Your Accent is Your Asset

It was frustrating when I was told that I had an accent when speaking Taiwanese! “Nobody could understand you when you speak Taiwanese, said one of my newly acquainted music teachers while we rehearsed a musical show in June. “That’s unfair,” I thought, “I grew up with Taiwanese kids at the elementary school.” Just because I look like a second-generation mainlander, doesn’t mean I couldn’t speak Taiwanese well.

In August, I joined the Shakespeare show produced by Red Room Radio Redux for Taipei Fringe Festival, I was corrected with my English pronunciation again and again. I didn’t get frustrated. I considered it a good opportunity to learn with others’ ears.

Everybody speaks with an accent. Our accent speaks volumes of who we are. Honestly speaking, I tend to shut my ears when a foreigner speaks Mandarin with a strong accent, because the accent gives a disadvantage of doubt.

How to convert our Accent into our asset, when we open our mouth with a foreign accent, everyone wakes up to listen to me, is something worth learning!

少帥禪園

Summer Jazz Festival

Taiwan Playback Gathering 3

Dr. Sun Yat-sen Studio

Phoenix Town

The Prince Gate

Venture to Zhangjiajie

Originally I planned to spend the summer vacation with Toastmaster Pamela Yang in Shanghai for a week. But when I went on-line to search for a cool destination for summer, I signed up on the spot when I saw the beautiful scenery of Zhangjiajie.

Located in the northwestern part of Hunan province in China, Zhang-jia-jie was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 as well as an AAAAA scenic area by the China National Tourism Administration. The three-character name (張家界) can be interpreted as follows: "Zhang" (張) is a common surname in China; "jia" (家) can be translated as "family"; and "jie" (界) can be translated as "homeland", giving the completed translation of "Zhang family homeland." Its official name is linked to a Han general, Zhang Liang, who resettled in the area after a suspicious Liu Bang, the Han emperor, started to persecute his staffs and generals who had contributed to his becoming emperor. It was so named to signify that the Zhang family had set up home in this far-to-reach area.

Because of the remote geographical position, undeveloped land, river transportation, mountainous terrain making cultivation difficult, Zhangjiajie has been labeled, the Land of the Savage Southern Minority. Also, the people have borne the names of Wuling Rude People, and Tujia Rude People for generations.

Zhangjiajie Gorge

Venture to China

It rained cats and dogs when I left home early Tuesday morning. We were lucky that our flight was only postponed for less than two hours due to the bad typhoon weather. In order to catch the train from Guan-zhou to Chang-sa, we were in a hurry to rush from Macao to China! By the time, we reached Chan-sa, it was later than 10PM. We needed to take a bus for at least three hours before we reached our hotel.

PS: The High Speed Rail connecting Peking and Guan-zhou launched Wednesday, December 26th!

十二月廿六日京廣高鐵通車，北起北京，南至廣州，全長2298公里，是目前世界上運營里程最長的高速鐵路，從北京至廣州最快運行時間將在8小時左右。京廣高鐵全線將經過多個城市，包括：北京、保定、定州、石家莊、邢台、邯鄲、安陽、鶴壁、新鄉、鄭州、許昌、漯河、駐馬店、信陽、孝感、武漢、咸寧、赤壁、岳陽、汨羅、長沙、株洲、衡陽、郴州、韶關、清遠、廣州、深圳。預計2015年還將連接香港。