Recently I decided to commit to producing the I’m Learning Mandarin podcast once a week instead of fortnightly.
The plan is to continue posting guest interviews and discussions about learning Mandarin once a fortnight. Then, in between each interview, I’ll post shorter episodes in which I speak in Mandarin about a topic.
Today’s episode is the first one in the series of these Chinese monologues. In it, I speak about my experiences living in Taiwan last year and offer three things all learners should know before going to Taiwan to study Chinese.
I’ve included the Chinese transcript below with an English translation underneath. Let me know your thoughts in the comments and feel free to offer suggestions for other topics I can talk about in future!
Chinese Transcript
我猜有的听众已经知道，我去年搬到台湾去了，然后我在那边我生活了一年。我上过台大的高级的中文课程。不知道听众知不知道台大就是台湾最有名的大学，它的英文名字就是NTU。所以今天我想跟大家分享一下我在台湾经历过的一些事情。还有如果有听众在考虑去台湾读书的话，我想提出三个你应该提前知道的事。
那第一件事情就是你去台湾之前，你一定需要花一些时间练习繁体。其实我去台湾之前，我当然已经知道台湾的写字的系统跟大陆不一样。大陆有简体，然后台湾有繁体。
我学中文的过程当中，我一直都觉得中文的汉字是中文最难学的地方。我知道很多听众可能不同意，可能会觉得中文的声调或者中文的其他方面更难，但是对我来说汉字就是最难学的地方。我没有花很多的时间在练习繁体，所以我看繁体的时候有很多字我都看不懂。
那个时候，我决定搬到台湾的时候，很多人对我说，“因为你已经会简体，所以对你来说繁体说起来就那么难，比较简单。” 但我在台大开始上课的时候，我很快发现，其实繁体比我想象得还要难一些。
比如说我上课的时候，我发现我的语速可能比其他的学生，尤其是那些一直在台湾读书的学生，可能会慢一些。所以如果我可以回到过去的话，我会比较注重这方面。
第第二件你应该提前知道的事情就是在台湾很多人觉得儿化音听起来怪怪的，你在西方学中文的时候，很有可能你学的中文不是台湾腔，而是北京腔，或者大陆腔。但是问题在于很多台湾人他们不太习惯听儿化音或者听那个北京腔。
所以他们第一个反应就是觉得听起来怪怪的。甚至有的人可能会嘲笑你说： “哇你的中文好标准！” 但其实他们的意思并不是说你的中文很好，而是说你的中文有那种很搞笑的北京话。
还有一些人，他们会觉得你的中文跟他们不一样，你的发音跟他们不一样，并不是因为你学过的中文就是那个大陆中文，而是因为你是外国人。因为你的发音跟他们不一样，所以他们会把你看作一个初学者。
比如说，我记得有一次我在高雄的时候，高雄就是台湾的一个城市啊，我在高雄我去了一个夜市买些食物。我想买一些这个鱼汤，但是我不知道那个鱼叫什么，所以我去问一个阿姨，“阿姨那那个鱼汤叫什么？” 我从她的表情我能看出她非常害怕，可能是因为她没有接触过很多外国人，她没有说话，沉默了。
然后她只说了一句说：“你会一点点中文。你很棒。“ 感觉有点失望，我好像还没有超过那个初学者的会一点点中文的阶段，水平。
第三件你应该提前知道的事情就是台湾菜和其他亚洲国家的菜毫无关系。其实我去台湾之前，我完全不知道台湾菜是怎么样。我从来没有去过什么台湾餐厅。我觉得在英国好像没有很多的台湾餐厅。
我的家乡就是曼彻斯特。然后曼彻斯特有一个唐人街，所以我经常会去一些不同地区的餐厅。比如说有很多香港餐厅，然后我一直都觉得香港菜就是我最喜欢吃的菜，我觉得很好吃。
我去台湾之后，最让我惊讶的是，这个台湾菜跟我吃过的其他的亚洲国家的菜真的完全不一样，除了台湾人也喜欢吃面条还有米饭，但是除了这个之外，我觉得很不一样。
如果你吃过亚洲不同国家的菜的话，比如说日本菜、韩国菜、中国菜，你肯定知道亚洲菜大多数时候口味非常重，但是台湾人比较喜欢淡味的菜，味道没有那么重的菜。
当然我并不是说台湾菜不好吃，或者没有其他亚洲国家好吃，我只是说你想去台湾的话，尤其是如果你跟我一样，如果你比较喜欢味道比较重的饭菜，那你最好提前做好心理准备。
好的，我们说到这里，如果你喜欢我的内容的话，请给我一个review。你也可以订阅我的播客。好的，下次再见哦！
English Transcript
I guess some listeners already know I moved to Taiwan last year, and then I lived there for a year. I took an advanced Chinese course at National Taiwan University (NTU), which is the most famous university in Taiwan. So today, I want to share with you some of my experiences in Taiwan. And if any listeners are considering studying in Taiwan, I want to point out three things you should know beforehand.
The first thing is that before you go to Taiwan, you definitely need to spend some time practising traditional Chinese characters. Before going to Taiwan, I already knew the writing system is different from the mainland. Mainland China uses simplified characters, while Taiwan uses traditional characters.
Throughout my Chinese learning journey, I always felt characters were the most difficult part of learning Mandarin. I know many listeners may disagree and might find Chinese tones or other aspects more difficult, but for me, characters were the hardest. I didn’t spend much time practising traditional characters, so I couldn’t understand many characters when I saw them.
At that time, when I decided to move to Taiwan, many people told me, “You already know simplified characters, so traditional characters won’t be difficult for you.” But when I started classes at NTU, I quickly realized that traditional characters were more challenging than I had imagined.
For example, during class, I found that my reading pace was slower compared to other students, especially those who’d been studying in Taiwan for a long time. So if I could go back in time, I would pay more attention to this aspect.
The second thing you should know is that many people in Taiwan find the retroflex sound (the Beijing ‘r’) strange. If you’re learning Chinese in the West, you’re probably learning Mandarin with a Beijing accent or mainland accent, not a Taiwanese accent.
However, many Taiwanese people are not used to hearing the retroflex sound or the Beijing accent. So their first reaction might be that it sounds strange. Some might even mock you, saying, “Wow, your Chinese is so standard!” But what they actually mean is that your Chinese sounds like the strange Beijing dialect.
Others might think your Chinese is different from theirs, not because you learned mainland Chinese, but because you’re a foreigner. They might think that because your pronunciation is different from theirs, you must be a beginner.
For example, I remember one time when I was in Kaohsiung, which is a city in Taiwan, and I went to a night market to buy some food. I wanted to buy some fish soup, but I didn’t know the name of the fish. So I asked an auntie, “Auntie, what’s that fish soup called?”
From her expression, I could tell she was very scared, probably because she hadn’t interacted with many foreigners before. She didn’t speak and remained silent.
Then she just said, “You know a tiny bit of Chinese. Well done!” I felt a bit disappointed, like I still hadn’t surpassed the stage of being perceived as a beginner who only knows a tiny bit of Chinese.
The third thing you should know in advance is that Taiwanese cuisine has nothing to do with the cuisines of other Asian countries. Before going to Taiwan, I had no idea what Taiwanese cuisine was like. I had never been to any Taiwanese restaurants. I don’t think there are many Taiwanese restaurants in the UK.
My hometown is Manchester. Manchester has a Chinatown, so I often go to restaurants from different places. For example, there are many Hong Kong-style restaurants, and I always felt Hong Kong cuisine was my favourite; it’s delicious.
What surprised me the most after going to Taiwan was that Taiwanese cuisine is really different from the cuisines of other Asian countries I’ve tried, except that Taiwanese people also like noodles and rice. Apart from that, I found it very different.
If you’ve tried cuisines from different Asian countries, such as Japanese, Korean, or Chinese cuisine, you’ll know that Asian cuisines are usually very flavorful, but Taiwanese people prefer milder flavours, not as strong.
Of course, I’m not saying Taiwanese food isn’t good, or that it’s not as good as food from other Asian countries. I’m just saying that if you want to go to Taiwan, especially if you’re like me and you prefer stronger flavours, you should be mentally prepared in advance.
Alright, that’s all for now. If you like my content, please give me a review. You can also subscribe to my podcast. See you next time!
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