EFL study tips
I write to respond to the comments of Chang Yen-chung on the teaching of English in your country, ("Letters," Jan. 15, page 8).
The first thing you must do is define why you are learning English. By this I mean; be clear as to whether you are going to learn English, or any other foreign language, to converse with foreigners, to write English translations of Chinese books or other material, to move to another country where English is the language of use, and so on.
This may sound simplistic but it is very important because these different goals require very different levels of understanding. The students themselves can do a great deal to help themselves in this matter. They can, for example, buy English newspapers such as the Taipei Times and learn to read them. Also, the Internet can be of enormous benefit here because of its ability to give you access to any country's press and literature. Students can also seek out places where English is spoken regularly and learn from the people they meet. Another possibility is for students to seek English-speaking pen-pals with whom to exchange letters or e-mail.
Most important of all, any English program must teach the student how to think in English. If you cannot think in English you will never be able to learn to speak or write effectively in English. No one, regardless of his or her skill at memorization, can hold more than one language at a time in his or her mind. As a personal example of this, I live in Canada and own several power tools which are made in Taiwan. The machines are very well made and work perfectly. But the operators manuals can be very difficult to understand because they were translated into English by people who were still thinking in Chinese. Other examples can be found on a Web site called, www.engrish.com. These examples may seem amusing to us Westerners, but I don't think they are amusing to the people who wrote them.
I agree completely with Chang Yen-chung's idea that English immersion is one of the best ways to learn. If a student is placed in an environment in which English is the only language that is spoken or written, he or she is forced to learn it. This can be difficult to do in reality though. Exchange programs with English-only schools are one possibility, although I don't know how practicable that is in Taiwan. Advanced students might consider an exchange program with a school in the US or Canada, although again I do not know how practical this is.
Lastly, any person hired to teach English in your country should have at least a basic understanding of your culture and history and speak a little Chinese. This will add enormously to his or her credibility with the students. My nephew is teaching English in South Korea and is taking a sabbatical to attend a Korean university to study the Korean language and culture. He thinks it will help him a great deal to relate to his students in the future.
Earl Goudie
British Columbia,Canada
Two sides to IPR issues
Your editorial "Taiwan: keep walking with IPR" is simplistic (Jan. 16, page 8).
The recently settled Californian class action against Microsoft has shown that consumers may be overcharged when buying from monopolies. IPR creates a monopoly. So governments need to back up the privilege of intellectual property rights with laws that ensure consumers are not overcharged.
People have no respect for thieves; but when consumers see that they are being overcharged, who are the thieves?
Rick Jelliffe
Sydney, Australia
North Korean movie reviews
I didn't see the new Bond movie Die Another Day, but now that I have read the review from the North Korean SCPRF press office, I'm glad I didn't. The SCPRF is the Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. But I suppose everybody already knows that. Who doesn't read the SCPRF movie reviews in the DPRK press these days?
The SCPRF thought the Bond movie wasn't too good except for its special effects. In fact it was mostly nothing but a "dirty and cursed burlesque" and a "premeditated act of mocking."
The villain in the movie does not represent the true face of North Korea. That the movie came from the American motion picture industry only proves one thing: the US is "the headquarters that spreads abnormality, degeneration, violence and fin de siecle, corrupt, sex culture."
Eric Mader-Lin
Taipei
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS