Taiwan through the eyes of a   BBC (British Born Chinese) 眼中的台灣

Taiwan through the eyes of a BBC (British Born Chinese) 眼中的台灣

27th September 2017 3 By livinguktaiwan

Having been in Taiwan for over a year now, I think I’ve pretty much got used to life here. Looking back to when I first arrived, there were some things that I found quite amusing在台灣已生活了超過一年,基本上已適應這裡的生活。現在回想剛到埗時,有些事情真令我有點啼笑皆非。

Toast 吐司

  • One morning, we didn’t have any food in the house so my other half said he’ll get something from the local breakfast shop. I ordered a ham toasted sandwich  When he came back, he got me a ham sandwich on white bread. What happened to the toast? It turns out ‘toast’ in Taiwan is white bread, ie the loaf we buy at supermarket that can be used to make toast , whilst toast (that has been toasted) is called toasted toast!!! Well, you learn something new every day!
  • 有一天早上,我請我的另一半幫我到早餐店買一份火腿吐司做早餐。回來時他買了一份火腿三明治,兩片白白軟軟的麵包夾著火腿。我問他吐司在哪裏? 原來這裏的吐司就是我平常吃的麵包,一片片白色軟軟的。而我要的吐司原來叫烤吐司! 又長知識了。bbc1

Ice cream冰淇淋

  • What do you think of when you hear this tune? Classical music? I think of ice cream van?
  • 你聽到這段音樂會想起什麼? 古典音樂? 我會想到流動冰淇淋車。
  • In Taiwan this has a totally different meaning. This is the tune of the lorries coming round to collect the rubbish everyday. Unless you live in a big block of new flats, many houses in Taiwan don’t have a central rubbish collection point or enough space to keep a big wheelie bin outdoors. These lorries come round every day at the same time playing the tune loudly to remind people to bring their rubbish out.
  •  在台灣,這段音樂跟冰淇淋的關係實在差太遠了。它是垃圾車的聲音! 在這裡,還有不少樓房沒有自己的中央垃圾房,所以居民需要自己處理垃圾。垃圾車每天會定時經過,一邊播放音樂一邊慢慢開車,提醒居民出來把垃圾掉到車上。

My childhood ice cream memories are gone forever!
我童年買冰淇淋的快樂記憶,永遠沒啦!

Years年份

  • When I first arrived there were some paperwork that had to be dealt with and I got really confused with the dates. Take this water bill from last year, it was issued on 20th October, Year 105. It’s 2016 now, what’s going on? Then I found out Taiwan has a Minguo calender where Year 1 is 1911, Year 2 is 1912, therefore year 105 is 2016.
  • 剛到台灣總需要處理一點公務,卻被日期裏的年份搞得一頭霧水。 像這張去年發的水費單,日期寫105年10月20日。明明已是 2016年,為甚麼會是105年? 原來台灣用民國年份。民國元年是1911年,民國2年是1912年,所以105年就是2016年哩。bbc2
  •  Even now, locals often refer to their birth year in Minguo years, for example Year 82. Initially when I heard people say Year 82, I had to think, do they mean 1982 or 1993?
  • 之後又常聽到台灣人講甚麼年次,尤其說自己的出生年份時,例如82年次。我就在想,究竟他們是說1982年還是1993年呢?
  • So how do you know if the locals are referring to Minguo or the western calender years? Listening out for Minguo xx is always a good start. Failing that, when they say ‘Year six eight’ they mean 1968, but if they say ‘Year sixty eight’ then they mean Minguo Year 68 ie 1979!
  • 後來學會了。如果有說年次就是民國年,加上11年就是西元年。但沒有說年次又怎麼知道呢? 如果台灣人說六八年,就是1968年。但若他們說六十八年,就是是民國68年亦即是1979年。以後就知道了。

Traffic交通

  • For foreigners, particularly westerners, the traffic in Taiwan can be quite a culture shock. When I first arrived, I didn’t know how to cross the road because although the pedestrian light was green, vehicles were still turning to go across my path. In the end I just followed the locals.
  • 外國人初到台灣大概最不習慣的就是交通。我剛來時,是不懂得怎樣過馬路。行人燈明明已經轉綠燈,但車輛仍然在我面前飛奔而過,我站在那裏不知如何好。
  • Here, I’m half way across the road but this black car has no intention to stop or even slow down, forcing me to stop mid way on the road instead. After he had gone, I carried on walking, or at least tried to, but the the taxi behind continued to zoom past. (I don’t normally use my phone on the road but I needed to take these photos.)
  • 像張照片,我已經走了超過一半的斑馬線。迎面而來這台黑色車輛,完全沒有停下來的意思,甚至連減速也不會。我逼不得已要站在路中央讓他先過,然後緊隨的計程車也趕快跟著往前去。(平時在馬路上我一定不會用手機,這是為了做實驗才拿出來!)bbc5 (1)bbc6
  • Now I understand – quite a lot of local drivers don’t have the concept of pedestrians priority on zebra crossings, so I just have to be careful.
  • 漸漸我明白到,不少司機其實沒有”在斑馬線讓行人優先過馬路”這個概念。唯有自己小心一點。

Hiking 行山

  • In England I like to go hiking as there are many undulating hills and beautiful fields near where I used to live. It’s a very soothing and relaxing way to spend the weekend. In Taiwan, hiking is done at a totally different level. When they say hike, they really mean climb,  like this ~
  • 在英國我很喜歡去行山,那些高低起伏的小山坡,加上一片片的綠野草原就在我家附近。常常週末都會去行山,很舒服。在台灣行山就很不同。台灣人的行山其實是爬山,就像這樣 ~091317_1517_HikingJiali16.jpg
  • I first realised this when a Taiwanese friend invited me to go hiking with him last year. After about an hour of what I considered to be quite hilly terrain, he said we’re going to start ascend up the mountain now. I said I thought we were doing that already! It turns out that’s just normal hiking, the hard work hasn’t started yet!
  • 去年我第一次跟本地的朋友去行山。走了大概一小時一段我覺得已有一點吃力的路,朋友告訴我,現在我們開始登山了。我問,不是已經開始了一個小時嗎?原來之前那只是一般遠足,真正的登山現在才開始。天噢!

Praying 拜拜

  • Praying is a very popular culture in Taiwan. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, male or female. Many people pray on the 1st and 15th every month of the lunar calendar, and during the ghost festival in July it is a major event where people from the entire office take part.
  • 無論男女老少,台灣人都很喜歡拜拜。每個月的初一和十五,不少市民都在家門口或是店前拜拜。若到農曆七月中元節,就更加熱鬧,整棟大樓員工也會一起參與拜拜的義式。bbc4
  • Students take their exam ID to the temple for it to be blessed by the God before exams, and drivers take their new car or scooter to be blessed for safety. The lucky charm should be kept with the vehicle like this one.
  • 學生考試之前會把准考證拿到廟宇裏面拜拜,求神靈保佑他們考得好成績。 駕駛人士買了新汽車或機車,會把車開到寺廟請專人作淨車儀式。然後把幸運符掛在車上保平安。bbc3
  • More importantly when there is a festival, temples always have a big part to play.   Apart from the praying ritual, their infamous pole dance performance makes the festival a more lively event.
  • 若有重要的大慶典日子,廟宇的參與更不能缺少。尤其是台灣寺廟著名的鋼管舞,可以把整個拜拜氣氛變得更熱鬧。
    021217_1246_EndofNewYea14.jpg

Whenever we move to a new country, we will always encounter new customs and culture that are different from what we’re used to.  As time goes by, they gradually become part of our daily life.  Have we assimilated the new culture or has culture assimilated us?

其實初到一個新地方,我們都會接觸到不習慣的新事物和文化。慢慢住下來,這些新文化就會慢慢融入生活中,變成生活的一部分。究竟是我們吸收了新文化,還是我們變成文化的一部份呢?