Speak Chinese & New Taiwanese
November 26th, 2006 by MarkWhen John recently designed a “please speak Chinese” T-shirt, I was immediately tempted to buy one. I always love it when locals talk to me in Chinese, instead of trying to use English first.
请讲普通话。
Putting this on a shirt worn by a foreigner is cool on multiple levels. Not only does it demonstrate that the foreigner can speak Chinese, but it is also a play on a PRC campaign that used the exact same line to encourage the Chinese to use Mandarin as opposed to Cantonese or any other local dialects. The only problem is that the shirt would be weird to wear in Taiwan. Nobody here uses the phrase 普通话, or even simplified characters for that matter.
As usual, John had a great idea that was in serious need of some Taiwan-ification. That’s where TC came in. He reminded me that there’s a completely analogous phrase that was plastered all over Taiwan for decades. It was even used for the same reason- getting Taiwanese people to speak in Mandarin instead of the Minnan, or “Taiwanese” dialect.
講國語
I decided on the spot that it was time to design a Speak Mandarin shirt that can be worn with pride on either side of the strait. And in TC’s honor, I made one more shirt fitting for a foreigner who actually became Taiwanese.
(Readers have pointed out that former president Lǐ Dēnghuī introduced this phrase 新台灣人. Later, Mǎ Yīngjiǔ, a Hong Kong man by birth, gained popularity in proclaiming himself to be “New Taiwanese”.)
新台灣人
You can see a full list of my designs at the newly created Toshuo Shop.
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November 26th, 2006 at 10:02 am
My former wife, native Taiwanese from Yilan, was forced to hang a sign around her neck in elementary school in the late 40s and early 50s because she refused to stop speaking in her native tongue. She continues to be very proud of that protest effort against the Chinese invaders on her part as a young girl. So, I am not too sure how your “Jiang Guoyu” shirt will go over with native Taiwanese people who have a strong sense of their own identity and history.
November 26th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
I suppose there would be some possibility of someone like her feeling upset by the shirt, but I would be surprised. It’s been quite a few years since the events that you’re talking about, and just about everybody can speak Mandarin now. On a westerner, the shirt would be an admonishment against English, more than anything. I’ve lived in the south of the island before and nobody has ever told me that I should know 台語. Even during the last election when there were some 台語 zealots out there, nobody got upset at me for speaking 國語 instead.
If you do live in some small city in Tainan county, or someplace like that, then maybe 講國語 wouldn’t be the best idea. I bet people there would love the 新台灣人 shirt, though.
November 26th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
I think it was Lee Denghui that started the “新台灣人”. Maybe if you threw a 請 in there it would take the edge off.
November 26th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
It’s interesting that the PRC asked please (请讲普通话), but that the ROC didn’t (講國語).
November 26th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
I think different schools had different slogans; I’ve heard a mix of 講國語 and 說國語 and sometimes even 清說國語. Apparently there was less of a need for such slogans, speeches and signs in Taipei schools than there was down south.
That said, I think even hardcore individuals like Joe’s ex would understand the context of a Caucasian wearing such a shirt. I’d hope so, at least.
November 26th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
Also, I dig the “New Taiwanese” shirt, especially the dark one, though I think red, white or yellow letters would look better than the green.
November 27th, 2006 at 6:51 pm
I am a Taiwanese, I speak Taiwanese. Chinese is a foreign lenguage.
我是台灣人，我講台灣話。中國話(支那語)是外國話。
November 28th, 2006 at 12:41 am
I’m actually of two minds on the 新台灣人 shirt. While I like it, I also wonder if there’s any point to the “new” part. It reminds me of the “hyphenated American” phenomenon. Why can’t all Taiwanese just be Taiwanese?
Maybe just make one for me saying “台灣人”
December 7th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
Do you ever wonder how many locals you have offended with your ignorance of their culture and history (see Sam’s posting above, which I see you saw fit not to comment on)? Just because no one has said anything to you doesn’t mean they’re not thinking it. This is Asia, mate, people are not as upfront with their opinions as they are back in Canada, or America or wherever.
December 8th, 2006 at 1:45 am
John, I don’t have any desire to offend locals. Believe it or not, more than one local has suggested a 講國語 shirt to me. I also ran the idea by several Taiwanese people before making it. Aside from that, I’ve also been keeping an eye on what Chinese language blogs have said about it.
From everything I’ve seen the people upset about the shirt are nearly all foreigners. I’ve received several emails from locals who like the shirt, and even a positive response from someone from 嘉義 on my Chinese blog.
As for Sam above, I thought the Chinese in his comment looked a bit odd, so I followed the link to his blog and tried contacting him to ask him what his opinions were. He suggested that I leave 台北 because it’s a “Chinatown where nearly everyone speaks Chinese”. If he has a problem with the entire capital city, a few language students (learning a language he considers to be “foreign”) in those shirts isn’t going to make much of a difference. I certainly don’t see any way I can please him, considering I blog about learning that same language. Also of note, he has a western family name.
December 8th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
I’m Taiwanese and *I* can’t understand the Chinese Sam wrote. I think he’s a foreigner pretending to be Taiwanese. We wouldn’t say “中國話(支那語)是外國話。”
The 講國語 shirt is ok, but I should warn about the 新台灣人 shirt. It’s cute for a foreigner to wear, but ABC’s should not wear it. I hate Lee Tunghui and so do many Taiwanese. He can’t shutup. What a bastard says “I wish I were Japanese”!!?
December 9th, 2006 at 4:16 am
Melody,
Sam has emailed me and said that the characters he wrote were Taiwanese. From everything I’ve learned, though, 支那 is a derogatory word for China or the Chinese that was used by the Japanese during WWII Japan.
Sam, I don’t really like censoring a comment thread, but I this kind of petty prejudice doesn’t really do much for the discussion. Barring a good explanation, please don’t use that kind of phrase here.
December 10th, 2006 at 6:04 pm
I speak French probably as well as you speak Chinese (that’s a compliment, mate!), and I’ve heard a lot of different French spoken by people in France and Quebec (stuff very different from what I learned in school), but I would never presume to call their French “odd”. And the fact that Sam has as Western family name doesn’t mean anything. You don’t know his family background - that’s borderline racism to make assumptions from something like that.
It looks like Melody has appointed herself as spokeswoman for the 20 million people here. Most of the native Taiwanese I know have generally positive views of Japan, unlike the people I met when I was working in South Korea.
December 10th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
John, you asked why I hadn’t responded to Sam’s comment and I gave you an honest answer. I thought that sentence was odd. I was mulling it over.
December 10th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
But by saying odd, you were implying that he wasn’t Taiwanese, in the same way you pointed out he had a Western family name.
December 10th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
Unfortunately, on this blog, he wouldn’t have been the first fake.
Since I wasn’t sure, I felt it would be most prudent to withhold comment. After you called me “ignorant” and went on to attack me for not addressing Sam’s comment, I offered an explanation for my silence- which you also attacked.
Sadly, attacking is about all you’ve done on this blog; even in cases in which you’ve clearly misunderstood what was going on and could have offered something constructive, you’ve chosen not to.
December 11th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
You’re right mate. I haven’t given anything constructive in my comments, and I’m sorry about that. You put a lot of hard work into this blog, and I like reading it. Please keep up the good work mate!
December 11th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
Thanks! With that kind of encouragement, I definitely will. If you do happen to get a chance, I’d still love some more info on your browser, so I can try to make the pop-up annotations work on it.
December 31st, 2006 at 11:40 am
from the ABC Comprehensive Dictionary:
支那 (trad./Budd.) China (now derogatory)