On November 23rd, 2024, Assistant Professor Yoshida Shingo of the Graduate School of Language and Society at Hitotsubashi University taught an introductory Taiwanese language course, in Japanese, aimed atdeepening language and cultural exchanges between Taiwan and Japan.
The course, titled Taiwan-goda ~yo! Zen’in shūgō! Nihongo de manabu sokushū Taiwan-go (It’s Taiwanese! Come Here for a Crash Course in Taiwanese, in Japanese), was part of the Historical Reconstruction and Internationalization of Modern Taiwanese Literature sub-project, itself a part of NTNU’s SPROUT Project.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Director Nikky Lin, of the International Taiwan Studies Center at NTNU,made remarks in both Taiwanese and Japanese, elaborating on the historical status of Taiwanese as the lingua franca of Taiwan, and her hopes that this course would allow more people to understand Taiwanese,and encourage communication in different languages.
Professor Yoshida, who has a long-standing passion for Taiwanese culture, started with three Taiwanese greetings: “Lí hó! (Hello!)”, “Pîng-an! (Hope you’re well!)”, and “Tsia̍h-pá buē? (Have you eaten enough?)”. Thefull-day course went on to cover pronunciation of Taiwanese Romanization, writing, daily conversation, literary reading, and the Taiwanese song “Made in Taiwan.” Assisted by Taiwanese language students, Professor Yoshida blended everyday expressions into simple conversations, helping students quickly master entry-level Taiwanese skills.
The sub-project leader, Associate Professor Li Bi-chhin of the Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature, said that the large number of registered students reflected strong latent demand for this course. In the future, she will collaborate with the School of Continuing Education to design similar courses aimed at teaching Taiwanese to Japanese speakers. She pointed out that thanks to the rich cultural connotations which Taiwanese carries, it is of great significance in understanding Taiwan’s art and aesthetics, and so learning Taiwanese helps in gaining a deeper understanding of Taiwan’s traditional and creative culture.
(Written by: Campus Reporter Taiwan 117 Xia Lijun / Edited by: Zhang Shi, Gregory Laslo / Reviewed by: Hu Shize)
