Dear Konrad:
Welcome to the fascinating world of Romanized Taiwanese (Taioanji, or literally Taiwanese Characters). I am a dermatologist and Taiwanese language teacher at Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan. I am very glad to have you in the Taigubang e-mail group. Tai-gu (Taiwanese language) is the official language and Taioanji (previously Peh-oe-ji, literally Church Vernacular Character) is the official writing system of this e-mail group. You would not see many articles in languages other than Tai-gu in this group. However English is also welcomed if you wish to write in that way. Recently, Taioanji has been promoted to the status of official writing system of Taiwanese by offical "National Language Promotion Council" in Taiwan, which is headed by previous Taiwanese language professor in University of Hawaii, Dr. Robert Cheng (TeN Liong-ui). The issue of Taiwanese writing system has been quite determined in Taiwan. Again, I would like to welcome you in this convivial e-mail group. TeN Si-chong, MD

----- Original Message -----
From : Konrad Hsu Aschenbach ()
Subject : Re: [TGB] Konrad's introduction

Hello All on Tai-gu-bang,
  I am a third-year graduate student in Electrical Engineering at the
University of California, Berkeley.  My research is toward the development of a
power system that will make electricity from sunlight without using silicon. 
Outside of school, I have been taking Taiji class on campus, like to play jazz
saxophone, and study things about Taiwan.
  My mother sent me to Taiwan for the summer of 2001 to study Mandarin at
National Taiwan Normal University.  I did not know any Taiwanese or Mandarin at
the time, so I did not venture to interact much outside of class or my host's
home.
  Since that summer was my first-hand introduction to anything related to
Taiwan, I did not know of all the issues contributing to the rise of Mandarin
language on Taiwan.  Through my readings, I now have a better idea of the
island's history and also what proper Mandarin sounds like.  
  I realized that I don't like the harsh Beijing consonants and simplified
pronunciation, and that Taiwanese Hoklo sounds more comforting and has
pronunciation with roots way back to before Tang dynasty.  I also know about
the political factors that forced Mandarin upon Taiwanese people.
  At least for my own enjoyment, I am going to start learning Taiwanese Hoklo. 
People say Hoklo has no writing and the Romanization is for illiterates.  I
think Romanization is a convenient way of conveying the pronunciation of a
language.  I hope to be able to communicate with this group after I learn some
Hoklo.

I have a question: Does the group really have 97 members, as shown at
http://tw.groups.yahoo.com/group/taigubang/ ?

Sincerely,
  Konrad


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Li chu-chheh e e-mail khau-cho si:  Konrad Hsu Aschenbach .
* Beh kia phoe ho' tak-ke tioh iong chit-e khau-cho chiah kia-e-kau.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *