The Taiwanese and the English language

The Taiwanese people are very friendly (just look at my wife YuMei). However, they are also very hard to understand. They can be very friendly and interested, but at the same time very distant and reserved (although this might be more a part of the Chinese character in general, then of the Taiwanese in particular, in my opinion).
Whether that reservation is because of shyness, the language, or a real characteristic I don't know. Quite often, when I walk on the street, people are smiling very friendly, and some of them even say hello. But as soon as you stop and talk to them (in English), they become very shy. Even the ones with the loudest mouth, will confess very softly, that he/she don't speak english. Maybe they are ashamed because of their lack of knowledge in the English language, something which of course is absolutely not necessary.

The other day in the Geant, I wanted to ask one of the employees where I could find something. The poor guy started to panic a bit, because his English was very poor. In the only English words he knew, he told me to wait and follow him. I followed him to one of her colleagues, to whom I repeated my question. She (a girl this time) also panicked a bit, and she also asked me to follow her, this time to the service desk, where I asked my question for the third time. And once again, they hadn't the slightest idea of what I was talking about. Then one of the employees had a brilliant idea. His face lit up, he grabbed the telephone, spoke a few words, and pushed the telephone in my hands. So, there I was, in the Geant in Taichung, surrounded by no less then 5 employees, with the telephone in my hand, where I was talking to the big man upstairs (no, not God), who apparently was the only one who spoke English. So, as you can see, shopping can be an adventure where even Indiana Jones would run away from. (For your info, I never found what I was looking for.)

Still you will be able to see more English in the daily life. Also the streetnames appear in English on the streetsigns, and in MRT in Taipei, the stations are also being broadcasted in English. And nowadays more Taiwanese are studying English. And I must admit, that those who speak English (and aren't shy or unsecure about their English) will grab every opportunity to practise. Sometimes you are being stopped on the street by someone, who is hoping for a short free private lesson.

So, the will to learn English is there with most Taiwanese, and then mainly the younger generation, who start to realise that without English Taiwan will be getting a lot of trouble in the future, in this international world. Everywhere you will see ads where they look for people with English as motherlanguage, to teach English on elementary schools, and also young students from university are looking for private tutoring. Here on campus you can join a "language exchange program", you teach English to a Taiwanese, and he/she teaches you Chinese. A classmate was asked by a guy who wanted to patch up his conversation English. I also was asked by 2 guys who wanted to improve their English. And the other day, a lovely lady working in the Starbucks came up to me, and asked me with a little voice, whether I was an English teacher and what private tutoring would cost.
What unfortunately is the issue in Taiwan is the fact, that a lot of children do learn English, but hardly have any opportunity to practise. Therefore they try in every way possible to practise anyway, and stop you on the street and talk to you.
Most of the parents hardly speak English, or not at all, so the kids only use English only once a week during class.
Brant was teaching English, and he found out how hard it was to teach them. Usually they didn't have any idea what he was talking about, and just nodded their heads, if he asked if they understood. One time he wanted to do "show-and-tell", which is always quite fun for the kids. So he instructed them to bring something from home the next week. That week only 2 or 3 kids actually had brought something, the rest just hadn't understood what he had said.

The strange thing is that there is a national obsession not to learn English but American. Everywhere in Taiwan, Americans are the preferred choice for both teaching English in elementary schools as well as for private tutoring. Probably they have this strange idea, that American is the proper and the only way to speak English, almost like language is an exact science. Al this because of the many American movies and sit-coms on tv.
A funny example is the experience of a classmate of mine from New Zealand. His English was almost the same English as they spoke in the streets of London. Nothing wrong with that, you might say. Still he was frequently corrected by his students (!), because he pronounced a word incorrectly. In an American movie they saw the other day, they pronounced it completely different.
Also have I heard stories about an Italian guy who was fired, because the parents of the kids he was teaching were afraid he would teach them an Italian accent. His English was perfect, by the way.

About teaching English at elementary school, it is true that a lot of children are already been tought English, and also at even younger age. My oldest nephew is being send to an American school for English lessons. And yes, kids at the age of 8 already speak a little bit of English. Here is one example from the real life. I wanted to go to have something to eat at one of the foodstands of which what they offered looked nice. I wanted to order, but the lady had no idea what I was talking about. With expectation she looked at her husband, hoping he was able to help her out. He too didn't have a clue what I was talking about. After that their son was pulled away from his dinner, and put in front of me. He welcomed me in his best English, and asked what I would like to have. After I placed my order, he started enthousiastically to practise his English. He asked me my name, where I was from, how old I was....well, the usual. Of course I asked him the same things, after all, he had to practise. So, there I was, in the busy foodstreet, having a "conversation" with the 9 year old Jerry. And the longer I was talking to him, the taller he became. Ever since that day, whenever I passed by, I said hello to my new friend Jerry. And sometimes you could see his friends looking surprised, jealous that a "wai gou ren" said hi to their friend, and even knew his name. Life can be so satisfying sometimes :)

The other day I was reading an article in a dutch magazine about travelling to Asian countries. It was an interview with the highest diplomatic representative of Taiwan here in Holland, Mrs. Katherina Chang (they don't have an ambassador).
She said the following about the English language in Taiwan: "it already was a obligatory subject in highschool, now also children at the age of 7 are being thought English. The government desks are already bilangual, and even the government is speaking english during meetings sometimes. There are already English speaking taxi drivers drving around in Taipei, recognisable by a special sticker on the window screen. We have a national 24-hour English hotline, and there are numerous English brochures and flyers available about our country. in 2008 English will be our official second language. (She made this comment concerning the return of tourists after the SARS epidemic) (Source: Azie Magazine no. 96, September/ October 2003)*
To be honest Mrs. Chang, I find that a little optimistic. There aren't many people here that speak english, and I don't think that'll change in 2 years. However, I do find it a very good objective, and I really hope I am wrong. I really embrace these developments, and think it would be an excellent impulse for the reclining economy.

* The meaning of this quote might have been slightly changed due to the translation from dutch to english.