1/31 (Tue.) Foreigners are Different? (Host: Rock)

[Rock]

Session One

Video One
Taiwanese Are Racists?


Video Two
Indonesian mother accused of kidnap by Taiwan Racist on Taipei MRT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaakT9Zjh5E&t=17s

Questions
1. (Video 1) If you were on the MRT, there was a vacant seat next to a foreigner who was a black male, would you take the seat? Why do some Taiwanese not sit next to black male foreigners? What if the one was a female blond? Would things be different?
1a. What kind of people do you not want to sit next to on public transport? Is it some kind of discrimination?
2. (Video 2) What do you think of those Taiwanese women who suspect the Indonesian woman as a kidnapper? Are they racists?
3. (Video 1) What is racism? Do Taiwanese have racist problems? If the answer is yes, why are we racists? Do you agree that it's from our education? Is cross cultural classes a solution to the problem?


Session Two
Taiwan is not Friendly Enough to Foreigners

One
The word “Taiwan” has recently been popping up more than usual in international news reports, but unfortunately the exposure the country has been getting amounts to a slap in the face for Taiwanese and the government.

Before he allegedly perpetrated the shocking bomb and gun attacks in Oslo, Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik posted a video on the Internet in which, besides his undisguised loathing for immigrants, multiculturalism, Muslims and Marxists, he expressed his admiration for Taiwan as a country worthy of emulation because, as he saw it, Taiwan was a successful nation state that had rejected multiculturalism.

When this news spread across the Internet, many Taiwanese made Web posts expressing their resentment and saying that Taiwan was not...
(click http://tasat.org.tw/enPage/296 to continue.)

Two
Taiwan just ranked as the second safest countries in the world, and is famous for its beautiful scenery and welcoming residents. But for German entrepreneur Arwed Graubner, who has lived here for over 22 years, there is a lot of room for improvements in terms of foreigner-friendliness....

“Often on the MRT, the only empty seat is the one next to mine. Yet when I get up to leave, the seats fill up quickly,” Graubner said. And he continues, “There is a very predictable pattern in response to conflict, it typically is solved to be a misunderstanding since the foreigner just did not understand and Taiwan is different.”
The full article here:http://startabusinessintaiwan.tw/blog/4 ... ways-to-go

Questions
1. Do you treat foreigner friends differently from Taiwanese friends? Is it possible to really take a foreigner as one of us if he/she really wants it? Why or why not?
1a. Do you think Ramesh wants us to treat him as a Taiwanese or an Indian? Do you treat him as a Taiwanese or Indian?
2. Why do some foreigners think that our government doesn't treat them nicely or fairly? Do you think it's a problem?
3. Is the growing population of foreign immigrants makes Taiwan different from before? What differences have you seen? Is it a good thing or bad thing?

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聚會時間：當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:00 pm 左右結束
星期二聚會地點：丹堤濟南店
地址、電話：台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站：板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法：出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後，沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘，到了濟南路口，左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
最低消費： 80 元


注意事項：
1. 與會者請自行列印 Questions for discussion。
2. 與會者請務必先看過演講影片，並仔細想過所有的問題，謝謝合作！

給新朋友的話：
1. 請事先準備 2~3 分鐘的英語自我介紹；會議結束前可能會請你發表 1~2 分鐘的感想。
2. 請事先閱讀文章以及主持人所提的討論問題，並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 全程以英語進行，參加者應具備中等英語會話能力，對任一討論問題，能夠以 5 到 10 句英文表達個人見解。
4. 在正式加入之前，可以先來觀摩三次，觀摩者亦須參與討論。正式加入需繳交終身會費 NT$1,000。

[Luis Ko]

hi Rock, thank you for preparing the meeting so that i have something to do during this long holidays, instead of only eating and sleeping haa~

see you then, by the way, you reall Rock!!

[Rock]

No problem.
It's for Kooper, too. He seems bored with CNY and also looks for something English to do.
Ken said that he wants to run away from CNY.
I'm almost bored to death.
Maggie and Christine want to have some fun.
Iris wants to tell us many things about Vietnam.
In the end, we all owe you a "thank you" for initiating this meeting.

[Luis Ko]

The word “Taiwan” has recently been popping up more than usual in international news reports, but unfortunately the exposure the country has been getting amounts to a slap in the face for Taiwanese and the government.

“it is perfectly normal to be called “the foreigner” or “foreign friend” when being talked to in Chinese instead of being addressed by my name, sometimes linguistics is telling…”

“There is a very predictable pattern in response to conflict, it typically is solved to be a misunderstanding since the foreigner just did not understand and Taiwan is different.”

“Being Caucasian one experiences as well a lot of positive discrimination what is nothing than the other side of the same coin.”



i would like to note these sentences for you to, ok, whatever you like to haa.. see you tomorrow night lo~

[Kooper]

I don’t mind sitting next to a foreigner on MRT but I have to admit that it’s a bit intimidating if there’s a group of them. In such circumstances, I would do my best to put on a poker face so they don’t see through my fragile heart. I guess the source of the xenophobia comes from cultural differences. Foreign travelers, especially Americans, like to speak at high volume with strong intonation, which implies fairly strong moods and signals potential conflicts to a peace lover like me.

[Iris Wu]

We heard the terms, such as “profiling” or “stereotype”, a lot, but we normally don’t feel we have it or doing it, maybe because the “deductive and inductive reasoning” are part of our nature. It is just so easy for us to make certain conclusions based on our own experience and observation.

If you live and work in US and commute on their metro systems every day, you will see most of Americans do not talk loudly or in high volume, and majority are like us, quietly reading or dozing off or staring outside the window. When sitting on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) in Silicon Valley area, I found the nosier passengers were on the transit lines that went through the Asian immigrant communities (Hong Kong, Vietnamese, Afghans, etc.) So, I am thinking it is probably not the ethnical difference, it’s the personality difference. People (in all ethnic groups) who travel or migrate from places to places tend to be more assertive or more aggressive or self-centered or more wanting to talk and act in their own ways. I, personally, am not particularly fond of this type of personality either, but looking back the whole human history, I have to give credit to this type of people (migrants, the travelers) who have explored and expanded our boundaries and horizons.

Again, maybe my “deductive/inductive reasoning” processes took me too far in this subject. My point is that we saw and observed certain phenomenon, and we drove different conclusions. It is all part of nature. “Foreigner” is one kind of grouping only, in deep of our mind, we have very sophisticated metrics to group people. I would prefer other grouping methods when distinguishing the human differences.

[Kooper]

oops... I got caught of discrimination, or stereotype, against Americans.

[Iris Wu]

Haha, believe it or not, I got caught a lot, too, Kooper!
I thought I was pretty open-minded, but once I was blamed by my son for the statements that I thought they were just plain facts but he thought that offended the African Americans. You can see the line is very thin between "discrimination" and "fair judgment"!

[Kooper]

During the meeting, I was confused by the terms "national identity," "nationality," and "citizenship." Here are what I googled and found.

The nationality of a person reveals their place of birth, i.e. from where they belongs. Nationality can be either inherited from parents, or it can be a natural phenomenon. It is a condition which cannot be changed throughout the life of the individual. A person born in a certain state is a national of that state and is entitled to the state’s protection.

On the other hand citizenship is granted to an individual by the government of the country when they complies with the legal formalities. It is a legal status, which means that an individual has been registered with the government in some country.

An individual born in India, will be having Indian Nationality. But he may have an American citizenship once he has registered with that country. Well, No one will be able to change his nationality but one can have different citizenship. Another example is that people of the European Union may have European Union Citizenship but that person’s nationality does not change.

No wonder there are only articles on how to apply for and acquire Taiwanese 'citizenship', not on acquiring Taiwanese 'nationality.'

National identity is one's identity or sense of belonging to one nation. It means one's 國籍認同 or 國家認同. Taiwanese are no strangers to the concept of national identity. As a matter of fact, it's easy to find think pieces or news on changes of Taiwan's national identity - a notable shift from Chinese national identity to Taiwanese (national) identity over the past decades.

---

References:
Difference Between Nationality and Citizenship: http://www.differencebetween.net/miscel ... tizenship/, http://keydifferences.com/difference-be ... nship.html, http://theydiffer.com/difference-betwee ... tizenship/

National identity, The evolution of Taiwanese Identity, As tensions over Taiwan's national identity reignite, tourists from mainland China avoid the island

Becoming Taiwanese, Taiwan citizenship: Give it away now!, Turning Taiwanese: A step-by-step guide to acquiring Taiwanese citizenship

[Kooper]

Some words and expressions that I jotted down in the meeting:

sleep in vs oversleep: During Chinese New Year it is common that people stayed up late and slept in. It however won't be good news if we oversleep on the first working day after the holiday season.

A and B are two sides of the same coin

a million-dollar question

inequality vs unequal

Southeast Asia is more common than Southeastern Asia

Caucasian

dissatisfied vs unsatisfied

[Rock]

Making good use of Kooper's study note-- sentence drill:

1. Lory is sleeping in again, but she doesn't take it as oversleeping.
2. Zen and laziness are two sides of the same coin. (Julian won't agree.)
3. What's happiness? That's a million-dollar question.
4. Kooper and I an unequal; the inequality makes me so miserable.
5. Taiwan is on the southeastern part of Asia, but it's not a Southeast Asia country. (Maybe it is?)
6. Is it a compliment to be called a Caucasian?

[Kooper]

Hi Rock, thanks for practicing new words with me. Your sentences are inspiring and humorous!

How to improve English skills is a million-dollar question to ESL learners like me. It’s a lifelong search because every new plateau I hit demands a new approach to get over. Thankfully, YOYO English Club has become my Holy Grail since 2007. Fitting in a group of English learners with constant unsatisfied thirst for better English drives me to sharpen skills relentlessly. Making the best use of weekly YOYO meetings has so far been the most tried and tested method I’ve found.

When it comes to learning English, frustration and motivation are two sides of the same coin. Being dissatisfied with how little we are able to express ourselves in English makes us crave better skills. On the other hand, our curiosity about the rest of the world, such as Southeast Asian and Caucasian cultures, motivates us to master this international language.

[Rock]

Since when can you write like this? It's simply amazing! Holy Grail? Holy cow! Now you're setting the bar higher again.

I cannot agree with you more. Every time when a good meeting is finished, the refreshed motivation would push us further on this English learning thing. We should definitely keep this virtuous circle running. I've been thinking about what Yoyo, as a multi-functional tool, can do for us. Gotta find some time to discuss with you about it.

[Gloria Lo]

On the road of mastering English, I announce Kooper and Rock husband and wife..........

[Rock]

On the road of mastering English, I announce Kooper and Rock husband and wife..........

Thank you. But he is way out of my league....