conveniently located near 3 other big Universities, so the area is filled with restaurants, shopping, and of course street food. My class has about 14 other students with ages ranging from 18 to 40. Some of the students are from the US, Japan, France, Indonesia and China. Classes are 4 hours M-F in the morning. The first hour focuses on writing, the next two hours is speaking, and the last hour is reading/listening.

As our first field trip, we watched a show called "Marionette". It was a breakdancing show about a puppeteer and his puppets. There is alot of shows here that involve breakdancing. Since South Korea has one of the best bboy groups in the world, it isn't so surprising. In a couple of weeks, Korea is hosting International Breakdancing Competition called R-16.

Every Korean experience involves eating Korean barbeque, so our class went and had lunch at a popular place that was featured in a lot of TV shows and dramas here. We had meat marinated in all kinds of sauces such as curry, herb, soybean paste and ginseng. There is a pan in the middle of the table that you fry the meat on and then you dip the meat into a couple of sauces, add some vegetables to it, and then wrap it in lettuce.

Even though it has been a year since I've been here, I noticed that Seoul has made it easier to travel. At bus and metro stops, there are electronic signs telling you when the next train or bus is coming. New lines also had popped up on the metro map.

Some things haven't changed such as finding clothes and shoes that fit. Because my feet is bigger than the typical Korean women, I made sure to pack extra shoes in my suitcase. You can find bigger shoe sizes at department stores here but it can be expensive. If you don't mind wearing men's shoes, which I sometimes did, then you will be fine. If not, leave some room in your suitcase for them.

In terms of street shopping for clothes, alot of places won’t let you try on things. Some places will make you put a skirt on so that you can try on the shorts or pants. If you are nice enough to them and actually remember where you bought the clothes, you can return them. The one issue that I always had about living here was remembering where I bought things at because you will see the same stores on every corner such as a 7-11 or a similar looking karaoke place. The streets here also go in every direction. The best places to go for street shopping is usually near Universities such as Ewha University and Hongik University. Another good place to go shopping is in Dongdaemun. You can usually bargain your way into getting a cheaper price.

The one thing that I love about this city is that you can see both the new and old city of Seoul. There are alot of lego looking high rise apartments usually owned by companies Hyundai, Samsung, or LG surrounding small hanok villages, which is the old style Korean houses. Another thing that you will notice is that most of the cars here are white with tinted windows owned by Hyundai. It is nice to see that there is still some of the old city left. Korea is trying really hard to preserve alot of the traditional villages and making the city a greener place.

I'm glad to be able to share my experience this summer in Korea through these blogs. I hope this will help give you a better insight into the Korean culture. I look forward to writing my next one.

Susie Greenbaum
MA Speech and Language Pathology 2013
Sigur Center 2011 Korean Language Fellow
Sogang Unviersity, South Korea

Taiwan: 2011 Summer Fellows - Back from Taipei

Last week my girlfriend flew into Taiwan from Tokyo so we spent the weekend in Taipei. Taipei has all the same things you find in the other major Asian metropolitan areas: tall buildings, a working subway, two airports, signs written in both the native language and English, etc. Having lived in Tokyo for two years I find these cities are a lot more fun to visit than they are to live in; they have so much to do when traveling but it's really annoying to live in a big city when you're constantly commuting across town. It makes me glad I chose Taichung as a place to live instead, but Taipei is a great place to visit. There's always lots to do and a diverse array of places to see.

First we went to the Imperial Palace Museum which houses ancient Chinese artifacts. It was interesting to see the museum's take on how pottery reflects one's culture and how you can tell which dynasty a particular piece is from based on things like technique, what king or spirit it appears to honor, and what practical uses it has. A few years ago I read about mainland China claiming Taiwan had stolen the artifacts, as Chiang Kai Shek took most of them with him as he fled after the Chinese civil war. Fortunately with easing tensions between the two governments we may see more sharing of precious artifacts in the near future.

It was difficult to reach the Palace Museum, however, because we consistently lost our way navigating through the bus and subway system. Unlike Tokyo, buses don't necessarily arrive at the stop when they say they will so just because the schedule says Bus #20 is coming at 3:05 does not mean the bus arriving at 3:05 is in fact Bust #20. My advice is check the number before stepping onto the vehicle, or if you speak Chinese, you can just ask the driver if the particular bus is going where you're headed. I found this method particularly useful. Before figuring this out, we saw a lot of interesting parts of the city that we would otherwise have missed, so even getting lost wasn't so bad. At subway stations you can buy a three-day commuters' pass, which means you get unlimited use of the buses and subways for about $13.00 for the entire weekend.

If you're going to going to eat Chinese dumplings, or xiaolongbao, in Taipei (which I highly recommend you do), you can't beat Din Tai Fung restaurant in its two locations. They make the best dumplings I've ever had, and that's after living in mainland China for three years. Each comes with both meat and soup on the inside so you have to eat them a certain way or the soup will just spill on your lap. Every table actually has a set of instructions written in Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, French and Spanish to make sure you eat them the right way. The wait was almost 2 hours so we actually were able to go to the top of nearby Taipei 101, now the second-tallest building in the world but soon to be the third, before our table was ready.

Perhaps the most humorous aspect of traveling in Taiwan with a Japanese person is that whenever waiters or fellow tourists had a question they would ask my girlfriend. She speaks no Chinese, so when I explained to them that she was Japanese and I was in fact the one who could communicate with them we got some incredulous looks. Some people may find this insulting but I always appreciated countering Asian people's assumptions that I only speak English. Much like in Japan's urban centers, it appears lots of foreingers live in Taipei for a long time without ever bothering to learn the language.

Overall, if you like big cities Taipei is a great place to visit. This was my first out-of-town destination of hopefully many more, depending on how much time I have in the coming weekends.

Shawn Lynott, MA International Affairs 2012, Sigur Center 2011 Chinese Language Fellow, Taipei Language Institute, Taiwan

Full Time Position - Managing Director in China

TSH Corp, a subsidiary of the University of Pittsburgh, seeks a Managing Director for its representative office in China.

It is a full time position with responsibility for the successful planning, development, and implementation of multiple strategic and alumni initiatives in support of the TSH’s presence in China.

The successful candidate will be located in Beijing, China and will be required to travel to Pittsburgh, PA occasionally.

The successful candidate will be located in Beijing, China and will be required to travel to Pittsburgh, PA occasionally. Qualifications include: Master’s degree, fluency (oral, written, reading, and listening) in Mandarin Chinese and English, extensive knowledge of or experience with U.S. universities and academic programs essential. Preference given to candidates who are recognized within the Chinese academic community and among partner institutions within China as a seasoned professional with extensive academic experience; minimum of five years of experience in a University or academic environment; minimum of two and preferably four years of living and studying/working in both the U.S. or in China.

The individual must be a self-starter and have strong skills and experience in intercultural sensitivity, computer usage, and office management.

Please send a cover letter, vitae and names of three references to pittbeij@pitt.edu.

Applications must be received by June 24, 2011 for full consideration.

Taiwan: 2011 Summer Fellows - After one Week in Taiwan

The primary reason I hoped to study in Taichung (or Taizhong), Taiwan was to develop an understanding of the Taiwanese people and the similarities and differences between Taiwan and mainland China. Many people asked me why did I not study in Taipei where the majority of foreign students generally go? The reason is that after having been to Beijing dozens of times and having lived in Tokyo and Washington, DC I have concluded that capitol cities rarely offer a panoramic view of society. They also tend to have a larger expat population and more people who speak English, which is something I hope to do as little as possible.

My first impression of Taiwan upon arrival is that it has the dirt and grime of mainland China (Disclaimer: I love China but it's not a clean country) along with the oddly-shaped buildings you find in Japan. People tell me this is because urban planners and building constructors take feng shui into account when creating layouts and blueprints, but I have a feeling it's more because the city has almost no gridlock; it's mostly a cluster of diagonal lines when viewed from above. As everywhere I have lived in the United States has had some kind of patterned layout, this makes it very easy to get lost so I suggest either bringing a smartphone or using Google Maps if you plan on traveling within Taiwanese cities.

One similarity Taiwan shares with the mainland is how flattered people are when you speak Chinese to them; for the most part people do not expect foreigners to know Chinese. Americans have a particular reputation for not studying foreign languages, a notion I enjoy countering when given the opportunity. In only seven days I've already had a family buy me dinner and two friends asked me to their home later this week just because I spoke to them. Admittedly a concern I had coming to Taichung was that it would be difficult to make friends because I did not know anybody; this has proven a very unnecessary concern. Taiwanese people seem to pride themselves on friendliness to foreigners. Americans often comment to me how impressed they are with Japan's hospitality, which has a heavy focus on politeness and protocol, but I find Taiwanese hospitality to be a more genuine attempt to welcome strangers.

A difference you will notice right away between Taiwan and the mainland is the overwhelming presence of motorbikes. When we first entered Taichung about eight motorbikes stopped at the red light in the lane next to ours and I honestly believed it was a gang. It was not until about three intersections later that saw enough people riding them to realize this is simply an inexpensive, convenient way to travel. The following day a friend I met let me ride on the back of her motorbike and I am not ashamed to admit I have never been so scared in my life. Hopefully after getting settled I can rent one of my own and learn to drive it.

One problem you are likely to experience in coming to Taiwan is getting a phone number; buying a cellphone is easy but if you want a SIM card you have to show them your alien registration card. Since I'm not actually any kind of resident I cannot get this registration card which means no store sill sell me a SIM card and my mobile phone was basically a portable alarm clock for several days. Fortunately a friend had an extra one that she lent me for the summer, so if you plan on living in Taiwan for a short time and know somebody already here, I recommend asking if they know somebody with a SIM card he doesn't need lying around.

Despite some inconveniences, though, I've had a great week and expect a very positive experience. I'm looking forward to posting more updates and sharing my anecdotes with everybody.

Shawn Lynott, MA International Affairs 2012, Sigur Center 2011 Chinese Language Fellow, Taipei Language Institute, Taiwan