Audio clip for Secondary Research

Here is the Chinese reading of the book I listened to for my secondary research. I thought it would be important to include at least one audio clip because this probably demonstrates the most correct or accent-free example of Chinese since it was recorded to be published and enjoyed by Chinese speakers throughout the world.

Reflection

I think that reflecting back on my original language belief, my research actually supports it. At first, I thought that language represented your history and now I still believe that because depending on which language you use, you express your roots and people might even be able to determine what you've experienced in your life. If that doesn't make sense, imagine if you heard someone speaking in Taiwanese, you might be able to determine that it's pretty possible that they are an older generation and that they most probably live in Taiwan.
But after all my research I've realized that Taiwanese speakers might have different accents depending on their age or what region they live in. I especially want to know if the Taiwanese they speak in that one region in China is different than anything you would hear in Taiwan becuase the two groups don't ever really mix together to combine dialects.

Recommendations

I think that for further research it would be really interesting to record an older person and a younger person speaking both languages to determine whether or not they speak them differently because of the difference in their usage habits. Also, if I ever redid this experiment, I would like to go more in depth with my research of Taiwanese's origin and if it could have evolved from Chinese a long, long time ago.

Final Conclusion

I have learned so many things about the Taiwanese language from the data I've gathered from both my secondary and primary resources.
From my internet and book research I learned that Taiwanese was first spoken as a way for the ancestors of Taiwan to protest and separate themselves from the Chinese government at the time. Also, I learned that there are many differences as well as similarities between Chinese and Taiwanese. One difference is that Taiwanese is more nasal and cannot be written. But on the other hand, both languages originated from people who once lived or do live in China and both are tonal languages. Specifically from the book on CD, I heard that some words in Taiwanese are just modified Chinese words but would be totally different if you'd just learned both languages.
From my primary research I learned that the older you are the more people typically speak in Taiwanese because I think that back then, Taiwanese was used more commonly. While on the other hand, Chinese is the language of choice for the more modern crowd and is used for formal events such as school or interviews.

We can learn from my research that if you were to ever want to visit Taiwan, there is no need to go searching for a guide to Taiwanese language because Chinese is now recognized as the most commonly used language. But, if you plan on interacting with the town elders or someone's grandparents, it might be helpful to find a translator for it's easier for older people to express themselves using Taiwanese.

My mother reading the same passage in Taiwanese

My mother reading aloud in Chinese

The two Wu Generations

I want to give visual examples of the older and younger generations so that you can really understand who are the ones that use Taiwanese more and those who prefer to go by using Chinese. Actually, all the people in these pictures, except me and that little dude in the blue, speak both languages but for most of Taiwan there would be a language usage difference between the two generation.

This is the younger crowd of the Wu family.

Here's the more aged generation.

More Primary Data

Which do you use the most?
Chinese- 71%
Taiwanese- 29%

If you heard someone speaking Chinese what would you assume about them?
"nothing" -Dad, Mom, Geoffrey, Wei Wei and Hau Hau
"They would probably not be anyone of my generation" -Grandparents

If you heard someone speaking Taiwanese what would you assume about them?
"They were probably natives" -Dad
"From Taiwan" -Mom
"May that they were from a southern or coast area of Taiwan" -Geoffrey
"That they had grandparents or older relatives" -Hau Hau
"nothing" -Wei Wei
"Definitely someone of my generation or atleast really close to someone of my generation"
-Grandparents

Have you ever felt judged when you speak either language?
"A lot of people are surprised when I speak either b/c I look like a foreigner" -Dad
"No" -Mom
"Sometimes because usually younger people don't bother with Taiwanese" -Geoffrey
"No"-both Hau Hau and Wei Wei
"Sometimes (older) people seem more at ease when I address them in Taiwanese"
-Grandparents

1-10 (10 being almost identical) how would you rate the similarity of the two languages?
3- one person
4- one person
5- 5 people

Interpretation:
In conclusion, I think that I learned a lot from this interview. Firstly, I noticed that the older generation learned Taiwanese earlier, saw it as easier to learn, and felt most comfortable with it. But, in terms of the language that was used the most only the oldest generation actually used it more that Chinese probably because they didn't go out of the neighborhood very often. Also, I found that the Taiwanese language was much more unique than Chinese because almost everyone had certain stereotype for a Taiwanese speaker including locations as specific as coastal and southern Taiwan. So as a result of my survey I found that the older generation and less up-to-date people are expected to speak Taiwanese while the younger crowd speak Chinese to communicate in their activities and generally aren't expected to know Taiwanese.

Why?
"I spent longer studying Chinese in school"
-Dad
"Because you can write Chinese as opposed to Taiwanese"
-Mom
"I use Chinese in school and I've just started learning Taiwanese from my mom"
-Geoffrey
"I grew up speaking Chinese at my grandparents"
-Hau Hau (older cousin)
"My grandparents had started using Chinese more so I never had a need to get comfortable with Taiwanese" -Wei Wei (younger cousin)
"I spoke Taiwanese almost 24/7 as I was growing up and speak it with my friends"
-Both Grandparents

Primary Research

I will be giving out a questionnaire to 7 people: my parents, 2 cousins, grandparents (on my mother's side)and Geoffrey (13) all of whom live or have lived in Taiwan for extended periods and know some degree of Taiwanese and Chinese.

Questionnaire-

1. Which did you learn first, Taiwanese or Chinese?
2. Which was easiest to learn?
3. Which do you feel more comfortable speaking? Why?
4. Which do you use the most? Why?
5. Would you assume anything if you heard someone speaking Taiwanese?

6. What about if they were speaking Chinese?
7. Have you ever felt judged or gotten interesting reactions wen you speak Chinese or Taiwanese?

8.On a scale from 1-10 (10 being almost identical) how similar do you think the two languages are?

2nd Secondary Resource

- Some Taiwanese words are actually more similar to English than Chinese. (Ex. panda)
- Taiwanese doesn't actually have a written form (can't be written)
- Almost all Taiwanese words (excluding specific names) are different from their Chinese counter-parts
-Taiwanese is more nasal sounding than Chinese

From this listening closely to the recordings of both languages, I learned that the two are more different than similar. Also, I learned that Taiwanese is mostly just a spoken language because it doesn't have it's own characters.

Sources

Secondary Research online article:
Kowal, Kristopher. "English Spoken Here." Taipei Review (Nov. 2002): SIRS Knowledge Source. DHS Library, Decatur, GA., 03 October 2008.

Secondary Research Audio CD:
Uen Shia. "Na li eeoe tiow gie shien." Shuen tong fang sheow 18,December 1997 . CD-ROM. 9 Oct. 2008

Secondary Research

Article: Taipei Review by: Kristopher Kowal on Nov. 2002

-Even though the official language of Taiwan is Chinese, 70% of Taiwan's population speak Taiwanese (Taiyu) as well.

-Taiwan's first inhabitants came prior to the arrival of Nationalists in China.

-The original reason for using Taiwanese was to prove Taiwan's independence from Mainland China.

-Taiwanese is also spoken in the Fujin Providence in Southern Mainland China.

-Both language are tonal (where tones distinguish between different words)

-There are varied versions of Taiwanese but it's mostly the same.

In conclusion... I learned that Taiwanese and Chinese are similar and Taiwanese is even spoken in parts of China. Also, I learned the reason for the Taiwanese language and the history of it's first speakers.

My Research Plan

Primary Research
I plan on interviewing my my parents, two cousins, grandparents, one aunt, and one uncle who live in Taiwan because they all speak both Chinese and Taiwanese as well as live or have lived in Taiwan. By interviewing them, I will be able to collect information from people of multiple age groups and life styles.

Secondary Research
I plan on researching the Taiwanese languages's history and it's similarities with Chinese using Wikipedia and a common search engine, Google. Keywords I will use include Chinese, Taiwanese, similarity, and origin. In addition to using the internet, I plan to compare words in 2 versions of a Chinese children's book narrated in both Chinese and Taiwanese.

My Research Questions

Where did Taiwanese originate and is it in any way similar to Chinese?
Do people in Taiwan stereotype people based on which language they use to communicate in?

My Research Goals

I would like to know more about the Taiwanese language and if it is in any way similar to Chinese. Also, I would like to know more about people who live in Taiwan and their experiences with the two languages.

My Language Beliefs

I believe that language represents your history and who you are as an unique person. This is why I believe that it's not such a crime to judge someone at first glance based on their accent, dialect or language because sometimes that's how you learn about someone.

We watched a video in class about how different dialects are formed and more. I learned , first of all, that physical boundaries such as mountains or water play a large part in strong accents that are totally different than other people due to the isolation.
Another source of my language belief is when we had a guest speaker who recorded the voice you hear on your voicemail and so on. She referred to this voice as the "voice from nowhere" because of how no one actually speaks wuth no accent at all. From her visit, I realized that everyone grows up with some kind of accent and even if they can hide it sometimes, it stays with you all the time as part of your identity.