To promote English as Tainan’s second official language, the city government is transforming its Huayuan Night Market (花園夜市) into an English-speaking environment by teaching vendors the language with English audio programs.
The city’s Second Official Language Office said that it has recorded monthly episodes of common market parlance in English and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) to be played in the market since April.
Each episode includes eight sentences and 18 words in English, such as: “Take a look,” “Pardon me” and “Spicy or not?” — phrases that some vendors said were a bit challenging to master.
Each phrase or sentence is spoken in Hoklo, then repeated three times in English, the office said.
Replayed once every hour, the audio program creates a natural learning environment by immersing vendors in the sound of the English language, the office said.
Vendors can download the audio files using messaging app Line, which allows them to replay the lessons they miss when conducting business, the office said.
The office said it would adjust the learning materials according to vendors’ and visitors’ needs, while planning to make desk pads printed with useful market phrases in both Chinese and English to facilitate communication between vendors and foreign tourists.
The night market’s management committee said that vendors and committee members are willing to learn English, and that the audio programs provide a great alternative to English lessons, which they have no time to take because of their working hours.
The level of English varies with each vendor, as younger learners can pick up the lessons with ease, although some cannot read the 26 letters of the English alphabet, the committee said.
Saying that she would be glad to see the government’s initiative succeed, English-language tour guide Lu Fang-hui (盧芳惠) added that the office could take a down-to-earth approach to English learning by using examples from daily life and foreign visitors’ needs.
For example, the office could produce English menus that describe local delicacies in simple words without “smacking of Chinglish,” she said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS