To constip8d | zonble

A friend named as ‘constip8d’ left a message in the tag board on my personal weblog, she noted that she would like to read some weblogs of Taiwanese bloggers, but it was unfortunate that she could not read all the contents because we Taiwanese bloggers always write in Mandarin Chinese or Taiwanese but not in English. She said, we love our own language too much.

Well, I consider I can reply constip8d with such an answer, “Not only we guys love our language, but you love your language also.” That’s easy to understand, any blogger even any kind of author must be always keeping his or her readers in mind, if you want make any communication or conversation transpire, you must make your messages such as words, pictures and so on clear and easy to be understood by all the readers. If I want to write, to present, to share my feelings and thoughts to people living in Taiwan, writing in Chinese must be a good way.

I executed my web browsing software to browse the website of constip8d. I guess that constip8d is a cute young lady inhabiting in Manila, Philippines, because of the weather information supplied on that website. I watched some pictures on that website, I feel that constip8d seems full of energy and having a joyful life in Philippines. Here comes another question to my mind, Taiwan and Philippines are neighbors, but people seem that know too little about each other. I can easily understand about constip8d’s life, I can easily know about it is raining in Manila, and constip8d was stuck in her school not able to go to any where all because of the rain, I can know about how much she hates the rain from the newest weblog she wrote, but she can not understand Taiwanese bloggers with any Chinese character. Well, we are neighbors, but we are strange, very strange, aren’t we?

Yes, I can write more in English; It can help more friends to know about Taiwan and my life in the Taipei District, I can earn more friendships all over the world. But if my nearest people cannot read my writings easily even cannot understand them, it becomes that they seem meaningless then. However, I cannot translate all my writings into English, It’s impossible, I do not have such much time, what I can do is keeping going on writing in Chinese, as what I am doing.

Urgh…what I am doing is writing in English…

Kumusta ka, constip8d! As a migrant activist and a blogger in Taiwan, I’m glad to see a Filipina blogger visiting here and left some messages. I had some visitors from the Philippines, but none of them had left any comments on my blog. I have some words to constip8d, or Binibiing (Miss) Michelle Sarino:

Firstly, as zonble and some other replying bloggers had mentioned, and which I agree, too, that English is not really widely understood and used by the people in Taiwan (although amonth the bloggers, I believe, the ability to write and read in English is perhaps slightlyt higher than the average percentage), and Chinese is usually the most convenient and fluent written language for us; yet some people prefer to use Tai-Gi-Bun (romanized Taiwanese– a local dialect in Taiwan, similar to what you’d call “Amoy” spoken by the Chinoys in the Philippines). In Taiwan, unlike in the Philippines, English is not even one of the official language (although the government is trying to do so, but I found it totally ridiculous and stupid), and very few people can really communicate with each other in English (maybe you can ask any relatives of you or of your friends who had been working in Taiwan), even more and more parents (especially in the urban areas) send their childern to learn English from a younger and younger age. Simply speaking, Chinese is the language that most people in Taiwan can easily understand, that’s why most of the Taiwanese blogs you had seen are in Chinese. Bloggers sharing their lives, stories, opinions and everything with anyone, especially those who are nearer to him/her, thus Chinese would usually be the language they choose.

Secondly, as what you’ve observed, it’s true that langustic barrier is a disappointing matter. I hope I can speak Tagalog, Ilocano, Chabacano and Visayan languages, so that I can communicate and try to help to organize the Filipino workers in Taiwan more easily, and Bahasa to Indonesians, Vietnamese to Vietnamese, Thai to Thai workers in Taiwan. But I can’t. So what I (and other migrant activists) can do is to communicate with the Filipinos in English, and ask any friedly bilinguals (sometimes the overseas Chinese students or those who stay in Taiwan, sometimes the forign wives from those countries, sometimes anyone among themselves who can speak in English) to help us to communicate with them. We have to know the reality of the world that people have different languages and cultures. It’s true that English is one of the most influential common language in the world, and it’s also true that people of different languages can understand each other more easily and benefit a lot by using it. But not everyone has the same access to learn and to acquire the full ability to write, read and speak in English; it’s usually the people who have better resources and political-economic positions would have better access/es. In Taiwan, and perhaps in any other non-English-speaking countries also, for the people who have the chance to choose which language to write, what he/she should always keep in mind is: who are the main targeted readers? If his/her wants his/her blog to be read by more readers from abroad, if he/she wants to do or discuss about something in a rather more international scale, Enlish would be a good choice, but for others, Chinese, the friendlier local written language, is simply enough. It’s a pity, of course, but we can’t understand very much about the blogs written in French, Spanish or German, if we don’t understand Fench, Spanish or German respectively, right? Maybe you can put it in another way: if I can read in Chinese, I can understand whole lotta more interesting blogs in Taiwan (and also mainland China, of course)!

Thirdly, and depper, what I’d like to ask more is: Why Eglish (or Ingles in the Filipino-Spanish accent)? Why not Pilipino (or Filipino), Ilocano, Cebuano, Ilonngo, Waray, or any other local language that you speak? I’ll elaborate this point in a longer paragraph.

I would never contest the statement (if there is) that English is “your language” (seriously speaking, in a country like the Philippines, India or Singapore, where most of the newspapers are written in English, and English is so broadly used everywhere, and so deeply interweaved with the local languages in everyday speaking, not mentioned that it’s still the only language used in the court, English is already yours, even without the ratter discriminated term “Taglish”–Tagalog English, I’m not kidding at all). Actually, naming English as “yours” could be quite radical, as Chen Kwang-hsing (陳光興), a radical scholar in Taiwan, said, we talk in “Asian English”, which means English with different Asian accents and grammatic “mistakes”. Knowing the colonization history and how the languages of the former (and present!) colonizing countries became the “international languages” doesn’t necessarily means that it’s not right to use the languages of the colonizers, on the one hand, because they’re already “part of us”–even for the people in a country without the history of English-speaking colonization (but our land has been colonized by Japan and partially by the Netherlands and Spain) from the outlook, we have been colonized (together with the Philippines, Japan, South Korea and so many other third-world countries) de facto by the US; for short, US (and so English) colonization is already part of our history and deep within our blood, ourt knowledge of the US is much much better than our knowledge to the others’ country (the Philippines for us, and Taiwan for you). On the other, so, of course, English is an important tool and weapon that we can use, manipulate and arbitrate.

But the question remain unanswered: Why English?

I know the question may seem a bit bizzard, after my previous discussions. I know one of the biggest adventage the OFW (overseas Filipino workers) have is their competance on English, I know a lot of Filipina domestic helpers would laugh about the broken English of thir employers, or that the latter can’t speak in English at all (of course, I admit, it’s a kind of resistance they could manipulate under the hostile and unhumane working and living condition, but it’s just using one brand of discrimination over another), and I know that many (if not most) Filipino students in the high school and universities would rather speak in English all the time instead of speaking in their own mother tounge; they often show their despite (if I may put it that way) in Pilipino.

But from my personal experience with the Filipino migrant workers, I also know that a lot of Filipinos have a hard time to speak in English, although they can use it piece by piece, and that their pice-by-piece English is still better than the English spoken by many Taiwanese; when they speak to a local stranger, even they know the one he/she is speaking to understand English, they would be hesitate and shy to speak anything. Why? From the interpretation and explnation of many other Filipinos, they’re afraid to speak in English, because they think their English is not so good, and they’re afriad to be laughed at.

So, after such abovementioned limited knowledge about the Philippines, instead of asking “why not English”, i think I’d be more interested on the reverse: “why English”?

Forthly, and finally, for your interest on Taiwanese blogs, welcome to blog of our team– Taiwan Migrants’ Forum. As a blog on the issue of migrant workers, I try my best to translate most of the migrant-relevant articles, at least with a brief introduction. Of course, it’s even better if I can put everything multilingual–Chinese together with English/Filipino, Bahasa Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese (the four major nationalities of migrant workers in Taiwan), but at the mean time I don’t have the resourse and access, so just begin from English.

8 thoughts on “To constip8d”

孟叡 on 2003 年 8 月 20 日 at 6:31 pm said:

Not every weblog author in Taiwan knows how to read English. I would rather encourage them to continue writing in Chinese text than ask them to write English. So far I would recommend everyone to write one’s blog in any language he/she like at the moment he/she want to write something.
OBESE on 2003 年 8 月 20 日 at 11:56 pm said:

z4e xue zhang shui de mei cuo !
huo zhe, da jia lai xue shi jie yu ba ! :p
zonble on 2003 年 8 月 21 日 at 12:09 am said:

Hmm…Esperanto? I think if someday people can communicate to each other with Esperanto, that must be a dream..
CyberJos on 2003 年 8 月 21 日 at 1:07 am said:

Esperanto ne estas tre malfacila, sed kiom homoj volas lerni g^i?

Esperanto is not very hard, but how many people want to learn it?
hanteng on 2003 年 8 月 21 日 at 12:21 pm said:

“Well, we are neighbors, but we are strange, very strange, aren’t we?” I like it.
Perhaps, using photo and music as some starting point, with a little bit translation of captions would be easier and interesting. (now using computers that cannot produce chinese characters)
KarlMarx on 2003 年 8 月 21 日 at 8:34 pm said:

Kumusta ka, constip8d! As a migrant activist and a blogger in Taiwan, I’m glad to see a Filipina blogger visiting here and left some messages. I had some visitors from the Philippines, but none of them had left any comments on my blog. I have some words to constip8d, or Binibiing (Miss) Michelle Sarino:

Firstly, as zonble and some other replying bloggers had mentioned, and which I agree, too, that English is not really widely understood and used by the people in Taiwan (although amonth the bloggers, I believe, the ability to write and read in English is perhaps slightlyt higher than the average percentage), and Chinese is usually the most convenient and fluent written language for us; yet some people prefer to use Tai-Gi-Bun (romanized Taiwanese– a local dialect in Taiwan, similar to what you’d call “Amoy” spoken by the Chinoys in the Philippines). In Taiwan, unlike in the Philippines, English is not even one of the official language (although the government is trying to do so, but I found it totally ridiculous and stupid), and very few people can really communicate with each other in English (maybe you can ask any relatives of you or of your friends who had been working in Taiwan), even more and more parents (especially in the urban areas) send their childern to learn English from a younger and younger age. Simply speaking, Chinese is the language that most people in Taiwan can easily understand, that’s why most of the Taiwanese blogs you had seen are in Chinese. Bloggers sharing their lives, stories, opinions and everything with anyone, especially those who are nearer to him/her, thus Chinese would usually be the language they choose.

Secondly, as what you’ve observed, it’s true that langustic barrier is a disappointing matter. I hope I can speak Tagalog, Ilocano, Chabacano and Visayan languages, so that I can communicate and try to help to organize the Filipino workers in Taiwan more easily, and Bahasa to Indonesians, Vietnamese to Vietnamese, Thai to Thai workers in Taiwan. But I can’t. So what I (and other migrant activists) can do is to communicate with the Filipinos in English, and ask any friedly bilinguals (sometimes the overseas Chinese students or those who stay in Taiwan, sometimes the forign wives from those countries, sometimes anyone among themselves who can speak in English) to help us to communicate with them. We have to know the reality of the world that people have different languages and cultures. It’s true that English is one of the most influential common language in the world, and it’s also true that people of different languages can understand each other more easily and benefit a lot by using it. But not everyone has the same access to learn and to acquire the full ability to write, read and speak in English; it’s usually the people who have better resources and political-economic positions would have better access/es. In Taiwan, and perhaps in any other non-English-speaking countries also, for the people who have the chance to choose which language to write, what he/she should always keep in mind is: who are the main targeted readers? If his/her wants his/her blog to be read by more readers from abroad, if he/she wants to do or discuss about something in a rather more international scale, Enlish would be a good choice, but for others, Chinese, the friendlier local written language, is simply enough. It’s a pity, of course, but we can’t understand very much about the blogs written in French, Spanish or German, if we don’t understand Fench, Spanish or German respectively, right? Maybe you can put it in another way: if I can read in Chinese, I can understand whole lotta more interesting blogs in Taiwan (and also mainland China, of course)!

Thirdly, and depper, what I’d like to ask more is: Why Eglish (or Ingles in the Filipino-Spanish accent)? Why not Pilipino (or Filipino), Ilocano, Cebuano, Ilonngo, Waray, or any other local language that you speak? I’ll elaborate this point in a longer paragraph.

I would never contest the statement (if there is) that English is “your language” (seriously speaking, in a country like the Philippines, India or Singapore, where most of the newspapers are written in English, and English is so broadly used everywhere, and so deeply interweaved with the local languages in everyday speaking, not mentioned that it’s still the only language used in the court, English is already yours, even without the ratter discriminated term “Taglish”–Tagalog English, I’m not kidding at all). Actually, naming English as “yours” could be quite radical, as Chen Kwang-hsing (陳光興), a radical scholar in Taiwan, said, we talk in “Asian English”, which means English with different Asian accents and grammatic “mistakes”. Knowing the colonization history and how the languages of the former (and present!) colonizing countries became the “international languages” doesn’t necessarily means that it’s not right to use the languages of the colonizers, on the one hand, because they’re already “part of us”–even for the people in a country without the history of English-speaking colonization (but our land has been colonized by Japan and partially by the Netherlands and Spain) from the outlook, we have been colonized (together with the Philippines, Japan, South Korea and so many other third-world countries) de facto by the US; for short, US (and so English) colonization is already part of our history and deep within our blood, ourt knowledge of the US is much much better than our knowledge to the others’ country (the Philippines for us, and Taiwan for you). On the other, so, of course, English is an important tool and weapon that we can use, manipulate and arbitrate.

But the question remain unanswered: Why English?

I know the question may seem a bit bizzard, after my previous discussions. I know one of the biggest adventage the OFW (overseas Filipino workers) have is their competance on English, I know a lot of Filipina domestic helpers would laugh about the broken English of thir employers, or that the latter can’t speak in English at all (of course, I admit, it’s a kind of resistance they could manipulate under the hostile and unhumane working and living condition, but it’s just using one brand of discrimination over another), and I know that many (if not most) Filipino students in the high school and universities would rather speak in English all the time instead of speaking in their own mother tounge; they often show their despite (if I may put it that way) in Pilipino.

But from my personal experience with the Filipino migrant workers, I also know that a lot of Filipinos have a hard time to speak in English, although they can use it piece by piece, and that their pice-by-piece English is still better than the English spoken by many Taiwanese; when they speak to a local stranger, even they know the one he/she is speaking to understand English, they would be hesitate and shy to speak anything. Why? From the interpretation and explnation of many other Filipinos, they’re afraid to speak in English, because they think their English is not so good, and they’re afriad to be laughed at.

So, after such abovementioned limited knowledge about the Philippines, instead of asking “why not English”, i think I’d be more interested on the reverse: “why English”?

Forthly, and finally, for your interest on Taiwanese blogs, welcome to blog of our team– Taiwan Migrants’ Forum. As a blog on the issue of migrant workers, I try my best to translate most of the migrant-relevant articles, at least with a brief introduction. Of course, it’s even better if I can put everything multilingual–Chinese together with English/Filipino, Bahasa Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese (the four major nationalities of migrant workers in Taiwan), but at the mean time I don’t have the resourse and access, so just begin from English.
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